Welcome: Why We Are Here. This Session Will 1.Furnish an overview of the retention literature 2.Provide an exemplar of the literature put to action 3.Attempt.

Welcome: Why We Are Here

This Session Will

1. Furnish an overview of the retention literature2. Provide an exemplar of the literature put to action3. Attempt to foresee where the field is moving4. Give you something to take home5. Alter what you will be doing next Thursday6. Set the stage for my colleagues

Why the Increased Emphasis on Retention

1. Financial and legislative pressures on colleges and universities

2. Global economy and automation: Heighten the need for skilled versus semi- and unskilled labor

3. Death of a dream: Failure to graduate often leads to reductions in students’ income and quality of life

What Do You Need To Do To Reduce Attrition?

1. Identify at-risk students within first 6 to 8 weeks of college

2. Determine why a student is at-risk

3. Craft a powerful message that addresses that student’s issues

4. Quickly alter the direction of that student’s life

Don’t Go Mountain Climbing If You Are Afraid of Heights

OrWhy You Can’t Reduce Attrition While

Singing The Blues

1. Optimism

2. Count Your Victories Not Your Defeats

Two Ways To Address Retention

Broadcasting-Treats all students as if they were equally at-risk and presents the same message to all students (e.g., many freshman seminar classes)

Targeting-Focuses attention on those students who are at-risk and specifies the message for the individual or group

Broadcasting

Advantages1. Reaches a large group with few staff2. Relatively low per student cost3. Many curricula to choose fromDisadvantages1. Expends time and resources on students who are

not at-risk2. Often presents irrelevant messages to students

who are at-risk3. At-risk students may not receive the attention

they require

Targeting

Advantages1. Time and resources are devoted to at-risk students2. Students requiring more attention are more likely to

receive it3. Messages are more likely to address issues that are

pertinent to the studentDisadvantages1. Greater expenditure per student in time and cost than

broadcasting2. Scarcity of resources require most institutions to limit the

number of targeted students3. Identifying at-risk students and determining pertinent

messages requires significant thought and effort

Ways To Target Students

1. Focus on known at-risk groups (e.g., minorities, first generation college students)

2. Purchase commercial products to identify at-risk students

3. Do what works at other institutions

4. Rely on the retention literature to identify at-risk students and develop persistence-oriented programs

ACT Meta-Analysis: Variables Related To Retention

• Academic Goals• Academic-Related

Skills• Academic Self-

Confidence• Achievement

Motivation• ACT Assessment

Scores• Financial Support

• General Self-Concept• HSGPA• Institutional

Commitment• Institutional

Selectivity• SES • Social Involvement• Social Support

ACT Meta-Analysis: Academic Variables And SES

Variable Strength of Association

ACT Assessment Scores Moderate

High School GPA Moderate

SES Moderate

ACT Meta-Analysis: Non-Academic Variables

Variable Strength of AssociationAcademic Goals StrongAcademic-Related Skills StrongAcademic Self-Confidence StrongAchievement Motivation WeakFinancial Support ModerateGeneral Self-Concept WeakInstitutional Commitment ModerateInstitutional Selectivity ModerateSocial Involvement ModerateSocial Support Moderate

How Well Do We Predict Retention?

1. Academic, Non-Academic and SES variables explain 17% of the variability of college retention across students.

2. If your institution does not assess all of the variables in the ACT study then it is probable that less of variability is explained.

Temporal Availability of Variables

1. Before the first day of class: HSGPA, ACT, SES, Freshman Orientation Survey, Institutional Selectivity, Financial Support.

2. After six or eight weeks of college: Academic-related skills, Academic self-confidence, Academic goals, Institutional Commitment, Social Support, Social Involvement, Achievement Motivation, General Self-Concept

3. After the first semester: First semester GPA

Beck’s List of Invariably Violated Principles

1. The earlier the diagnosis the better the prognosis2. More information generally enhances the prediction

of at-risk students3. The more time you have to gather information the

more useful information you can acquire

A Tale Of Six Schools: Following The Literature

1. We believed that retention was a critical issue.2. We believed that with the right program attrition

could be reduced.3. We felt inundated with information. Prioritization

was a serious problem.4. We believed our current retention efforts could be

improved.5. We believed that the specific concerns of our

students and institutions and were not being adequately addressed.

A Tale Of Six Schools: Following The Literature

Angelo State University6,200 StudentsLarge Hispanic Population Comprehensive

Appalachian State University15,117 StudentsPrimarily Caucasian Comprehensive

A Tale Of Six Schools : Following The Literature

Greenville Technical College14,338 StudentsDiverse Community College

Troy University28,255 StudentsLarge African-American PopulationComprehensive

A Tale Of Six Schools : Following The Literature

Tusculum College

2,100 Students

Small, Private Undergraduate Institution

USC Upstate

4,600 Undergraduates

Working With Individual Students: What Counselors, Advisors and Faculty Need To Know

1. Who in their caseloads is most at-risk?2. What factor(s) are causing a particular individual to

leave the institution?

Working With Groups of Students: What Policy-Makers and Instructors Of

Persistence-Oriented Courses Need To Know

1. What factor(s) distinguish students at their schools who will persist and will not persist in their educations?

2. Are our retention programs effective?

Following The Literature: Our Greatest Unmet Need

1. Greatest Unmet Need: A better way of determining how students respond to the first 6 or 8 weeks of college

2. We need an instrument of great breadth that is applicable at many schools.

3. The instrument must provide information pertinent to personnel working with individuals as well as groups of students.

4. The instrument must identify the factors that most strongly govern retention at a particular school or for a particular individual.

5. The instrument must not be too long.6. Data must be immediately available; we can’t wait.

Why We Developed The College Persistence Questionnaire (CPQ)

Overcome Limits of Generalization: Successful interventions with one student, one group of students, or at one institution may or may not be successful with other students or at other institutions. Goal: To furnish faculty, advisors, counselors and policy makers with information allowing them to individualize their retention efforts at the level of the student and institution.

Development of the CPQ: Procedure

1. Conducted an extensive review of the retention literature

2. Identified at least 54 variables (WOW) that had been associated with retention

3. Wrote items addressing these 54 variables4. Automated the administration and data recording

system5. Administered the questionnaire to more than 2000

students

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify: Why Thoreau Would Like Factor Analysis

Reduces 54 variables to 6 factors

Scales tend to be more reliable than single items

CPQ Factors And Representative Items

Academic Integration

How well do you understand the thinking of your instructors when they lecture or ask students to answer questions in class?

Social Integration

How much have your interpersonal relationships with other students had an impact on your personal growth, attitudes, and values?

Supportive Services Satisfaction

How satisfied are you with the academic advisement you receive here?

CPQ Factors And Representative Items

Degree Commitment

When you think of the people who mean the most to you friends and family, how disappointed do you think they would be if you quit

Institutional Commitment

How likely is it that you will earn a degree from here?

Academic Conscientiousness

How often do you miss class for reasons other than illness or participation in school-sponsored activities?

CPQ Alphas

Factor Alpha

Academic Integration .81

Social Integration .82

Supportive Services .74

Degree Commitment .70

Institutional Commitment .78

Academic Conscientiousness .63

Two Measures of Retention

Institutional Commitment ScoreAdvantage: Provides a means of identifying at-risk students after 6 weeks of collegeDisadvantage: Is not perfectly correlated with who actually returns

Returning SophomoresAdvantage: Indicates who actually returns.Disadvantage: It is too late to help at-risk students when this data becomes available.

Using The CPQ To Better Understand An At-Risk Group

Compared to other freshmen Student Support Services students reported that:1. They had a bigger influence on such matters as course offerings, rule and regulations, and registration procedures 2. They were more satisfied with the academic advisement they received.3. They more strongly preferred tasks that make extensive use of their own ideas and allowed expression of their individuality.4. Fewer of their close friends were at Appalachian State.5. It was more difficult for their families to handle the cost of college.

CPQ Items Predicting Institutional Commitment: Community College Data Argues For Targeting

Item Business Nursing Arts & Sciences

1 Degree Commitment Degree Commitment Academic Integration

2 Degree Commitment Degree Commitment Academic Integration

3 Degree Commitment Degree Commitment Support Services

4 Academic Integration Academic Integration Acad. Conscientiousness

5 Academic Integration Academic Integration Support Services

6 Academic Integration Academic Integration Social Integration

Does the CPQ Predict Who Returns? The Angelo State Sample

Measures Explained Variance

HSR + SAT .09

CPQ .19

HSGPA + SAT + CPQ .23

Uses Of The CPQ: Individual Students

1. Identify Students most At-Risk2. Determine why a student is at-risk3. Suggest topics to further explore in counseling or

advising sessions4. Demonstration of the Advisor Portal

Uses Of The CPQ: Groups of Students

1. Determining the variables that distinguish students who will and will not continue their education at your institution.

2. Provide guidance to instructors of persistence-oriented courses and policy makers.

3. Contribute to an assessment of the effectiveness of your retention efforts.

4. Demonstration of the Administrative Portal

Free Copies of the CPQ Available Upon Request

That‘s All Folks