Welcome: Why We Are Here

Back In The Antediluvian Days

Why the Increased Emphasis on Retention

1. Financial and legislative pressures on colleges.2. Global economy and automation: Heighten the need for

skilled versus semi- and unskilled labor3. Schools are becoming more sensitive to students’ needs.4. 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

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

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

Six Revelations On The Path To An Effective Retention Program (Part 1)

Revelation What That Means1. We have a retention problem.

Yes, every school has a retention problem. Some schools have a greater problem than others. Nevertheless, every school includes students that do not graduate who have the capacity to graduate.

2. Someone needs to do something.

Retention problems will not just disappear; they cannot be ignored except at great cost, they must be addressed. Following this revelation, a policy maker often tasks someone or a group to deal with the retention issue.

3. We need to know what works.

You know there is a problem. Now you need to determine what it is and what to do about it. A common practice is for schools to model their initial retention activities after a sister school that claims success or a program reported in the empirical literature.

Six Revelations On The Path To An Effective Retention Program (Part 2)

Revelation What That Means4. We need to know if our activities decrease attrition.

Many schools believe that their retention-reducing activities are effective. Few schools, however, could provide a skeptic with information demonstrating that their activities are attenuating attrition or having beneficial effects. Realizing this is a big step forward.

5. We need to focus our resources, time, and energy on those activities that will have the greatest impact on our students.

Knowing what affects retention at your school is not enough. We must prioritize. There are more variables that affect persistence decisions than any school can address. Resources are limited so we must concentrate our energies on those variables that most strongly influence retention at our institution.

6. We need to establish an ongoing data collection system to evaluate our progress, augment our strengths, and overcome our weaknesses.

Students change, schools change, programs change. An in-place assessment system will allow us to demonstrate our achievements, make steady improvements, and accommodate changes to our educational systems.

Strategies For Improving Retentioin

Rely On Someone’s Professional Expertise

Subject matter experts (SMEs) have invaluable experience. Most of us were employed because we are military and/or academic SMEs.

Rely On Someone’s Professional Expertise

Problems With SMEs: SMEs can make mistakes. Some SMEs may not fully appreciate the consequences of their decisions.

Rely On Someone’s Professional Expertise

King MacArthur MarshallProblems With SMEs: Even the most expert of SMEs sometimes disagree. How do you determine whose position to support?

The Golden Path To Effective Intervention: Empirical Evidence

Data Driven Decision Making

Look To The Literature For Guidance

In comparison to continuing-generation (CG) students first-generation (FG) students tend to be:1.Female 2. Older3.Have dependents 4. From a lower SES

FG students also tend to have:1.Lower standardized test scores2.Poor math, reading and critical thinking skills3.Low self-images4.Higher attrition rates5.Poor grades6.Low levels of academic and social integration

Problem With Relying On The Literature

The Golden Path To Effective Intervention: Attitude

Aiming for 100% Retention is an unrealistic and counterproductive goal. Not everyone should be a college graduate.

Can You Imagine Someone’s

Photograph In This Box?

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?

CPQ Advisor Portal

https://www.beckdavidson.com/welcome/welcome.aspx

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: Goals In Developing The CPQ

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.

Components Of The CPQ-2

1. Student Background items2. Student Experience items3. Institution Specific items

CPQ Components: Student Background Form

1. Demographic and Family: (e.g., sex, ethnicity, marital status, parent’s education)

2. Work and Financial Resources: (e.g., hours working, sources of income)

3. Reasons For Attending: (e.g., reputation, location, friends)

The Student Background Form consists of three types of items:

Principal Components Analysis: Participants and 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 82 items addressing these 54 variables4. 2038 undergraduates from Angelo State

University, Appalachian State University, Greenville Technical College, and Troy University-Montgomery served.

5. Students responded online, most took less than 40 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

Results

1. Responses were converted to 5-point “favorability” scores, depending on whether the answer indicated something positive or negative about the student’s college experience. The solution produced ten factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0.

2. A principal components analysis was performed on the favorability scores of the 82 items using a direct oblimin rotation.

3. All items with pattern coefficients of .40 or higher were retained for further analysis.

Results Just Keep On Coming

5. A second principal components analysis with a direct oblimin rotation was conducted on the resultant 54 items to ensure that the deletion of questions did not cause substantial changes in the pattern coefficients. 6. The findings of the two analyses were similar. Item deletion did not have a pronounced effect on the coefficients. 7. All correlations between components were less than .32. 8. Alpha levels were in excess of .70 for all factors.

CPQ Components: Student Experience Form

1. Institutional Commitment: Loyalty, intention to reenroll, confidence in school choice

2. Degree Commitment: Personal importance, students’ supportive network, value of degree

3. Academic Integration: Positive views of instruction, instructors, and own intellectual growth; awareness of connections between academics and career.

4. Social Integration: Sense of belonging, shared values, and similarity to others; positive involvement behaviors.

5. Collegiate Stress: Feelings of distress, pressure, and sacrifice.

CPQ Components: Student Experience Form

6. Academic Motivation: Interest and enjoyment in academic tasks; willingness to spend extra time.

7. Scholastic Conscientiousness: Timely performance of academic responsibilities.

8. Academic Efficacy: Confidence in academic skills and outcomes.

9. Financial Strain: Financial worries and difficulties; sense of disadvantage relative to others.

10. Advising Effectiveness: Positive views of advising and school communication processes.

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

Reduces 54 variables to 6 factors

Scales tend to be more reliable than single items

Did Anyone Notice?

That The Ten Student Experience Scales Of The CPQ Assess Many Of The Variables

Composing Institutional Effectiveness

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

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.

Does the CPQ Predict Who Returns? Jessica Gore’s Thesis

Measures Explained Variance

Student Database .13

CPQ-Student Background .19

CPQ-Student Experience .42

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?

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 sessions

CPQ Advisor Portal

https://www.beckdavidson.com/welcome/welcome.aspx

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?

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.

Support Services Satisfaction

Institutional Commitment

.11

-.07

.30

.38

.24

.22

.05

.33.23

.19

.10

.14

Social Integration

Academic Integration

AcademicConscientiousness

DegreeCommitment Where We Are

Going

Summary and Implications

1. CPQ is a valid predictor of whether freshmen will return for their sophomore years.

2. CPQ identified why individual students dropped out.

Summary and Implications

3. CPQ identified those variables that best distinguished those students who would from those students who would not continue their educations at these three institutions.

4. This information would be very helpful to policy makers deciding what retention programs to develop.

Request to use the CPQ have been received from researchers and college development personnel from over 40 universities around the globe. Spanish and German editions of the instrument will soon be available

That‘s All Folks