10 Colleges Increase Student Retention
Background
Under the Third Black Colleges initiative funded by Pew Charitable Trusts from 1994 to
1998, ten historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) generally increased their
retention of students from 1st year to 2nd year by at least 1%, and
often more. In fact, three of these institutions managed exceptional gains.
How? In each case, the college launched one or more special initiatives to bolster the
already high sense of community and responsibility for students or peers that had secured
them higher than average retention rates even before the grant period. Of African American
students attending these HBCUs, 43.2% advanced to the year on time, as opposed to 33.7% of
African Americans at other [private] colleges and universities. Graduation rates for the
1989 cohort of African American students at HBCUs amounted to 45.1%, as opposed to 43.5%
at comparable colleges, according to The African American Data Book, vol. 1,
Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute.
Each of the participating colleges had to do the following as a prerequisite of the
grant.
 | sort out what worked and what didn’t from past practicess |
| plan for systemic change across departments |
| find out why some students persisted while others dropped out |
| involve faculty with the academic and social integration of students into the college
community |
| assign a project director who was respected for academics |
| assign an evaluation coordinator who would build or enhance an institutional database
for results |
| get together with all 10 colleges twice each year to share practices and meet with
experts |
| have project directors visit other of the 10 colleges |
Gains
The chart below names each participating college, the retention rate
of 1994’s entering class vs. that for the 1997 entering class (percentage of the
class that stays enrolled), and the progression rate for the same years
(the percentage that moves up a year in consecutive years, e.g. from freshman to
sophomore) and percentage gains. In addition to these numbers, below the
data for each college, the chart lists briefly the method(s) used to advance student
retention.
College
|
’94 vs. ’97 Retention
|
% Gain
|
’94 vs. ’97 Progression
|
% Gain
|
Dillard |
57à 66 |
9 |
44à 46 |
2 |
| Learning communities (cohorts of students and teachers),
mentoring, pre-college summer program |
Fisk |
83à 94 |
11 |
64à 72 |
8 |
| Tutoring (centrally located), pre-college summer, enhanced
academic advising |
Hampton |
79à 85 |
6 |
71à 76 |
5 |
| Faculty development advisors (FDAs) trained on students,
programs, learning styles, time management, and met monthly; enhanced career counseling by
peers (50 trained 3 days). Fall FDAs served as instructors for "University 101: The
Individual and Life," required of all 1st-year students; Spring FDAs work
with 5-15 first-year students in small groups on academic probation on logistics of
staying in college and getting the studying done. FDAs were paid $200/semester. 50 peer
counselors, selected for "dependability, enthusiasm, empathy, communication skills,
and faculty recommendations," trained 3 days and eventually took over screening of
new peer counselors. |
Howard |
80à 85 |
5 |
69à 38** |
--29 |
| Faculty development in teaching and advising (11 mentors on
teaching, syllabus improvement, and observing each other teach); summer faculty workshops
with follow-up discussions, pre-college program brochure, financial assistance counseling,
retention tracking |
J.C. Smith |
66à 70 |
4 |
33à 34 |
1 |
| Most faculty mentored students (after workshops on advising
methods that included role-playing) using "The Master Student" under the Center
for Teaching and Learning; weekly orientation and periodic study skills workshops; weekly
newsletter to mentors; convocation with students; some mentors took students to discipline
conferences, others to social events; periodic sharing sessions among mentors; service
learning |
Morehouse |
79à 82 |
3 |
60à 62 |
2 |
| Intensive summer program: 6 weeks, 75 students in math, Eng.,
and reading, intellectual development, & community; required, s’s paid but some
needs-based scholarships were available. Upperclassmen lived in dorms as peer counselors
and tutors. |
Rust |
78à 62 |
--16* |
56à 42 |
--14* |
| Internships coordinated with Career Development Center,
included employer and self-evaluation; sophomore seminars |
Spelman |
89à 90 |
1 |
84à 81 |
--3 |
| The Learning Resources Center organized advising, peer
tutoring, writing center, and study skills lessons. Counseling aimed at re-motivating
students, especially after faculty alerted the dean to students in need. |
Tougaloo |
73à 79 |
6 |
69à 74 |
5 |
| Over 80 percent of the faculty trained on collaborative
learning and classroom assessment, financial training, sophomore mentoring, advising,
Academic Alert System. Committee on Faculty/Student Ineraction. Some faculty attended
national workshops on advising and retention, then returned to conduct 2-day sessions for
colleagues in the summer. The Center for Advising and Instruction conducted workshops on
advising. |
Xavier |
76à 79 |
3 |
50à 50 |
0 |
| (See focus below.) |
| Notes *Rust College’s effort involved internships for
its juniors and senior rather than a first-year focus. As a result, the college’s
graduation rate went up 2 points, from 26 to 28%, the fifth-highest gain in the group of
10 colleges. Rust has subsequently added a sophomore seminar.
** Howard’s progression rate is usually 38 to 40 percent; the 1994 data is
"anomalous." |
A Focus on Xavier University of Louisiana
The Mathematics Lab used faculty, peer tutors, and computer software to help students,
who visited 7,000 times in 3 years. 76% of students passed the Collegiate Assessment of
Academic Proficiency Test (instead of 65% at the beginning of the grant period). Academic
Support Program got 10% of the student body to tutor students on academic probation or
otherwise at risk. Probations dropped from 74% to 32% in one semester! Student monitoring
includes not only class attendance but also advisor meetings and tutoring. Students who
studied at least 20 hours in the Academic Support Program in Spring, 1996, increased their
GPAs an average of .71 points over their previous semester.
Xavier’s learning environment included orientation throughout the first year
(without credit), upperclassmen acting as "peer deans," a writing center,
reading lab, and tutoring, as well as a program for helping nonmajors select a major, in
addition to outreach programs for grades 6-12 and summer science programs.
The science faculty eschewed textbooks for their own workbooks with "detailed
goals, sample problems, and daily homework assignments." Math and science faculty in
particular espoused cooperative study—synchronizing their syllabi to set up study
groups across sections. Probing, challenging questions characterize class sessions rather
than lecturing. Faculty counsel 35 students apiece, monitoring their progress via weekly
meetings to catch problems early. All the math faculty spend an hour or two in the Math
Lab weekly.
Lessons Learned
Basically, it takes time to make significant gains by instituting wide-reaching
changes.
| Not an ad-hoc effort, retention must be part of the ongoing, daily effort of the
college, "at the core" of the college. |
| "Good people make good programs." Colleges with "stable, committed and
dynamic leadership mounted strong and successful retention initiatives." |
| "Faculty development focused on student learning makes a strong impact." For
example,
 | At Dillard faculty established a learning community by training each other on learning
styles and assessment. |
| Howard University paired junior with senior faculty in a mentoring program. |
| Johnson C. Smith University faculty mentored the students as part of their normal
workload. |
| Some Tougaloo faculty went to off-campus workshops, returning to train their colleagues
on bolstering student involvement. |
|
| Intervene early: By the time students earn their first below average grade, proactive
intervention systems should begin putting the students with campus resources, especially
counseling and tutoring, to help get them on track. |
| Make a database and train staff to use it for all it’s worth. |
| Get together and visit with colleges making similar efforts. |
| The president, provost, and deans must make retention a prime priority; faculty must
manage student learning in class and out; and students need to take responsibility for
each other. |
Underlying these efforts is a notion, cultivated by administrators [and their staff],
faculty, and students, may be the idea of history and destiny—"the careful
cultivation of history"—the notion that today’s students are "a
special people in a special place."
Sources:
Historically Black Colleges & Universities Take a Closer Look at Student Retention
A Project Funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts [n.c.: n.p., n.d.]
Wagener, Ursula, and Michael T. Nettles. "It Takes a Community to Educate
Students." Reprinted from Change March/April, 1998:18-25.
|
1999