Promoting Student Retention Through Classroom Practice

1
Promoting Student Retention Through Classroom
Practice

• Enhancing Student Retention
• Using International Policy and Practice
• Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• November 5-7, 2003
• Vincent Tinto
• Syracuse University
• USA

2
Reflections on Past Practice

• Too many of our efforts to improve student
  retention have been add-ons that have remained
  at the margins of university life and as a
  consequence have done little to change the
  primary character of student educational
  experience.

3
Reflections on Past Practice

• To make substantial progress on retention,
  especially of excluded groups, we need to do
  more to reshape the conditions within
  universities in which students seek to learn and
  persist.

4
Conditions for Student Retention

• Expectations
• High expectations

5
Conditions for Student Retention

• Expectations
• Support
• Academic and social support

6
Conditions for Student Retention

• Expectations
• Support
• Feedback
• Assessment and early warning

7
Conditions for Student Retention

• Expectations
• Support
• Feedback
• Involvement
• Frequent contact with students, faculty, and
  staff

8
Conditions for Student Retention

• Expectations
• Support
• Feedback
• Involvement
• Learning
• Support for learning
• Feedback about learning
• Active involvement in learning

9
Focusing on the Role of Classroom Practice in
Student Retention

• For many students classrooms are the one place,
  perhaps the only place, where they meet each
  other and the faculty and engage in learning.

10
Building Involvement in Classrooms

• Cooperative Learning
• Problem-Based learning
• Learning Communities
• Supplemental Instruction
• Service Learning

11
Understanding the Impact of Classroom Practice on
Retention

• Studies of the impact of cooperative learning
  and learning communities on student retention

12
Understanding the Impact of Classroom Practice on
Retention

• You know, the more I talk to other people
• about our class stuff, the homework, the tests,
• the more Im actually learning ... I learn more
• about the subject because my brain is getting
• more, because Im getting more involved with
• the other students in the class...Im getting
  more involved with the class even after class.

13
Understanding the Impact of Classroom Practice on
Retention

• I think more people should be educated
• in this form of educationWe learn not only how
  to interact with ourselves, but with other people
  of different races, different sizes, different
  colors, different everythingI mean it just makes
  it better... not only do you learn more, you
  learn better.

14
Understanding the Impact of Classroom Practice on
Retention

• Activity Score Program Comparison
• Course 3.05 2.46
• Library 2.15 1.94
• Faculty 2.25 1.99
• Students 3.12 2.85
• Writing 2.81 2.65
• Gain 2.68 2.46
• indicates significant difference between
  groups at .05 level.

15
Understanding the Impact of Classroom Practice on
Retention

• Outcome Program Comparison
• Retention 57.3 41.2
• indicates significant difference between groups
  at .05 level

16
Closing Thought

• It is not enough to add-on services for
  students. We have to reshape classroom experience
  to build powerful educational communities of
  engagement for all students.

17
Resources Learning Communities

• The Learning Community Commons
• The Washington Center for Undergraduate Education
  
• Evergreen State College
• http//learningcommons.evergreen.edu

18
Call or write if I can help
Vincent Tinto Syracuse University phone (315)
443-4763 email vtinto_at_syr.edu