What Works to Increase First-Year Student Success in Community Colleges

1
What Works to IncreaseFirst-Year Student Success
in Community Colleges
Dr. Wes Habley Principal Associate Educational
Services ACT, Inc.
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Types of Attrition

• Expected and Justified
• realized a goal other than a degree/certificate
• Stopping Out
• not on our timeframe
• Unnecessary and subject to institutional
  intervention

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Definitions

• RETENTION the process of holding or keeping in
  ones possession
• ATTRITION the process or state of being
  gradually worn down
• PERSISTENCE to continue to exist or prevail

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Retention Trends 1983-2011
Freshman-Sophomore Year
Highest Lowest Current
Two-Year Public 55.7 (10) 51.3(04) 55.4
BA/BS Public 70.0(04) 66.4(96,05) 65.6
MA/MS Public 71.6(06) 68.1(89) 71.2
PhD Public 78.6(10) 72.9(08) 77.9
Two-year Private 72.6(92) 55.5(08) 57.8
BA/BS Private 74.0(89) 68.7(10) 69.0
MA/MS Private 78.0(85) 71.4(10) 71.9
PhD Private 85.0(85) 80.3(10,11) 80.3

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Completion Trends1983-2011Two-year Colleges
Graduation in 3 years or less
Highest Lowest Current
Public 38.8(89) 25.5(10) 26.9
Private 66.4(90) 50.2(08) 50.0
ALL 44.0(89) 28.3(10) 29.1
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of 9th Graders graduating H.S. in 4 years College enrollment rate of 9th graders graduating in 4 and enrolling in college
All races 74.9 70.1 52.5
White alone (non-Hispanic) 81.0 69.2 50.9
Black Alone 61.5 68.7 42.3
Hispanic (any race) 63.5 49.3 37.7
Asian/Pacific Islander 91.4 92.2 84.3
American Indian/Native Alaskan 64.2 N/A N/A
Sources National Center for Educational
Statistics and the US Census, 2010
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College Participation/Completion
Some College AA/AS Degree BA/BS Degree Above a BA/BS
All races 19.5 8.5 17.7 9.3
White (non-Hispanic) 20.0 9.2 19.9 10.6
White in combination. 19.4 8.6 18.1 9.4
Black alone 22.2 8.1 11.6 5.6
Black in combination 22.5 8.2 11.7 1.1
Hispanic (any race) 15.6 5.8 8.8 3.1
Asian alone 13.9 6.6 29.8 18.7
Asian in combination 14.6 6.7 29.5 18.2
U.S. Census, 2010 population 18 years or older
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What Works in Student Retention

• What Works in Student Retention (Beal and Noel,
  1980).
• What Works in Student Retention in State Colleges
  and Universities (Cowart, 1987)
• What Works in Student Retention (Habley and
  McClanahan, 2004)

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What Works in Student Retention (Habley, Valiga,
Burkum and McClanahan, 2010)

• Overall responses
• Mailing 3360 institutions
• Usable returns 1104 (32.9)
• Community college responses
• Mailing 949 institutions
• 305 usable returns (32.1)

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Survey Details

• Survey sections
• Background
• Retention and degree completion rates
• Factors affecting attrition
• Retention practices
• Highest impact programs

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What Works..

• The data reported in this survey are based on the
  perspectives of the individuals who responded to
  the survey. In some cases responses were informed
  by data collected at the respondents institution
  
• This session is the tip of the iceberg. Complete
  data reports are available at

WWW.ACT.ORG Type retention in the search engine
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Coordination of retention all Community Colleges

• 59.5 report that there is a person who is
  responsible for coordinating retention.
• Most common titles
• Chief student affairs officer 26.1
• Chief academic affairs officer 16.5
• Coordinator of retention 13.6
• Chief enrollment officer 11.4
• Remaining titles lt 7.5

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Retention/Degree Completion Goals - all
Community Colleges

• 32.1 of Community Colleges reported having a
  goal for first to second-year retention
• 23.0 of Community Colleges reported having a
  degree completion goal

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Factors affecting attrition

• 42 factors listed
• To what degree does each factor affect attrition
  at your school
• 5 Major effect on attrition
• 4
• 3 Moderate effect on attrition
• 2
• 1 Little or no effect on attrition

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What Works in Student Retention (Habley, Valiga,
Burkum and McClanahan, 2010)

• Overall responses
• Mailing 3360 institutions
• Usable returns 1104 (32.9)
• Community college responses
• Mailing 949 institutions
• 305 usable returns (32.1)
• Community Colleges gt20 Hispanic 37
• Community gt20 Black 83

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Highest rated attrition factors
Attrition Factor All CCs gt20 Hisp. gt20 Black
Preparation for college level work 4.3 4.3 4.1
Study Skills 4.1 4.3 4.0
Adequate personal financial resources 4.1 4.1 4.2
Commitment to earning a degree 4.0 3.8 3.8
Motivation to succeed 3.9 4.0 3.7
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Highest rated attrition factors
Attrition Factor All CCs gt20 Hisp. gt20 Black
Student family responsibilities 3.9 4.2 3.8
Job demands on students 3.8 3.9 3.8
Low Socio-economic status 3.8 4.1 4.0
Amount of financial aid 3.6 3.9 3.9
Personal coping skills 3.6 3.6 3.3
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Attrition rating at least .20 greater for
community colleges gt 20 Hispanic enrollment

• Level of preparation for college level work
• Study skills
• Adequacy of personal financial resources
• Student family responsibilities
• Low socio-economic status

19
Attrition rating at least .20 greater for
community colleges gt 20 Hispanic enrollment

• Level of motivation to succeed
• Job demands
• Available financial aid
• Student commitment to earning a degree
• Emotional support from family and significant
  others

20
Attrition rating at least .20 greater for
community colleges gt 20 Black enrollment

• Adequacy of personal financial resources
• Level of preparation for college level work
• Study skills
• Low socio-economic status
• Available financial aid

21
Attrition rating at least .20 greater for
community colleges gt 20 Black enrollment

• Family responsibilities
• Job demands
• Commitment to earning a degree
• Motivation to succeed
• Student employment opportunities

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Retention Practices

• 94 identified retention practices
• 2 wild cards
• Two sub-sections
• Is this intervention offered? (yes or no)
• If it is offered, rate the contribution to
  retention
• Five-point Rating Scale
• 5 Major Contribution to Retention
• 4
• 3 Moderate Contribution to Retention
• 2
• 1 Little or no contribution to Retention

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Retention Practices

• Intervention clusters
• First-year transition programs (8 items)
• Academic advising (15)
• Assessment (9)
• Career Planning and Placement (6)
• Learning Assistance/Academic Support (19)
• Mentoring (4)
• Faculty Development (7)
• Financial Aid (3)
• Co-curricular Services/Programs for specific
  sub-populations (10)
• Other activities/programs (10)

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Highest rated retention interventions
Intervention All CCs gt20 Hisp. gt20 Black
Reading center/lab 4.1 4.0 4.1
Comprehensive learning assistance center/lab 4.1 4.0 4.1
Tutoring 4.1 4.2 4.1
Mandated course placement based on test scores 4.1 4.1 4.1
Required developmental courses 4.1 4.1 4.0
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Highest rated retention interventions
Intervention All CCs gt20 Hisp. gt20 Black
Increased number of academic advisors 4.0 4.0 3.8
Writing center/lab 4.0 4.0 4.0
Program for 1st generation students 4.0 4.0 3.8
Advising interventions with selected student populations 3.9 3.8 3.8
Academic advising center 3.9 4.0 4.0
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Highest rated retention interventions
Intervention All CCs gt20 Hisp. gt20 Black
Supplemental Instruction 3.8 4.2 3.9
Program for adult students 3.5 4.1 3.5
Freshman seminar (non-credit) 3.5 4.0 4.0
Staff mentoring 3.6 4.0 3.3
Programs for racial/ethnic minorities 3.7 4.0 3.7
27
Retention practices rated at least .30 higher for
community colleges with high Hispanic enrollment

• Tutoring
• Mandated placement based on test scores
• Supplemental instruction
• Required remedial/developmental coursework
• Program for first generation students
• Program for adult students
• Freshman seminar/University 101 (non-credit)

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Retention practices rated at least .30 higher for
community colleges with high Hispanic enrollment

• Recommended remedial/developmental coursework
• Foreign language center
• Mathematics center
• Academic advising center
• Staff mentoring
• Increased number of academic advisors

29
Retention practices rated at least .30 higher for
community colleges with high Black enrollment

• Reading Center
• Comprehensive learning assistance center
• Recommended placement based on test scores
• Mandated placement based on test scores
• Tutoring
• Writing center

30
Retention practices rated at least .30 higher for
community colleges with high Black enrollment

• Freshman seminar/University 101 (non-credit)
• Required remedial/developmental coursework
• Foreign language center
• Mathematics center
• Academic advising center
• Supplemental instruction

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Top three practices - Community Colleges with
high Hispanic enrollment
Practice Hispanic gt20 All Other Community Colleges
Mandated placement of students in courses 32 30
Required remedial/development coursework 18 19
Tutoring 29 19
Training of faculty advisors 11 10
Comprehensive learning assistance center/lab 14 13
Academic advising center 11 11
Early warning system 18 13
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Top three practices - Community Colleges with
high Black enrollment
Practice Black gt20 All other Community Colleges
Mandated placement of students in courses based on test scores 40 27
Required remedial/development coursework 27 17
Tutoring 17 22
Training of faculty advisors 14 10
Comprehensive learning assistance center/lab 10 16
Academic advising center 10 12
Early warning system 13 14
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Top Four Clusters

• Learning Assistance/Academic Support
• Assessment
• Academic Advising
• Programs/Services for specific student
  sub-populations

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Combining Percentage of Use with Item Means all
Community Colleges
Percentage of Institutions offering a specific
intervention (INCIDENCE)
Top one-third Middle one-third Lowest one-third
Highest rated items
gt 80 gt 35 - 79 lt 35
Good Bet
Consider
Sleeper
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SLEEPERS Highest ratings and bottom third of
usage all community colleges

• integration of advising with first-year
  transition programs (3.9)
• organized student study groups (3.8)
• extended freshman orientation (credit) (3.7)
• foreign language center/lab (3.7)
• peer mentoring (3.7)
• staff mentoring (3.6)

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Comparing Intervention Practices all Community
Colleges

• Top quartile first to second year retention rate
  (high performers) v. bottom quartile first to
  second year retention rate (low performers)
• High 69 institutions
• Low 70 institutions
• Included only items with a mean gt 3.6 for all
  community colleges
• High performer incidence rate gt 10 above low
  performer incidence rate

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High/Low Intervention Differences all Community
Colleges

• Intervention High Low
• reading center/lab  61 48
• comprehensive learning
• assistance center/lab
  81 70
• increased number of academic 44
  32
• advisors
• integration of advising with
• first-year transition programs
  43 28
• remedial/developmental coursework
• required 51 37

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High/Low Intervention Differences

• Intervention High Low
• pre-enrollment financial aid 93
  77
• advising
• diagnostic academic skills 69
  41
• assessment
• racial/ethnic minority students  63
  41
• center(s) that integrates advising
• with career/life planning 61
  45
• staff mentoring  29 18

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Whats Next?

• Designate a visible individual to coordinate a
  campus-wide planning team.
• Conduct a systematic analysis of the
  characteristics of your students.
• Focus on the nexus of student characteristics and
  institutional characteristics.
• Carefully review high-impact strategies
  identified through the survey.

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Whats Next?

• Do not make first to second year retention
  strategies the sole focus of planning team
  efforts.
• Establish realistic short-term and long-term
  retention, progression, and completion goals.
• Orchestrate the change process.
• Implement, measure, improve!

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What Works to IncreaseFirst-Year Student Success
in Community Colleges
Dr. Wes Habley Principal Associate Educational
Services ACT, Inc.