Reframing Retention Strategy for Institutional Improvement E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: J-B HE Single Issue Higher Education
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 226

Beschreibung

Take an in-depth look at the difficulty in gaining traction atthe institutional level in improving student retention and degreecompletion rates--especially at larger four year institutionswhere size, complexity, and multiplicity of structures andprocesses present particular challenges. This volume offers a way for institutional leaders to betterfocus their time, energy, and resources in their retention effortby framing the way they think about it using the 4 Ps of retentionstrategy: profile, progress, process, and promise. This simpleframework challenges long-standing, traditional assumptions aboutstudent retention that can distract and dilute institutionalefforts, and helps keep those efforts sharply and singularlyfocused on improving retention and degree completion outcomes. This is the 161st volume of this Jossey-Bass series. Addressedto higher education decision makers on all kinds of campuses,New Directions for Higher Education provides timelyinformation and authoritative advice about major issues andadministrative problems confronting every institution.

Leseprobe

Contents

Editor’s Notes

Chapter 1: Framing Retention for Institutional Improvement: A 4 Ps Framework

Lessons from Typical University

Profile

Progress

Process

Promise

Conclusion

Chapter 2: Reframing Retention Strategy: A Focus on Profile

Developing a Market-Centered Perspective

The Marketplace vis-à-vis Zemsky

Institutional Interdependencies

Enrollment Management

Conclusion

Chapter 3: Reframing Retention Strategy: A Focus on Progress

From Persistence to Progress

Clifford Adelman and “Structures of Opportunity”

Progress and “Swirl”

The “Quality” of Persistence

A New Mental Model?

Chapter 4: Reframing Retention Strategy: A Focus on Process

Introduction

Key Organizational Challenges, Principles, and Conceptual Frameworks

Conceptual Underpinnings

Creating Seamless Learning Environments for First-Year Students

Conclusion

Chapter 5: Reframing Retention Strategy: A Focus on Promise

Introduction

Setting the Stage

Brand as Promise

Linking Brand Promise and Retention

Finding Promise in Mission

Conclusion

Chapter 6: Profile in Action: Linking Admission and Retention

How Far Will the Toad Jump? Test-Optional Strategies

Sociological Determinants and Non-Cognitive Variables

Institutional Interactions for Creating Non-Traditional Pathways

Conclusion

Chapter 7: Process and Progress in Action: Examples of What Works

Improving the Consistency, Quality, and Effectiveness of Institutional Services

Other Examples of Fostering Student Progress Through Process Improvements

Creating Clear Pathways to Student Success

Lessons in Efforts to Improve Time to Degree and Completion Rates

Conclusion

Chapter 8: Promise in Action: Examples of Institutional Success

From Promise to Practice: Examples from the Field

Other High-Impact Practices

Lessons Learned

Chapter 9: Engaging Faculty in Retention: Finding Traction through Accreditation

Why is Change So Hard?

Accreditation in the United States: Evolving Criteria

Potential Lever for Change

Assessment of Students’ Learning: From Compliance to Commitment

Lessons Learned

Next Steps: Research and Changing Practices

Chapter 10: The 4 Ps as a Guiding Perspective

Key Themes of a 4 Ps Framework

How to Organize for Retention

How to Use a 4 Ps Framework

Moving Forward with a 4 Ps Framework

Index

Reframing Retention Strategy for Institutional Improvement

David H. Kalsbeek

New Directions for Higher Education, no. 161

Betsy O. Barefoot and Jillian L. Kinzie, Co-editors

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Editor’s Notes

Do we really need another publication on student retention in American higher education? When one looks at the many angles at which the current literature examines the subject, where does this volume fit in and what does it have to offer?

Theoretical approaches to student attrition and persistence abound; there is little need for more conceptual models—so this volume doesn’t attempt that, although it does build on these foundations.

What works in terms of programs and interventions that impact student retention has been well documented; while this volume is not focused on yet again describing exemplary initiatives designed to help students persist and graduate, it does cite some practical and proven approaches.

The critical societal need to improve student degree attainment has been made powerfully clear; although this volume doesn’t add to those calls to action, it is a response to them.

The merits in broadening the retention discussion to embrace student success and student learning have been thoroughly explored; while this volume affirms these educational outcomes, it warns how expanding the retention agenda beyond institutional rates of degree completion can distract efforts to improve these rates.

Data summaries on rates of retention and degree completion are voluminous and accessible; this volume does not reiterate such data, but it is informed by this research.

The growing complexity of the environmental context for retention—including the inadequate national data, the impact of poor K–12 education, shifts in federal and state policy, increasingly diverse student populations, and the swirl of students between postsecondary institutions—has already been described; although this volume acknowledges this context, it does not attempt to elaborate on these complicating factors.

The natural variations in retention challenges and strategies across sectors of higher education institutions have been discussed; while this volume doesn’t speak to the distinct and differential realities facing two-year institutions, for-profit institutions, small liberal arts colleges, and large research universities, it does attempt an ambitious argument that transcends these differences.

In the midst of the exhaustive collection of work that already exists on student retention, this volume goes in a new direction by addressing the difficulty in gaining traction at the institutional level in improving student retention and degree completion—especially at larger four-year institutions where size, complexity, and diversity of structures and processes present particular challenges. Although there is an obvious need for national, statewide, and systemwide attention to the social and economic imperatives of improving rates of degree completion and levels of postsecondary attainment, the individual institution is where the proverbial rubber meets the road, and that is the focus of this volume.

The premise is simple and grounded in Senge’s (1990) admonition that organizations are what they are because of how we think about them. The way many institutions approach the retention task is hampered and hobbled by a number of traditional and prevailing inclinations, predispositions, and assumptions—or what Senge refers to as the “mental models” that dictate how we perceive the challenges we face, the problems we must fix, what we consider to be relevant information about them, and the responses that we orchestrate. This volume is about helping institutions better focus their time, energy, and resources in their retention efforts by reframing the way they think about it.

This volume is organized into two main sections. In the first section, chapter 1 introduces a framework for thinking about student retention—the 4 Ps of retention: profile, progress, process, and promise. Each of these is explored in chapters 2 through 5. The second section of this volume, chapters 6, 7, and 8, explore applications of the 4 Ps concepts by giving examples of how institutions have implemented institutional improvements that can be seen through a 4 Ps lens. Chapter 9 then argues the value that new accreditation requirements offer in getting faculty engaged in the retention effort. Chapter 10 concludes the volume by offering some themes and practical observations on using the 4 Ps framework.

The 4 Ps framework has been developed by a close group of colleagues at DePaul University charged with leading the institution’s retention agenda. This book, like those institutional change efforts, has been a truly collaborative effort. The framework and this exposition of it are the result of our thinking and working together over many years. Brian Spittle, Caryn Chaden, and Carla M. Cortes have all worked diligently with me, not only on their own contributions to this volume but also to each other’s and to the entirety of the work. At my request, Charles C. Schroeder and George D. Kuh brought decades of valuable experience and practical insight to this text. My own understanding of the importance of market profile stems from years of working and learning with Brian Zucker of Human Capital Research; chapter 5 on promise was likewise shaped by years of learning about brand marketing from Verna Donovan of Donovan Consulting, who also contributed content for the chapter. To all of these colleagues, I am most grateful not only for their commitment and contribution to this volume but also for their collegiality that constantly challenged and extended our thinking and our learning together.

Finally, this volume would never have reached completion without the diligence of Sandra Chaplin, who has taken a cacophonous assortment of chapters and shaped them into something coherent—while also ensuring it was done well and done on time. Her many talents are reflected on each and every page and are gratefully acknowledged.

Reference

Senge, P. M. 1990. The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Currency Doubleday.

David H. Kalsbeek is the senior vice president for the Division of Enrollment Management and Marketing at DePaul University.

Chapter 1

Framing Retention for Institutional Improvement: A 4 Ps Framework

David H. Kalsbeek

This chapter introduces a 4 Ps framework for student retention strategies—profile, progress, process, and promise. This framework provides a comprehensive approach to focusing retention research and strategies in ways that can improve institutional retention and completion rates.

There appear to be few topics in higher education so extensively examined as student retention (Seidman 2012). At the institutional level, countless strategic plans have focused on it, countless task forces and committees have convened to address it, countless statewide or systemwide reports have analyzed it, and most campuses are awash in data about it. Scholars have studied it, journals and conferences are dedicated to it, and consultancies specializing in it abound. And an ever-growing chorus of policy and legislative groups calling for greater accountability in higher education has singled out retention and completion rates as essential measures of institutional success. With the advent of the Obama administration’s calls to action to increase rates of degree completion and levels of baccalaureate attainment to achieve global competitiveness, the national dialogue about retention and student success has taken on a greater intensity.