8/11/2013
Supporting
Continued
Student Success
at
Elizabeth City
State University
Jennifer O. Farnum, Ph.D.
VP for Research
Teresa Farnum & Associates, Inc.
Our Group Today
In Which Month Were You Born?
Faculty
• Arts & Humanities
• Business and Economics
• Education and Psychology
• Mathematics, Science and Technology
Student Affairs &
Financial Aid
Directions:
Turn to the person to your right.
Introduce yourself.
Put your name and contact information
on the index card.
Pass the card to your partner.
Set a reminder to reach out to your partner on September 3. Ask
him/her to report on TWO main “lessons learned” today and what
actions have result from those lessons.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Academic Affairs
Others?
Materials Available At:
Retention 101
“Retention is itself not the goal, but is the
‘byproduct’ or result of improved educational
quality and the upgrading of the student
experience.”
•
Noel et al., 1985
Basic Ingredients for Success
•
•
•
•
•
Astin's Theory of Involvement (1977, 1985)
Bean and Metzner's Nontraditional Student Attrition (1985)
Tinto’s Theory of Student Departure (1975, 1993)
Seidman’s Formula for Student Success (1995, 2005)
Swail’s Theory of Retaining Minority Students in Higher Education (1995, 2003)
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How Does Retention Work?
Examples of At-Risk Pops
X
Recruitment &
Admission
Financial Aid
Student
Services
Academic
Services
Curriculum
& Instruction
first-generation
second-to-third
year
low-income
student
athletes
community
college
transfers
non-traditional
non-residential
academic
probation
underprepared
Retaining Minority Students in Higher Education, Swail (1995, 2003)
Low-Income, First-Generation
Financial Aid
Folks?
Ingredients for Success at ESCU
+
The Perfect Storm
-
Admission standards increased
• lowers pool of prospective
students
Academic standards raised
• Impacts the number of students
who are eligible to continue
Performance-based funding
implemented
• formula that uses improvements
in retention and graduation rates
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8/11/2013
Has Anyone Noticed?
“…Students increasingly are bringing to higher
education exactly the same consumer
expectations they have for every other
commercial establishment with which they
deal. Their focus is on convenience, quality,
service, and cost.”
first-generation
second-to-third
year
low-income
student athletes
community
college transfers
non-traditional
non-residential
academic
probation
underprepared
- Levine, A., & Cureton, J.S. 1998. Collegiate Life: An Obituary. Change,
30, 3, p.14.
Principles of Success—Joe Cuseo
1. PERSONAL VALIDATION
 Student success is fostered when students feel personally
significant—i.e., when they feel recognized as individuals,
that they matter to the institution, and that the institution
cares about them as whole persons.
• Rendón, 1994, 2009; Schlossberg, Lynch, & Chickering, 1989; Terenzini et
al., 1996
Faculty
Staff
Principles of Success
Principles of Success
2. SELF-EFFICACY
3. REFLECTION
 Students are more likely to experience success when they
 Students are more likely to be successful when they
believe that their personal effort matters—when they think
they can exert significant influence or control over the
outcomes of their educational and personal success.
reflect on their college and life experiences, think deeply
about them and transform them into a form that connects
with what they already know or have previously
experienced.
•
Bandura, 1997; Chemers, Hu, & Garcia, 2001; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Dweck,
2006; Duckworth & Kern., 2011; Elias, & Loomis, 2002; Multon, Brown, & Lent,
1991; Solberg, et al., 1993
Faculty
•
Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Bruner, 1990; Ewell, 1997; Flavell, 1985;
Svinicki, 2004; Vygotsky, 1978
Staff
Faculty
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Staff
8/11/2013
Principles of Success
4. SOCIAL INTEGRATION
• Student
success is strengthened through human
interaction, collaboration, and the formation of interpersonal
relationships between the student and other members of
the
college
community—peers,
faculty,
staff,
administrators, and alumni.
•
Post-First Year Retention
Astin, 1993; Bruffee, 1993; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998; Slavin, 1996; Tinto,
1993, 2007
Faculty
Staff
Activity
ECSU Rates: A Reintroduction
Your Impressions of
Sophomores?
Financial
Aid
Faculty &
Academics
Sophomore Characteristics
Sophomore Slump
• Freedman, 1956; Kennedy & Upcraft, 2010
Live &
Learn/Res
Life
Advise/Career
Counsel
Study
Abroad
Social
Involvement
Refers to:
o
o
Service
Learning
o
o
o
4
Academic deficiencies
Academic disengagement
Dissatisfaction with collegiate experience
Major and career indecision
Developmental confusion
8/11/2013
Describing Sophomores
Describing Sophomores
Sophomore Challenges:
Why are They?
Sophomore Challenges: Why
are They?
6.
-Joe Cuseo, Personal Communication
1.
2.
3.
4.
7.
8.
Special attention and support suddenly
terminated
“Novelty, mystery, and excitement” fades
Social adjustments/challenges
Residential adjustments, off-campus/within
institution
Faculty & Academics
Why It is Important to Sophomores
• Less likely to report investment in learning (Gardner, 2000)
• Study/engage in academics less (Gardner, 2000)
• More likely to see faculty as disengaged, unapproachable, unhelpful
(Gardner, 2000)
• Approachable faculty more important to sophomores (Juillerat, 2000)
9.
Changes in academic advising
More serious curriculum
Realities of academic major/course of study
First-year habits not sustainable
What can I do on to support secondyear success?
Faculty & Academics
Why It is Important to Sophomores
• Less interaction in classroom (30% “never or seldom
participate,” Gardner, 2000)
• Quality of instruction:1 of 4 factors that increases persistence
(Schreiner, 2007)
• Engaged learning most important predictor of sophomore
success, satisfaction, retention (Schreiner, 2010)
Faculty & Academics
Particularly crucial that we:
• Relate learning to careers and career
competencies
Faculty & Academics
Interaction with students outside the “typical”
classroom
• Find unique study/lesson spaces
• Offer undergraduate research programs
• Attend events! Host events!
that recruit sophomores
• Offer courses taught by faculty on
developmentally-appropriate topics
• Teach in residence halls
• Use modalities such as RemindMe 101 and Facebook
• Trips to areas of cultural and historical significance
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8/11/2013
Faculty & Academics
Faculty & Academics
Early Alert
Particularly crucial that we:
• Description of ECSU system:
• Reorganize large groups into smaller ones
• Engage students by active/collaborative learning methods
 Socrative
• Focus on building peer-to-peer networks
• m.socrative.com
• Room number 574684
• Use innovative teaching methods, changed times require
approaches
 Best Practices in Early Alert
• 1. Identify the target audience
• 2. Define a clear intervention process.
• 3. Create a formal feedback system
Academic Advising /Career Development
Academic Advising /Career Development
 Tend to think dichotomously,
Why It is Important to Sophomores
leading to anxiety about
“right” choices
 Certainty about major predicts academic success
•

Gahagan & Hunter, 2006
•
Absolute, transitional,
independent, contextual
Anderson & Schreiner, 2000
 Increasing lack of understanding of field,

requirements, etc.
•
decision making
•
Barr, 2003
Boivin, et. al, 2000
 Epistemological develop:
 Increased pressure to select major
 Difficulty with academic/life
 Difficulty balancing academic
and co-curricular activities
•
Wilder, 1993
Baxter Magolda, 1992
Tinto, 1993
 Aid structuring, focusing, sequencing
•
Anderson & Schreiner, 2000
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Academic Advising /Career Development
Academic Advising /Career Development
Why It is Important to Sophomores
Why It is Important to Sophomores
 Academic major must directly
apply to “final” career (Hawkins, Bradley, & Whie, 1977)
 Lack of exposure to career fields/options
 More dissatisfied with advisor approachability and knowledge from
first to second year; both qualities are highly important
o Juillerat, 2000
 Least satisfied with academic advising services
Schreiner, 2010
o
 All three types of sophomores at-risk
(decided, undecided, major changers)
o
Gordon 2010
“Major selection and deciding on an appropriate career was
sophomores’ biggest personal problem.”
-Gardner, 2000, p.72
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8/11/2013
Academic Advising /Career Development
Academic Advising /Career Development
Especially Important to:
Especially Important to:
 Establish formal advising-career development networks
 Employ strength-based career counseling
 Construct sophomore-year checklist (e.g., SLU)
 Adopt a “future selves” approach with students
 Designate “sophomore-year advisors” and train accordingly (e.g.,
NACADA)
•
e.g., Markus & Nurius, 1986
 Conduct focus groups/surveys and design programs accordingly
 For-credit career exploration
Academic Advising /Career Development
Especially Important to Offer:
• Alum mentoring
• Career experiences and exposure to the
“world of work”
• Workshops (interviewing, resume building,
career-self-discovery, etc.)
• Strong online self-service program (MyPlan,
connect majors to careers, O*NET)
Financial Aid
Avoid front-loading
Offer sophomore-specific scholarships
Actively reach out to students and
parents to aid in financial literacy
Proactively identify students
who are at risk financially
• Faculty requests and collaboration with
career services
Social Involvement
Social Involvement
Why It is Important to Sophomores
• Time of identity confusion, development, and questioning:
definition through peers
•
Schaller, 2010
• “Satisfaction with peers” strongest predictor of overall
satisfaction
•
Schreiner, 2010
• Campus climate one of four predictors
Wild child: 60% describe themselves as
“fairly frequent or constant” partiers
Gardner,
2000
Moral development & retrogression: shift
in perception of “right” and “wrong”
Kohlberg
& Kramer, 1969
of retention
•
Schreiner, 2007
“Most students feel sense of
belonging”/“I feel a sense of pride”
 Juillerat, 2000
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Social Involvement
Social Involvement
Why It is Important to Sophomores
 Student Development Theory (Schaller, 2005)

4 stages of student development: random, focused, tentative
choices, commitment

Most sophomores in “focused exploration” (Stage 2)




Emphasis on relationships
Uncertainty/alienation from first-year friends
Friendship fit
Building community
Social Involvement
Why it is Important to Sophomores
 Social relationships one of three major themes; within relationships:
 Solidifying friendships
 Developing new relationships
 Friendships of choice versus convenience
 Social relationships compete with other priorities
-Gansemer-Topf, Stern, & Benjamin, 2007
Social Involvement
Cohesion, bondedness,
affiliation, identity, leadership
Especially Important That We:
 Offer exposure to different types of
activities, especially “substantive” ones
 Make use of (or create) peer mentoring
and peer tutoring programs
o
UT Pan American, SAM program
 Provide leadership opportunities
 Living/learning & residential options
 Welcome back festivities (welcome week)
 Seasonal activities
 Sophomore residence halls
 Sophomore, junior, senior retreats
 Outdoor/experiential programs
Best Practices
This is a segue slide!
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8/11/2013
Final Exercise
Arts & Humanities
Business and Economics
Education and Psychology
Mathematics, Science and Technology
Student Affairs & Financial Aid
Academic Affairs
Selected Resources
Thank you, Elizabeth City State
University!!!!
 Adelman, C. (2006). The toolbox revisited: Paths to degree completion from high
school through college. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved
May 20, 2011, from
www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/toolboxrevisit/index.html.
 Graunke, S.S., and Woosley, S.A. (2005). An exploration of the factors that
affect the academic success of college sophomores. College Student Journal,
Spring, 367–376.
 Farnum, J.O. (2010). Prevalence and Composition of Second-Year
Programming in Higher Education. Retrieved May 25, 2011, from:
http://www.teresafarnum.com/documents/PrevalenceandComposition2ndYe
arProgrammingTFASite.pdf
Selected Resources
Selected Resources
 Hunter, M. S., Tobolowsky, B. F., Gardner, J. N., Evenbeck, S. E., Pattengale, J. A.,
Schaller, M. A., & Schreiner, L. A. (2010). Helping sophomores succeed: Understanding and
improving the second-year experience. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
 Gahagan, J. & and Hunter, M.S. (2006.) The second-year experience: Turning attention
to the academy’s middle children. About Campus 11(3), 17- 22.
 Lipka, S. (2006). After the freshman bubble pops. The Chronicle. Accessed online May
 Schaller, M. (2005). Wandering and wondering: Traversing the uneven
terrain of the second college year. About Campus, 10(3), 17-27.
 Schreiner, L. A. & Pattengale, J. (2000). Visible Solutions for Invisible Students:
Helping Sophomores Succeed (Monograph 31). Columbia, SC: University of
South Carolina National Resource Center.
21, 2011:http://chronicle.com/article/After-the-Freshman-Bubble-Pops/4556.
 Karp et al. (2003, updated 2008). The sophomore year: Literature search to support a
sophomore year retention and success initiative. Accessed online, May 21, 2011 at:
http://clariou.edu/4431/.
 Tobolowsky, B. F. & Cox, B. E. (2007). Shedding Light on Sophomores: An
Exploration of the Second College Year (Monograph 47). Columbia, SC:
University of South Carolina National Resource Center.
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Selected Resources
Organizations/Documents
 FYE and SYE listservs, FYE-LIST@LISTSERV.SC.EDU, SOPHLIST@LISTSERV.SC.EDU
 Council on Undergraduate research (http://www.cur.org/) also Healey and
Jenkins, 2009
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/publications
/DevelopingUndergraduate_Final.pdf)
 Association for Experiential Education: http://www.aee.org/
 Belmont University:
http://www.belmont.edu/institutional_effectiveness/pdfs/stc-qep.pdf
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