PARTNERING:
It Just Needs to Be Done
Fall Institute for
Academic Deans and
Department Chairs
Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough
President
Philander Smith College
Do You Know The Answer?
What’s your freshman to
sophomore retention rate?
2. What’s your 4 year graduation
rate?
3. What’s your 6 year graduation
rate?
1.
Accountability in Higher
Education
Retention
Rates
Graduation Rates
Professional Exam Pass
Rates
By The Numbers: Retention
 Four
year schools
 26.8%
of first time, full time
students leave after one year
 Two
year schools
 44%
of first time, full time students
leave after one year
American College Testing Program, 1992
By The Numbers: Retention
SAT
 > 1100
 931 – 1099
 801 – 930
 700 – 800
 < 700
% leave after 1 year
8.0%
17.5
26.4
32.9
45.5
American College Testing Program, 1992
By The Numbers: Graduation
Four
year rates
 Nationally
Six
39.0%
year rates
 Nationally
58.0%
IPEDS, US Department of Education, 2003
Factors affecting retention
Ability
Socio-economic
Race
status
Leaving College
Vincent Tinto
Why Students Leave College
 Individual
 Intention-
Level
the higher the educational
or occupational goals, the greater
likelihood of completion
 Commitment- willingness to invest
time, energy, and resources necessary
to graduate
Why Students Leave (cont.)
 Institutional
 Adjustment-
Level
to the social and
intellectual world of college
 Incongruence- mismatch between
needs, interests and preferences of
student and institution
 Isolation- absence of sufficient contact
between student and other members of
the social and academic communities
 Difficulty- ability to meet the minimum
academic standards for performance
Key Role for Faculty
Faculty contact important for persistence
 Especially true for out of class contact, to
provide an opportunity to address broader
social and intellectual issues
 Informal social and intellectual contact
important for commuting colleges (2 year
schools included)

Why Students Leave (cont.)
 External
Level
 Obligations-
family, work, retaining
peer groups from high school
 Finances- determined whether or
not to attend, how much education
to seek, and where to attend;
complex variable
Do 'Helicopter Moms' Do More Harm Than Good?
'Hovering Mothering' Has Become Common on College Campuses
Oct. 21, 2005 — Robyn Lewis is an extraordinarily devoted parent. As a
single mom, she home schooled her sons, Ethan and Brendan, and her
life has revolved around caring for them. Even though Ethan, 21, and
Brendan, 18, are now attending college away from home, and she's taken
a full-time job, that doesn't mean Lewis is losing interest — or hour-byhour involvement — in her boys' lives.
When she's not on her cell phone with one of the boys, she's organizing
their lives. She spends an hour drafting to-do emails for her sons,
checking their grades, their bank account balances, and even using their
personal passwords to check their student email.
Persistence and finances
Persistence more reflects the character of
social and intellectual experiences on
campus than financial resources
 The more rewarding the experience is
perceived to be, the greater the student is
willing to withstand financial hardship

The Principles of
Effective Retention
Tinto
Institutional Commitment
to Students
Effective retention programs are
committed to the students they
serve, They put student welfare
ahead of other institutional goals.
Institutional Commitment
Not a convenient add-on
 Responsibility of all members of institution
 “An identifiable ethos of caring which
permeates the character of institutional
life.”
 Communities which care for and reach out
to members keep and nourish them

Educational
Commitment
Effective retention programs are
first and foremost committed to the
education of all, not just some, of
their students.
Educational Commitment
Actively pursue student learning
 Require community to engage in activities
that heightens the likelihood of learning
 Concerned with types of settings, faculty
and staff skills, that best promote learning
(especially during first year)

Social and Intellectual
Community
Effective retention programs are
committed to the development of
supportive social and educational
communities in which all students
are integrated as competent
members.
Social and Intellectual
Community
Provide social and intellectual support
 “Consistently reach out and make contact
with students in a variety of settings in
order to establish personal bonds among
students and between students, faculty, and
staff members of the institution.”
 Faculty and peer mentor programs;
frequent informal meetings; residential
learning programs

STRATEGIES FOR
RETENTION
Things Every Member of the
Team Can (and Should) Do
1. Promote Involvement
Especially through residence halls and
extracurricular activities
 80% of students choose an out of class
situation as the event that changed them
profoundly
 Encourage students to join a campus
organization or group that will give them
social and personal support

2. Encourage them to seek
help with coursework
Encourage them to meet and interact with
their professors
 They should spend roughly 2 to 3 hours
studying per hour in class
 Get to know at least one professor well per
year so they will have at least 4 candidates to
write strong reference letters

3. Work LESS THAN 20
hours per week
One of the worst things our students do is
work more than 20 hours
 It translates into a longer time to graduate,
which means they end up spending more on
school than they need to or have to.
 For others, they get caught up in working
and never graduate.

Instead of a JOB, promote an
INTERNSHIP
Miss Albany State University 2004-05,
Erika Estrada
 Worked at the CIA Office of Finance in DC
 Worked on travel of CIA officers
 Paid internship

August 10, 2004
Crucial Unpaid Internships Increasingly Separate the Haves From the
Have-Nots
By JENNIFER 8. LEE
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 - Susan Lim, a 20-year-old Georgetown
University student, is working 89 hours a week this summer: two part-time
jobs and an unpaid internship offered through the Public Policy and
International Affairs Program. .. Many of them have parents who support
them through unpaid summer internships, or they have qualified for paid
internships because of experience as unpaid interns during high school…
The focus on internships as a tool for professional success has
never been greater, according to Mark Oldman, co-author of "The
Internship Bible" and co-founder of Vault Inc., a career counseling
company. About
80 percent of graduating college
seniors now have done a paid or unpaid
internship, according to surveys by Vault,
compared with about 60 percent a decade ago.
4. Get To Know Students
Personally
Freshman Lunch Program
Make
an appointment with 2
or 3 friends to go to lunch with
me
We talk about life at PSC, as
well as allow them to make a
connection
Began this in the fall of 2001
at Albany State University
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Give me a simile to describe your
first week (or semester) at PSC?
Why did you choose PSC?
Where did you apply and where
were you accepted?
What are you taking and how are
you doing? Who is your BEST
professor and why?
Questions continued…
5.
6.
7.
8.
Tell me about the other students
What didn’t we tell you about PSC
before you arrive that we should
have told you?
If you could change one thing at
PSC, what would it be?
What’s the best part of college, and
what’s the worst part?
Ways to partner
Advise a student organization
 Participate in student programs, forums,
etc.
 Present lectures/programs in residence
halls
 Look for opportunities to participate in
orientation programs
 Participate in campus mentoring programs
 Share internship information with Career
Service office

Developing A
Retention Strategy
A Case Study
Getting to Know You:
PSC and Arkansas
 Over
60 faculty and staff
participated in 30 minute sessions
 Met with over 70 corporate
persons
 Met with 4 of the 5 public HS
principals
 Met with 4 area college presidents
Faculty/Staff
Focus Groups
March 23-28
Student
Focus Groups
March 29- April 8
Community
Focus Groups
May
Companies Participating







Acxiom
Advantage
Communications
Alltel
American Cancer
Society
Arkansas Blue Cross/
Blue Shield
Arkansas Children’s
Hospital
Arkansas Community
Foundation









City of Little Rock
Coca-Cola
Entergy
Metropolitan Bank
Merrill Lynch
Offices of Vic Snyder
and Win Rockefeller
Regions Bank
UALR
United Methodist
Foundation of
Arkansas
FUTURES
GROUP
Big Picture Questions
 What
kind of data can we gather
to evaluate where we are?
 Who are we? What is our brand?
BASELINE INDICATORS

6 year graduation rate (Fall 1997 cohort)
 20%

Retention rate (1st to 2nd year, Fall 03 cohort)
 64%

Fall 2004 freshman class size
 187

Fall 2004 freshman class below 2.0 HSPGA
 51
(27%)
BASELINE INDICATORS
cont.

Fall 2004 freshman class HSGPA
 2.38

Fall 2004 freshman class ACT
 15.4

2004 Arkansas Black student ACT
 16.7

2004 National Black student ACT
 17.1
NSSE 2004
In the first 6 years, over 970 different
colleges and universities have participated
in NSSE.
 NSSE 2004: 473 colleges and universities
participated in the spring 2004
administration.

Level of Academic Challenge
Colleges and universities promote high
levels of student achievement by
emphasizing the importance of academic
effort and setting high expectations for
student performance
 Includes:





Number assigned texts, books, etc.
Number written papers/reports
Emphasizing application of theories
Emphasizing the making of judgments
Active and Collaborative Learning
Students learn more when they are
intensely involved in their education and
asked to think about what they are learning
in different settings.
 Includes:




Asked questions in class or contributed to
discussions
Made a class presentation
Worked with other students on projects during
class
Student-Faculty Interaction
Students learn firsthand how experts think
about and solve practical problems by
interacting with faculty members inside and
outside the classroom.
 Includes:




Talked about career plans with a faculty
member or advisor
Discussed ideas from your readings or classes
with faculty members outside of class
Received prompt feedback from faculty on your
academic performance
Enriching Educational
Experiences
Complementary learning opportunities in
and out of class augment academic
programs.
 Includes:






Participating in co-curricular activities
Practicum, internship, field experience, co-op
experience
Community service or volunteer work
Independent study
Serious conversations with students of a
different race or ethnicity
Supportive Campus Environment
Students perform better and are more
satisfied at colleges that are committed to
their success and cultivate positive working
and social relations.
 Includes:




Campus environment provides support you need
to succeed academically
Campus environment provides support you need
to thrive socially
Quality of relationships with other students,
faculty, or administrative personnel
PSC vs. Peer, HBCU and
National Samples





Academic Challenge
ABOVE
Active & Collaborative Learning
ABOVE
Student-Faculty Interaction
ABOVE
Enriching Educational Experiences
ABOVE
Supportive Campus Environment
ABOVE
Overall College Initiatives
(retention related)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Increase retention rate 2 points a year for
five years
Increase 6-year graduation rate 1 point a
year for five years
Increase freshman class average HSGPA
to 2.75 by 2010
Increase freshman class ACT to the
Arkansas average by 2010
Initial Update

Freshman Class Size



187
129
(27% HSGPA below 2.0)
(7% HSGPA below 2.0)
Freshman Class HSGPA



2004
2005
2004
2005
2.38
2.58 (up 8%)
Freshman Class ACT


2004
2005
15.4
15.6 (up 1.4%)
Restructure
Orientation
July – August
Elements
 Implement
orientation leaders
 Parents orientation and welcome
dinner
 Structured ice breakers
 Freshman induction
 Social activities
 Educational sessions
Q & A