George D. Kuh Maricopa Student Success Conference September 29, 2006

1. Designing for Success: Creating Conditions That Matter • George D. Kuh • Maricopa Student Success Conference • September 29, 2006

2. We all want the same thing—an undergraduate experience that results in high levels of learning and personal development for all students.

3. Overview • Pre-college and early college factors related to persistence • Why engagement matters • What educationally effective colleges look like • Lessons from high-performing institutions

4. Advance Organizers • To what extent do your students engage in productive learning activities, inside and outside the classroom? • How do you know? • What must you do differently -- or better -- to enhance student success?

5. Student Success in College Academic achievement, engagement in educationally purposeful activities, satisfaction, acquisition of desired knowledge, skills and competencies, persistence, attainment of educational objectives, and post-college performance

6. Student Success Quiz What percent of first-year high school students complete college six years after high school graduation? (a) 18% (b) 27% (c) 40% (d) 68% (e) none of the above a. 18% (“participation rate”) ore. – none of the above

7. Student Success Quiz What percent of high school seniors have college-level reading skills? (a) 51% (b) 59% (c) 68% (d) 77% (e) none of the above e. 51%(ACT, 2006)

8. Student Success Quiz True or false: 26% of first-year first-time frosh take one or more remedial courses in college. False. 40%

9. Student Success Quiz True or false: About $300 million is spent annually on postsecondary remediation coursework. False. $1-2 billion

10. Student Success Quiz About what percent of community college students return for the second year? (a) 29% (b) 33% (c) 50% (d) 61% (e) 77% e. 50% 15% do not complete one academic term

11. Factors That Threaten Persistence and Graduation from College • academically underprepared for college-level work • gap between high school and college • part-time enrollment • single parent • financially independent • children at home • 30+ hours working per week • first-generation college student

12. Student Success Quiz What percent of 1999-2000 college graduates attended two or more institutions? (a) 14% (b) 26% (c) 33% (d) 42% (e) 59% e. 59%

13. Academic preparation Ability and college-level skills Family education and support Financial wherewithal Pre-college Characteristics Associated with Student Success

14. Goal realization Psycho-social fit Credit hours completed Academic and social support Involvement in the “right” kinds of activities Early College Indicators of Persistence and Success

15. What Really Matters in College: Student Engagement Because individual effort and involvement are the critical determinants of impact, institutions should focus on the ways they can shape their academic, interpersonal, and extracurricular offerings to encourage student engagement. Pascarella & Terenzini, How College Affects Students, 2005, p. 602

16. Student Engagement Trinity • What students do -- time and energy devoted to educationally purposeful activities • What institutions do -- using effective educational practices to induce students to do the right things • Educationally effective institutions channel student energy toward the right activities

17. Good Practices in Undergraduate Education(Chickering & Gamson, 1987; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) • Student-faculty contact • Active learning • Prompt feedback • Time on task • High expectations • Respect for diverse learning styles • Cooperation among students

18. National Survey of Student Engagement(pronounced “nessie”)Community College Survey of Student Engagement(pronounced “cessie”) College student surveys that assess the extent to which students engage in educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development

19. NSSE Survey Student Behaviors Student Learning & Development Institutional Actions & Requirements Reactions to People & Environment Student Background Information

20. In your experience at your institution during the current school year, about how often have you done each of the following? 1

24. Effective Educational Practices Level of Academic Challenge Active & Collaborative Learning Student Faculty Interaction Supportive Campus Environment Enriching Educational Experiences

25. Grades, persistence, student satisfaction, and engagement go hand in hand

26. Behold the compensatory effects of engagement

30. Worth Pondering How do we reach our least engaged students?

31. What does an educationally effective college look like?

32. Project DEEP To discover, document, and describe what high performing institutions do to achieve their notable level of effectiveness.

33. DEEP Selection Criteria • Controlling for student and institutional characteristics (i.e., selectivity, diversity, institutional type), DEEP schools have: • Higher-than-predicted graduation rates • Higher-than-predicted NSSE scores • Region, institutional type, special mission

34. Project DEEP Schools Liberal Arts California State, Monterey Bay Macalester College Sweet Briar College The Evergreen State College Sewanee: University of the South Ursinus College Wabash College Wheaton College (MA) Wofford College Baccalaureate General Alverno College University of Maine at Farmington Winston-Salem State University Doctoral Extensives University of Kansas University of Michigan Doctoral Intensives George Mason University Miami University (Ohio) University of Texas El Paso Master’s Granting Fayetteville State University Gonzaga University Longwood University

35. DEEP Guiding Questions • What do strong-performing institutions do to promote student success? • What campus features -- policies, programs, and practices – are related to higher-than-predicted graduation rates and student engagement?

36. Research Approach Case study method • Team of 24 researchers review institutional documents and conduct multiple-day site visits • Observe individuals, classes, group meetings, activities, events 2,700+ people, 60 classes, 30 events • Discover and describe effective practices and programs, campus culture

37. What We Learned from Project DEEPJossey-Bass 2005

38. Points to Ponder • Which of these practices are transferable and adaptable to your setting? • What are the implications of DEEP for: • For faculty members? • For academic administrators • For student affairs staff? • For others (e.g., librarians, info tech personnel, etc.)?

39. Hay muchas maneras de matar pulgas There are many ways to kill fleas

40. Worth Noting Many roads to an engaging institution • No one best model • Different combinations of complementary, interactive, synergistic conditions • Anything worth doing is worth doing well at scale

41. Six Shared Conditions • “Living” Mission and “Lived” Educational Philosophy • Unshakeable Focus on Student Learning • Environments Adapted for Educational Enrichment • Clearly Marked Pathways to Student Success • Improvement-Oriented Ethos • Shared Responsibility for Educational Quality

42. DEEP Lessons about Creating Conditions That Matter to Student Success We can’t leave serendipity to chance

43. Lay out the path to student success • Draw a map for student success • Front load resources to smooth the transition • Teach newcomers about the campus culture • Create a sense of “specialness” • Emphasize student initiative • If something works, maybe require it? • Focus on underengaged students

44. Infuse Diversity Experiences UTEP intentionally socializes newcomers to the value of diversity through University 1301: Seminar in Critical Inquiry (UNIV 1301), a core curriculum seminar course. The diverse array of course choices has the potential to expose first-year students to a range of topics.

45. Socialization to academic expectations “Enter to Learn, Depart to Serve,” Winston Salem’s motto, reflects an educational philosophy that emphasizes that students must repay a societal debt for the privileges of freedom and responsibility. Freshman Seminar and Nursing Strategies courses include service responsibilities for new students.

46. 2. Align initiatives with: • Student preparation, ability, interests • Resources and reward systems • Existing complementary efforts • League for Innovation initiatives • Gen ed reform • Carnegie SOTL/CASTL • Service learning/Campus Compact • Internationalization and diversity

47. “Meet students where they are” Fayetteville State • Faculty members “teach the students they have, not those they wish they had” • Center for Teaching and Learning sponsors development activities on diverse learning needs Cal State Monterey Bay • “Assets” philosophy acknowledges students’ prior knowledge

48. What to Do?!? Student success requires that professors explain more things to today’s students that we once took for granted – “You must buy the book, you must read it and come to class, you must observe deadlines or make special arrangements when you miss one” Prof. Richard Turner (1998, p.4)

49. Learning-intensive practices George Mason requires every student to take from 1-3 writing-intensive courses. Most DEEP schools have strong writing centers to emphasize and support the importance of good writing.

50. Mentoring At WSSU, first-year seminar sections are designated for students interested in specific majors. Seminar instructors also serve as students’ academic advisors and “faculty mentor” for the academic year.