Student Success in College: Puzzle, Pipeline or Pathway?

1. Student Success in College: Puzzle, Pipeline or Pathway? George D. Kuh Earl V. Pullias Lecture University of Southern California September 27, 2006

2. Overview • The “pipeline” problem • Theoretical perspectives • Student success framework • Propositions and recommendations • Final thoughts http://nces.ed.gov/npec/pdf/Kuh_Team_Report.pdf

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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)

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

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

8. The primary weakness [is our] inability to help poor kids escape from the impoverished conditions in which they grow up… The vast majority of poor young people can’t even imagine going to college. By the time many poor kids are sixteen or seventeen years old, either they have already dropped out of school or they lag well behind their peers educationally. Levine & Nidiffer,1996

9. 32.N162FG12 Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY Association for Institutional Research – May 16, 2006 – Chicago, Illinois

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 • first-generation college student • gap between high school and college • 30+ hours working per week • part-time enrollment • single parent • financially independent • children at home

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. Theoretical Perspectives • Sociological • Organizational • Psychological • Cultural • Economic

15. Theoretical Perspectives • Sociological • Organizational • Psychological • Cultural • Economic

19. 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

20. What the Research Says About High School Student Engagement More engaged students are less alienated from their schools and have higher levels of academic achievement (Norris, Pignal, & Lipps, 2003)

21. What the Research Says About High School Student Engagement Engagement is linked to: • Persistence • Integration into school culture and participation in extracurricular activities • A school climate supportive of achieving educational goals • Various desirable outcomes

22. What do we know about high school engagement? 9th – 30% What percent of high school students spend less than 4 hours per week preparing for class? 10th – 33% 11th – 34% 12th – 47%

23. What do we know about high school engagement? 9th – 22% What percent of high school students go to class without completing readings or assignments? (very often and often combined) 10th – 23% 11th – 30% 12th – 33%

24. Other Findings Pertaining toHigh School Engagement • Seniors disengaged • Average 1 hour of homework per night • Passive learning dominates over active and collaborative learning

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

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

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

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

33. Behold the compensatory effects of engagement

37. Propositions and Recommendations • The trajectory for academic success in college is established long before students matriculate. • Ensure that all students have rigorous, intensive pre-college academic preparation. • Align high school curricula with college performance standards. • Develop comprehensive college readiness strategies that address the educational needs of all students. • Instill in K-12 educators an assets-based talent development philosophy about teaching and learning.

38. Student Success Quiz Which group has the lowest expectations for student academic performance? (a) students (b) peers (c) parents (d) teachers d. teachers

39. Propositions and Recommendations • Family and community support are indispensable. • Expand the scale and scope of demonstrably effective college encouragement and transition programs. • Ensure that students and families have accurate information about college, including real costs and aid availability.

40. Propositions and Recommendations • The right amount and kind of money matters to student success. • Align financial aid and tuition policy so that financial assistance packages meet students’ need. • Create small pockets of emergency funds to meet student financial needs in “real” time.

41. Propositions and Recommendations • At-risk students require early interventions and sustained attention at various transition points • Clarify institutional values and expectations early and often to prospective and matriculating students.

42. 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)

43. Propositions and Recommendations • At-risk students require early interventions and sustained attention at various transition points • Clarify institutional values and expectations early and often to prospective and matriculating students. • Provide multiple learning support networks, early warning systems, and safety nets. Ensure that all students have rigorous, intensive pre-college academic preparation.

44. Lessons from National Center for Academic Transformation • If doing something is important, require it (first-year students don’t do ‘optional’) • Assign course points to the activity • Monitor and intervene when necessary http://www.thencat.org/Newsletters/Apr06.htm#1

45. Propositions and Recommendations • Students who connect with someone or something are more likely to persist. • Make the classroom the locus of community. • Structure ways for more commuter students to spend time with classmates. • Involve every student in a meaningful way with some activity or some positive role model in the college environment. • Encourage students to live on campus at least for the first year at institutions that have housing available.

46. Propositions and Recommendations • Institutions that focus on student success are more likely to help their students succeed. • Use effective educational practices throughout the institution.

47. DEEP Practice Briefs Available: www.nsse.iub.edu

48. Propositions and Recommendations • Institutions that focus on student success are more likely to help their students succeed. • Use effective educational practices. • Use technology in educationally effective ways. • Conduct periodic examinations of the student experience, inside and outside the classroom. • Incentivize postsecondary institutions to identify and ameliorate debilitating cultural properties.

49. Propositions and Recommendations • Focus assessment and accountability efforts on what matters to student success. • Incentivize postsecondary institutions to report and use information about the student experience to improve. • Develop an efficient way for colleges and universities to report back to high schools their graduates’ college performance and use the information to improve.

50. Research Needs • Determine effective approaches for encouraging different types of students (e.g., first-generation, low income, students of color) to participate in and benefit from postsecondary encouragement programs. • Develop additional ways to assess the ability to do college-level work. • Further develop and refine assessment tools. • Determine institutional policies and practices that work best with different groups of students at different types of institutions.