Here are some resources that may be useful to you from our recent event.

Retention Presentations (PPT)

The following presentations from our Retention Certification Institute will download to your computer when selected.

1_Introduction_SWAIL (SWAIL)

2_Primer_GOFF (GOFF)

3_BestPractices_SWAIL (SWAIL)

4_Roadmap_GOFF (GOFF)

5_Leadership_SWAIL (SWAIL)

6_SevenSecrets_SWAIL (SWAIL)

 

EPI Resources

• The Swail Letter on Higher Education (ongoing blog by Swail).
• EPIGraph (regular data feature by EPI)
• Swail, Watson S., Redd, Kenneth, and Perna, Laura (2003). Retaining Minority Students in Higher Education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Swail, Watson S. (2014). A Different Viewpoint on Student Retention. Higher Learning Research Communications.
• Swail, Watson S., Jullen, Rebecca, Gardner, Hyniea, and Reed, Jeremy (2008). Engaging Faculty and Staff: An Imperative for Fostering Retention, Advising, and Smart Borrowing. Round Rock, TX: Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation.
• Swail, Watson S. (2008). A Clear and Present Danger to Institutional and Student Success: A Training Model for Embedding Student Loan Default Aversion within Strategic Enrollment Management. Round Rock, TX: Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation.
• Swail, Watson S. (2004). ART_OF_STUDENT_RETENTION. Paper prepared for The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
• Swail, Watson S., Quinn, Kate, Landis, Kim, and Fung, Maly (2012). A Blueprint for Success. Virginia Beach, VA: Educational Policy Institute.
• Swail, Watson S. (2006). Seven Guiding Questions for Student Retention. Student Success. Washington, DC: Educational Policy Institute.
• Wilkinson, Robert B., Taylor, James S., Peterson, Ange, and Machado-Taylor, Maria de Lourdes (2007). A Practical Guide to Strategic Enrollment Management Planning in Higher Education. Virginia Beach, VA: Educational Policy Institute.

Other Resources

• CollegeResults.org (four-year retention benchmarking)
• National Center for Education Statistics (fabulous data and publications)
• Digest of Education Statistics 2016 (National Center for Education Statistics)
• College Navigator (search engine for information about colleges and universities, by the US Department of Education)
• National Information Center for Higher Education Policymaking and Analysis (search and infromation on variety of educational issues, by state)
• Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (student projections)
• Education Trust (K-16 environmental scans and best practices)
• Lumina Foundation (research)
• Pew Research Center (communication and population trends)
• Postsecondary Opportunity (education trends and issues reports; subscription)
• EMAS PRO (recruitment and retention software)

Beginning Postsecondary Student Study (BPS)

The Beginning Postsecondary Student study is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, a division of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES). BPS has been conducted several times over the past two decades. The last study (BPS:12/17) initially followed 20121-12 first time college students (any type of college). Over 37,000 students are in this sample. A six-year follow-up was conducted in 2017. Data have not yet been released from this latest follow-up. However, three-year follow-up (BPS:12/14) is available. The previous study, BPS:04/09, provides a six-year view. More information, reports, and data are available at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/bps/index.asp.

• Chen, X. (2016). Remedial Coursetaking at U.S. Public 2- and 4-Year Institutions: Scope, Experiences, and Outcomes. Statistical Analysis Report. NCES 2016-405. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
• U.S. Department of Education (2017). Beginning College Students Who Change Their Majors Within 3 Years of Enrollment. Data Point. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
• U.S. Department of Education (2016). First-Time Postsecondary Students in 2011–12: Three-Year Retention and Attainment at First Institution. Web Tables. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
• Persistence and Attainment of 2011–12 First-Time Postsecondary Students After 3 Years
• Ifill, N., Radford, A.W., Wu, J., Cataldi, E.F., Wilson, D., and Hill, J. (2016). Persistence and Attainment of 2011–12 FirstTime Postsecondary Students After 3 Years (BPS:12/14) (NCES 2016-401). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
• Radford, A.W., Berkner, L., Wheeless, S.C., and Shepherd, B. (2010). Persistence and Attainment of 2003– 04 Beginning Postsecondary Students: After 6 Years (NCES 2011-151). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

National Student Clearinghouse

The National Student Clearinghouse is a non-profit organization that collected student data from over 3,600 colleges and universities, representing 99 percent of all students in public and private institutions. They also collect data from over 12,000 high schools in the United States. The Clearinghouse’s Student Tracker allows institutions to follow students who have attended their institution in the past to find out what has happened to them after graduating or leaving. The US Department of Education’s BPS data and the NSC’s data provide the best retention and graduation data available in the United States. Visit the Clearinghouse’s website here: https://studentclearinghouse.org/.

• Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., Huie, F., Wakhungu, P.K., Bhimdiwali, A. & Wilson, S. E. (2018, December). Completing College: A National View of Student Completion Rates – Fall 2012 Cohort (Signature Report No. 16). Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
• National Student Clearinghouse (2018). High School Benchmarks 2018. Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
• National Student Clearinghouse (2018). Persistence and Retention 2018. Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
• Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., Huie, F., Wakhungu, P.K., Bhimdiwali, A., Nathan, A., & Youngsik, H. (2018, July). Transfer and Mobility: A National View of Student Movement in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2011 Cohort (Signature Report No. 15). Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

ACT Studies/Publications

• What Works in Student Retention and Student Success Research (retention study and tracking charts, education policy/tends)
• All Colleges and Universities (21 pages; 313KB)
• Private Four-Year Colleges and Universities (29 pages; 461KB)
• Public Four-Year Colleges and Universities (29 pages; 457KB)
• Community Colleges (29 pages; 465KB)
• Community Colleges with Twenty Percent or More Black Students Enrolled (26 pages; 468KB)
• Community Colleges with Twenty Percent or More Hispanic Students Enrolled (26 pages; 4635KB)
• Four-Year Colleges and Universities with Twenty Percent or More Black Students Enrolled(26 pages; 477KB)
• Four-Year Colleges and Universities with Twenty Percent or More Hispanic Students Enrolled(25 pages; 460KB)
• The Role of Academic and Non-Academic Factors in Improving College Retention (41 pages; 615KB)
• Retention: Diverse Institutions = Diverse Retention Practices? (48 pages; 611KB)
• Where Are 2003 High School Graduates Seven Years Later? (11 pages; 100KB)

Reading List

• Suskind, R. (1999). A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League. New York, NY: Broadway Books.
• Habley, W. R., Bloom, J. L., & Robbins, S. (2012). Increasing persistence: Research-based strategies for college student success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. H., and Whitt, E. J. (2010). Student success in college: Creating conditions that matter. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Braxton, John M., Doyle, William R., Hartley, Harold V., Hirschy, Amy S., Jones, Willis A. and McLendon, Michael K. (2014). Rethinking College Student Retention. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Levine, A., & Nidiffer, J. (1996). Beating the odds: How the poor get to college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Tinto, V. (2012). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Tinto, Vincent (2011). Taking Student Success Seriously in the College Classroom. Paper Prepared for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research. Review of Educational Research. (45) 1, pp. 89-125.
• Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Descriptive Summary of 2003-04 Beginning Postsecondary Students: Three Years Later
• On Track to Complete? A Taxonomy of Beginning Community College Students and Their Outcomes 3 Years After Enrolling: 2003-04 through 2006
• Descriptive Summary of 1995-96 Beginning Postsecondary Students: Six Years Later
• Going to College: How Social, Economic, and Educational Factors Influence the Decisions Students Make (Hossler, Schmitt, and Vesper, 1998).
•  Braxton, J. M. (2002). Reworking the student departure puzzle. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
• The Enrollment Management Association. (2017). What Your Head Needs to Know about Enrollment Management. Princeton, New Jersey.
• Hossler, D. (2011). From admissions to enrollment management. In F. J. D. MacKinnon and Associates (Eds.), Rentz’s student affairs practice in higher education (4th ed., pp. 58–88). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
• Rentz, A. L., & Zhang, N. (2011). Rentzs student affairs practice in higher education. Springfield, IL: C.C. Thomas.
• Hossler, D., M. Ziskin, J. Lucido, S. Schulz, A. Dadashova, and D. Zerquera. 2011, March. How four-year colleges and universities organize themselves to promote student persistence: The emerging national picture. New York, NY: College Board.
• Hanover Research (2011). Strategies for Improving Student Retention. Washington, DC.
• Engle, Jennifer, and Tinto, Vincent (2008). Moving Beyond Access College Success For Low-Income, First-Generation Students. Washington, DC: The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education.
• Perna, Laura W., and Jones, Anthony (2013). The State of College Access and Completion Improving College Success for Students from Underrepresented Groups. London, UK: Routledge.
• Hossler, D., Dundar, A., & Shapiro, D. (in press). Longitudinal pathways to persistence and college completion: Student, institutional, and public policy perspectives. In. L. Perna (ed.) Access matters: What policy makers should know about college access, persistence, and completion (working title).  London, England: Routledge Press.
• Kalsbeek, D. (2013). Reframing retention strategy for institutional improvement. New Directions in Higher Education, Number 161. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Kalsbeek, D., and B. Zucker. 2012, November. Sustainable SEM: An integrated perspective. Paper presented at the AACRAO SEM Conference, Orlando, FL.
• Karabel, J. (2006). The chosen: The hidden history of admissions and exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
• Kuh, George D. (2013). Ensuring Quality & Taking High-Impact practices to Scale.Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U).
• Gardner, John N., Jewler, A. Jerome, and Barefoot, Betsy O. (2017). Step by Step to College & Career Success(5th edition). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
• Upcraft, M. L., Gardner, J. N., & Barefoot, B. O. 1. (2005). Challenging and supporting the first-year student: A handbook for improving the first year of college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.