Research

RESEARCH MODELS

The research and scholarship that examines student success generally falls into two rough categories: those studies that examine academic performance (including academic dismissal) and those studies that examine other outcomes (such a voluntary attrition/persistence, student development, and satisfaction). The studies of academic performance indicate that pre-college variables are strongly predictive, while the studies of student satisfaction and voluntary departure indicate the pre-college characteristics are not predictive.

Academic Performance Models

Research studies demonstrate that college student academic performance is significantly (though far from entirely) predicted by previous academic performance. SAT scores, parent education, and socio-economic status are also significant, but are less robust as predictors than high school grades. Multiple correlation coefficients between these predictors and college GPA range between .30 and .60. One reason why these coefficients are not higher may be that the more talented students tend to enter the more demanding institutions; and within each institution, the better students tend to undertake the more challenging majors.

Despite public claims to the contrary, the research evidence suggests that faculty, over time, "dummy-down" the curriculum to match the student clientele, and that more selective colleges do demand higher performance from students in the classroom than less selective colleges do.

In the aggregate, the more selective colleges and universities have greater levels of student retention and persistence to graduation. Depending on institution type, the correlation coefficients between the percent of freshman applicants admitted and the retention and graduation rates are in the -.61 to -.75 range (he lower the proportion admitted, the higher the graduation rate). These correlations with average SAT scores are even higher (in the .71 to .85 range). Therefore, maintaining selective admissions standards is a viable enrollment management strategy since it produces higher persistence and graduation rates.

Poor academic performance is the number one reason for student departure, and a stimulating classroom experience is the number one reason why students stay. In both cases, the faculty role is crucial. While investing in various academic support services is a valuable, even necessary, strategy for combating and correcting poor academic performance, the collective actions by faculty to improve learning climates, both inside and outside the classroom, have the greatest impact on student success.

Research on Persistence, Satisfaction and Growth

The higher education literature on student outcomes has devoted considerable attention to within-college retention and persistence. Since most persistence studies have been carried out on first-time, full-time freshmen, the generalizations discussed below are most appropriate for this particular population. However, evidence from studies on other populations suggests that factors leading to success among first-time full-time students apply generally, if not precisely, to other populations such as commuting, adult, transfer, and minority students.

The most complete and integrated model of college student persistence is the scholarship by Albany’s Alberto Cabrera, Maria Castaneda, and their colleague Amaury Nora who have merged and elaborated upon the work of Alexander Astin, John Bean, Ernest Pascarella, Patrick Terenzini, Vincent Tinto, and other leading scholars. This theoretical model, supported by empirical research at Albany and at other universities, contains the following major elements as important factors in student success:

Academic integration of the student into the educational structures of the institution: Research conducted at Albany and elsewhere shows that the vitality of the classroom experience is the single most influential variable in explaining student persistence and growth. Other important aspects of student academic success include good study habits and effort, faculty-student contact outside the classroom, academic support services for disadvantaged minorities, and effective faculty advisement systems for all students.
Social integration of the student into the life of the institution: Good peer networks and close friendships have strong and consistent influences on student retention and growth. Involvement in student activities, athletics, fraternities, and social events also have positive effects. Student employment on-campus appears to have a beneficial influence on student integration, but employment off-campus has a negative influence. Cabrera’s recent research has additionally explored perceptions of prejudice and racial disharmony, and it appears that these exert small but significant negative effects.
Adequate financial support: Research consistently demonstrates that unmet financial need and student perceptions and fears about financial difficulty have negative influences on retention and performance, especially when accompanied by off-campus employment.
Support of family and friends for attending college in general, and this institution in particular. Current students are our best ambassadors. High school guidance counselors are less important, but not to be ignored, especially since they may influence the perceptions of friends and family.
Goal clarity and institutional commitment: Having clear goals and purposes or being in college, for majoring in a particular discipline, and for entering a particular career have generally, though not consistently, been associated in the literature with retention and persistence to graduation.

Regarding outcomes like student development, satisfaction, and persistence, what happens to students after they arrive on campus has a much greater influence than the characteristics students bring with them. Studies consistently show that variables like age, race, sex, socio-economic status, SAT scores, high school grades, and other pre-college characteristics are relatively unimportant in explaining these outcomes. For example, the closest thing to a significant pre-college measure I the Cabrera Model is encouragement by family and friends—encouragement that takes place during college, as well as before. The research literature shows strong multiple connections among encouragement by family and friends, academic integration, social integration, and the student's commitment to the institution and persistence to graduation. Thus, these student outcomes are products of the interrelated academic and residential experiences that students seek and receive during their undergraduate years. Financial aid and effective academic and social support system appear to be the great equalizers for students from variable backgrounds.

Thus, the outcomes research models, like the practice models, indicate that the student success and persistence to graduation is the cumulative result of a set of interrelated experiences sustained over an extended period of time. While academic experiences appear to be the most influential, the collective impact of particular student experiences in the classroom , the residential hall, the library, and the student organization are not discrete, but mutually supporting. The evidence from public and private universities alike demonstrates that living-learning centers, are highly effective. Moreover, the distinction between academic affairs and students affairs is perhaps artificial because their impact on the student is quite interdependent. The institutions that have the greatest impact on students are ones that intermingle the academic and residential experience.