PART III OF OUR THREE PART SERIES: THE BUY-IN CHALLENGE (September, 2006)

Dr. Watson Scott Swail

This is the third of three parts in our Institutional Strategies Series. The first article in our March issue outlined the barriers to student retention, both from the extant literature and also from interviews and surveys we’ve conducted through our workshops around the US and Canada. The second part focused on programs and strategies that appear to either help OR hinder student retention on campus. In this issue we will discuss the inherent difficulties in getting buy-in on our campuses—all campuses—from faculty, staff, administration, and yes, students.

Part II: Institutional Strategies
Strategies to Increase Student Success ( May, 2006)

Watson Scott Swail, Ed.D

This is the second of three parts in our Institutional Strategies Series. The first article in our March issue outlined the barriers to student retention, both from the extant literature and also from interviews and surveys we’ve conducted through our workshops around the US and Canada. This edition’s discussion focuses on programs and strategies that appear to either help OR hinder student retention on campus. In our June issue we will discuss the inherent difficulties in getting buy-in on our campuses—all campuses—from faculty, staff, administration, and yes, students.

Institutional Strategies. A New Three-Part Series (2006, March)

Watson Scott Swail, Ed.D

Over the course of the next issues of “Student Success,” we will
explore three questions about retention on our college campuses. Part I will look at the barriers to student retention, both from the extant literature, but also from interviews and surveys we’ve conducted through our workshops around the US and Canada.
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Seven Guiding Questions for Student Retention.(2006, January)

Watson Scott Swail, Ed.D.

Keeping students in school seems harder than it should be. Today’s students appear to be less prepared, have more emotional baggage, and have a different set of expectations than prior cohorts. It’s arguable whether any or all of this is true, but for the average campus professional, it seems so.

The Art of Student Retention (2004, June)

Watson Scott Swail, Ed.D.

A 1975 research article by Vincent Tinto,“Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research,” spurred more than twenty-five years of dialogue on student retention and persistence in higher education. Though it has been attacked by some and revised by Tinto himself, his work has remained the dominant sociological theory of how students navigate through our postsecondary system.

Retaining Minority Students in Higher Education
(2003, November)

Watson Scott Swail with Kenneth Redd and Laura Perna

This publication focuses on the reasons why students of color do not persist at the postsecondary level at rates similar to white and Asian students, and provides useful tools for administrators and other educational leaders to improve retention on college campuses. Part I provides background on the political and practical issues facing campuses, Part II looks at why students leave college, Part III provides a theoretical model of student retention and a framework to guide institutional leaders during the development of a retention plan at their institution, and Part IV looks at implementation and leadership issues. Appendices includes an annotated reference of retention programs across the U.S., plus an extended annotated bibliography of useful readings. Click here to download (200 pages; 1.1MB)