Attrition vs. Retention

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Attrition vs. Retention Is it a Question of
Survival of the Fittest?

• Diversity in the Sciences Symposium
• University of Washington, SeattleOctober 28,
  2006
• Tuajuanda C. Jordan, Ph.D.
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute

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Key Factors for Student Retention

• Having a sense of community
• Knowledgeable Advising
• Effective Mentoring
• Curriculum Assessment
• Academic Support
• Financial Aid
• Discipline-specific Extracurricular Activities

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Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA)

• XULA is
• a small Catholic and historically Black
  university having a pre-Katrina enrollment of
  4,100
• Number one in the nation in placing African
  Americans into medical school (since 1993)
• First in the nation in graduating students with
  Bachelors degrees in the life sciences
• Ranked first in the country in the number of
  undergraduate degrees conferred to chemistry
  majors
• Number one in the U.S. for producing students
  with a Bachelors degree in physics
• The institution from which gt25 of the countrys
  African American pharmacists earned their
  professional degree

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Key Factors Sense of Community
It means that the student should feel, from the
outset, that she belongs in your program and that
she is in a welcoming and supportive environment.
Sense of community? What does that mean?
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Key Factors Sense of Community

• Frequent and personal communications from the
  department faculty, students, or staff as soon
  as the student is accepted into the university
• A positive group identification or trademark
• A readily identifiable and accessible gathering
  place that can also serve as a resource room

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d v i s i n g
A c a d e m i c
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Key Factors Academic Advising

• Academic advising can be done either individually
  or in teams, by faculty or staff
• The advising system should be consistent
• The advisor(s) must be available, accessible,
  and knowledgeable of the academic programs and
  career options
• Must be assigned as soon as the student declares
  her major

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Key Factors Advising Example

• Xaviers Biology Department
• Uses a hands on approach
• Is as consistent as humanly possible
• Has an Advising Handbook developed by one of the
  senior faculty members distributed to all
  Biology faculty members
• First year Biology faculty advisors are required
  to attend an advising workshop run by the senior
  faculty member
• The advisor is assigned as soon as the student
  is accepted as a Biology major
• The student is
• required to meet with the advisor before she is
  allowed to register for courses
• enticed to meet with the advisor on a weekly or
  bi-weekly basis to discuss progress in courses
  during the freshman and sophomore years

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Mentoring
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Key Factors - Mentoring

• Effective mentoring requires
• that an individual establishes a relationship
  with the mentee
• the very basic, yet essential, understanding that
  the relationship is a humanistic experience and
  thus every experience will be different
• guidance
• a certain amount of nurturing
• cultivation towards independence
• empowerment
• Two types
• Peer mentoring
• Faculty mentoring

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Key Factors - Mentoring

• Peer mentor
• is
• successful upperclassman
• knowledgeable of
• the academic program
• the institution
• potential career paths
• has
• career aspirations
• similar life experiences . . . a bonus

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Key Factors - Mentoring

• Faculty mentor
• Consummate professional at all times
• Good listener
• Accessible and available
• Sensitive to issues of diversity
• Team player
• Character builder
• Empowers

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Curriculum Reform
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Some Thoughts about Curriculum

• You/Committee must be REFLECTIVE
• What should the student know when he completes
  the course?
• Course information must contain DIVERSE methods
  of presentation
• It must be SELF LESS
• Assessment should begin with the
  discipline-specific INTRODUCTORY COURSES

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Introductory Course Dilemma
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Gatekeeper Courses and Attrition
If the course is meant to be a gatekeeper, then
most of the departments attrition will happen
during that first year. If a student gets through
that course, the chances are good that she will
persist in the major and graduate.
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Gatekeeper Courses
When the introductory course is a gatekeeper, we
are describing survival of the fittest in its
most basic form.
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Gatekeeper Courses
The student was adequately prepared to succeed
when she entered into the institution.
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Gatekeeper Courses
The important point here is that she entered into
the institution with virtually everything she
required for success.
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Gateway Courses
If, on the other hand, consensus is reached that
the intro course will be the gateway to the
discipline, the concept of first year attrition
is almost a non-entity as the phenomenon is
better described as one of retention.
the Xavier story
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XULA Curriculum Reform
How did this small school in New Orleans gain
national recognition for its programs in science?
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SAT Scores of Incoming Freshmen
Score
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If the university didnt recruit high-ability
students, how did it become a national leader in
the science education of underrepresented
minorities.
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Consequently, they implemented several features
in most of the entry-level courses that have
significantly contributed to XULAs success in
graduating under-represented minorities in the
STEM disciplines.
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Features of Standardized Entry-level Courses

• Inquiry-based laboratory experiments
• Exercises to improve critical-thinking and
  test-taking skills
• Efforts to improve general, not scientific,
  vocabulary
• Efforts to help students learn to visualize in
  three dimensions
• Effort to get students to form study groups
• Encouraging students to meet frequently with
  their academic advisor

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How do the faculty know that the modified
entry-level courses are more effective than the
traditional courses they offered in the past?
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General Chemistry Pass Rate
Pre-reformation
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The change in philosophy of how best to train
students, in general, and underrepresented
minority students, in particular, in the sciences
has had a significant impact on XULA STEM student
matriculation.
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Impact STEM Student Matriculation
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Changing how the introductory-level courses are
taught is just one aspect of the program XULA has
in place that has served to increase retention
and persistence in the sciences.
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XULA Additional Support Mechanisms

• Various programs offering tuition assistance
• Extensive student support services
• Tutoring and counseling centers
• Pre-med Office
• Center for Undergraduate Research
• Graduate Placement Office
• Career Placement and Counseling Office
• Faculty development activities
• Center for the Advancement of Teaching
• Center for Undergraduate Research
• A growing cadre of faculty actively engaged in
  research activities with undergraduates

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No. There are many examples out there where
people are making a major impact on diversifying
science, a task that calls for one to focus on
retention rather than on attrition. Case in
point, the University of Texas at El Paso.
Xavier is a special place and this type of thing
can only work at a place like Xavier!
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The University of Texas, El Paso

• Unlike XULA, UTEP is
• Public
• Hispanic-serving
• Large
• Research-intensive

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UTEP Undergraduate Profile

• Average age of an undergraduate 24
• 16,000 enrolled
• 72 Hispanic
• 10 Mexican (International)
• 82 from El Paso Community
• 98 Commuter
• 81 Employed
• 96 Financial Assistance
• 54 First-generation college students

Dr. Benjamin Flores, UTEP. Taken from a
presentation made at the NSF JAM 2006. Used by
permission
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The UTEP Model

• CirCLES an entering student program for
  1st-time science and engineering students
  cohorts are formed
• ACES (Academic Center for Engineers and
  Scientists) a place for commuter students to
  work on science engineering academic and
  professional development activities
• CETaL (Center for Effective Teaching and
  Learning)
• REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates)
• CCLI (Curriculum, Course, Laboratory, and
  Instruction improvement projects)
• WISE (Women in Science and Engineering)

Dr. Benjamin Flores, UTEP. Taken from a
presentation made at the NSF JAM 2006. Used by
permission
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UTEP

Dr. Benjamin Flores, UTEP. Taken from a
presentation made at the NSF JAM 2006. Used by
permission
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UTEP

Dr. Benjamin Flores, UTEP. Taken from a
presentation made at the NSF JAM 2006. Used by
permission
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UTEP

Dr. Benjamin Flores, UTEP. Taken from a
presentation made at the NSF JAM 2006. Used by
permission
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Review Keys to Developing Successful Retention
Practices

• Community
• Advising
• Mentoring
• Assessment
• Academic Support
• Financial Aid
• Extracurriculars

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Conclusion

• Diversifying the sciences requires a
  multi-faceted approach that includes
• Student development
• Student academic, social, and financial support
• Faculty development
• Curriculum enhancement
• Attentive coordination of these efforts will
  result in significant improvement in student
  retention and persistence in science and
  engineering

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Epilogue
Is the matter of diversifying science a question
of survival of the fittest?
The answer to this question is Yes, but there are
more relevant questions.
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Epilogue
How does one define fittest?
Whose responsibility is it to see to it that
students are fit for success in the STEM
disciplines?
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Epilogue
There are others who believe that if an entering
student has the will and desire to be a scientist
or engineer, the onus is on the institution to
provide the resources for that student to try to
achieve that goal.
There are some who believe that high attrition
rates are due to inadequate preparation of
entering college freshmen and that the onus lies
within the K-12 system.
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Epilogue
A college educator can positively and
significantly impact science diversity in a
relatively short period of time. Go ahead, be a
change agent. Others will surely follow.
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References

• Carmichael JW, Labat DD, Hunter JT, Privett JA,
  and Sevenair JP (1993) Minorities in the
  Biological Sciences The Xavier success story and
  some implications. BioScience 43 (8), 564 70.
• Carmichael JW, Bauer JD, Hunter JT, Labat DD, and
  Sevenair JP (1988) An Assessment of a Premedical
  Program in Terms of Its Ability to Serve Black
  Students. J. Natl Medical Assoc. 80, 1094
  -1104.
• Xavier University Profile. 1987, 1997, 2000,
  2004.
• Jordan TC (2005) The Impact of the MIE Program
  on Xavier University of Louisiana. Unpublished.
• Flores, Benjamin (2006) UTEP MIE Eleven Years
  Later a presentation made at the NSFs Joint
  Annual Meeting, March 2006.