BOOSTING FIRSTYEAR RETENTION WITH LIMITED RESOURCES Alan Bearman, Dean, University Libraries and the Center for Student Success and Retention, Washburn University Elaine Lewis, Assistant Director, Undergraduate Programs, Virginia Polytechnic and State University Sean Bird, Associate Dean, University Libraries and the Center for Student Success and Retention, Washburn University At higher education institutions, improving first-year student retention is a common goal. After a mandate from the Kansas Board of Regents, Washburn University took a unique approach to improving first-to-second-year retention beginning in 2011. In the six years following, the university improved retention from 62.2% to 72.4% without changing the profile of incoming students. Three strategic initiatives, each of which center on data-driven decision making, led to this change.
Building a Culture of Student Success First, research related to best practices led to the creation of a first-year seminar (FYS). Securing this course as a graduation requirement initially proved challenging. However, project leaders connected the FYS with Washburn’s newly adopted learning outcome of information literacy and technology, which is rooted in the Association of College & Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (ACRL, 2016). Doing so reinforced legitimacy and faculty buy-in for the course. A need to support the FYS brought about structural changes to university libraries at Washburn, including the creation of the Center for Student Success and Retention (CSSR). This academic unit, housed as part of the university libraries, took on the responsibilities of exploratory and specialized academic advising, the tutoring and writing centers, first-year seminars, and a variety of other retention-focused initiatives. Without an influx of funding to create new positions at the center, leadership opted for a flexible organizational structure. Informed, research-driven decisions led to adoption of the boundaryless organization model, in which removing artificial obstacles (e.g., hierarchy) and promoting quick, proactive changes creates successful organization (Ashkenas, 2002). The CSSR was able to create new positions by reallocating employee responsibilities and positions vacated by retirements
within the department. A unit-level data analytics position was one example. Finally, with the understanding that an FYS would not be enough to improve university retention on its own, the CSSR sought to build a relationship between the analytics position and institutional research. The CSSR saw this as an opportunity to (a) make informed decisions, (b) bring consistency to assessment activities, (c) ask direct questions through institutional research, and (d) identify trends for intervention opportunities. Targeted interventions, made to a narrowed, specific group identified by institutional research, cost significantly less to launch than more conventional interventions to a larger population, as they require fewer personnel. One example: setting up a no-cost re-recruitment effort in which faculty contacted students not yet enrolled for the upcoming term. Tracking response, referral, and enrollment rates showed the success of the initiative. Such initiatives succeed because the continual flow of data to the CSSR allows for early identification of intervention points in the academic life of both individual students and entire cohorts.
Boosting Information Literacy The FYS has a vital role in exposing students to and teaching the University Student Learning Outcome of information literacy at Washburn. To highlight the gains of students in this area, the CSSR and university librarians developed an extensive assessment and evaluation process for the FYS. As an example, objectiveembedded evaluation showed students’ understanding of the academic integrity element of information literacy did not meet university standards. Librarians made curricular revisions in 20152016 that emphasized the importance of academic integrity by developing a new activity, Chipotle Ethics, in which students learn about ethics and integrity through life application. Evaluation of an associated reflection activity showed that students increased
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