The College Board Study on Student Retention is working with postsecondary institutions across the country to develop survey instruments identifying key campus policies and practices as well as student behaviors associated with student retention. Using these survey results, campus administrators will be able to determine more accurately the programs and policies that have a positive or negative influence on their students’ success and retention.

This initiative is conducting research both on student experiences (via its student survey) and on the policies and practices of institutions nationwide (via its institutional survey). Results from the student survey will help four-year colleges and universities determine which campus policies and practices have the greatest impact on student experiences related to retention. Results from the institutional survey will enhance understandings at colleges and universities of the links between the institutions’ policies and practices and their students’ retention. This survey will also provide documentation and measurement of the policies and practices related to retention at institutions across the country.

The College Board Study on Student Retention is funded by the College Board and brings together the research expertise and resources of the Project on Academic Success (PAS) at Indiana University and the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice (CERPP) at the University of Southern California.

The Student Survey

In its student survey, the College Board Study on Student Retention employs a standard cohort research methodology widely used in student persistence studies. This survey’s target population is full-time, first-year students attending the participating campuses for the first time, never having matriculated at another campus; definitions and classifications for “first-time” and “full-time” may vary from campus to campus. Administered to first-year students early in the spring semester, the survey examines the depth and quality of students’ experiences with peers, faculty, and campus programs meant to support student success. With participating institutions’ enrollment data from the following fall semester indicating which of the surveyed students returned and which did not, results from the survey’s spring administration are matched with data on students returning for the fall semester. Analyses are then conducted of the predictors of student persistence at each of the participating institutions.

To administer the survey, PAS works with Indiana University’s Center for Survey Research (CSR), whose research projects include the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Most participating institutions choose the in-class, paper-and-pencil administration of the survey for the high response rates it typically yields, while a few institutions opt for the efficiency and flexibility of the web-based administration.

The Institutional Survey

For the pilot version of the institutional survey of the College Board Study on Student Retention, four-year colleges and universities in five states provided information on their retention and graduation rates and on the organization and structure of their efforts to support student success and retention. Results of the pilot have been published by the College Board in the report, How Colleges Organize Themselves to Increase Student Persistence. Drawing on the analyses of these survey data and widening the focus of this inquiry, the new institutional survey, first administered in 2009, encompasses national-scope description and benchmarking of the retention policies and practices at four-year colleges and universities. A report outlining the new survey results will be released in early 2010. A parallel survey of two-year institutions is also in development.

College Board Advisor

• Dr. Steven Graff, Director & Senior Consultant, Admission & Enrollment Services

College Board Study on Student Retention Advisory Board

• Mr. David Bousquet, Vice President for Enrollment Management & Student Affairs, Northern Arizona University
• Dr. John Braxton, Professor of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Vanderbilt University
• Dr. Arlene Cash, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Spelman College
• Dr. David Kalsbeek, Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing, DePaul University
• Dr. Vasti Torres, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Indiana University
• Dr. Cornelia Wills, Director of the Office of Institutional Research, Middle Tennessee State University