Freshman “Seminar” – from Elective to Requirement Summary of Rationale and Early Research into the Policy Effectiveness Tyrone McKoy UMBC Ph.D. Student, Public Policy Associate Professor, CCBC Mathematics Faculty 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) One college – 3 campuses – 4 extension centers – 60,000 students - 33,000 credit The Halfs : receive financial aid, minority, work 20+ hrs/wk, transfer to 4-year The Half-nots: 68% live in community, 58% female, 43% part-time (85%), 65% need remediation 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Backdrop “The student success literature of the past decade has been nearly unanimous in describing the earning of certificates and degrees as the key ‘tipping points’ in changing the life-time earnings, career trajectories, and economic success of the overwhelming majority of college students.”… CCBC Internal Planning Document, 2008 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Problem Freshman attrition rates are high (retention or return rates are low) Research by Terenzini (1986), Cuseo (1991), and others indicate that more than 50% of students who drop out of college do so during the first year, with many of them not remaining beyond the midway point of the first semester (Cuseo, 1991; Williford, Chapman, & Kahrig, 2001). 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Significance Advanced education credentials are requirements for employment 65% nationally (69% MD, 62% TX) (Carnevale, et al, 2013) Personal economic factors significantly affected $18k/year average BS-No Degree (Carnevale, et al, 2011) 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Significance (cont.) Taxpayer costs $ spent on students in financial aid and grants Government scrutiny Performance funding, accountability College costs It costs more to recruit than to retain students 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Causes Underprepared academically – fail out Poor time management – cant manage work Unfamiliar expectations – don’t know Not connected/integrated – isolated/alone Other responsibilities – life requires more (Integration, Interaction, Involvement Theories) 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Solution? Freshman Seminar – Academic Development (ACDV) 101 – Transitioning to College Built on sound evidence to support student success The first year experience course is a powerful predictor of persistence into sophomore year (Upcraft, Gardner, & Barefoot, 2005). 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Solution? (cont.) A high impact practice Freshman seminars one of ten “life-changers” (AAC&U) Affordable 1-Credit, 1.5 Contact hours Scalable Nearly 200 sections offered (class size 22) 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Trend Freshman Seminars in general Increased adoption (NRC for FYE) Increased research (CCRC) Long history (Pascarella & Terenzini, Tinto, Upcraft, Garner, & Barefoot, etc. ) 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Twist This course is an orientation requirement for all credit certificate and degree seeking students who are new to college and must be taken the first semester... -Required – Eliminates selection bias -All “new” students – larger targeted population -First semester – early treatment 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Also Embedded Academic Advising Full semester Full-Time trained faculty 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Summary …an interactive course designed to familiarize students with [the institution] and foster the development of decision-making skills and learning strategies that link to student success in higher education. Students will explore tentative occupational choices and create an “academic roadmap” for their [institution] experience. 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Expectations According to Fidler and Hunter (1989) student retention was the key impact of interest and was often found to be positively associated with freshman seminar courses “The weight of the evidence suggests that a first-semester freshman seminar is positively linked with both freshman-year persistence and degree completion… [which] persists even when academic aptitude and secondary school achievement are taken into account.” (Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991) 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Research What is the retention impact of the required Freshman Seminar course? Is there evidence of significant improvement in retention rates college-wide, i.e., for all students? …for target population of first-time college students? …for other sub-populations of students, i.e., full-time, minority students, or recent HS graduates? 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Data Currently have records of new student enrollments for fall 2007-2011 cohorts Treatment Group: “New”, “degree seeking” New – no college credits or only summer credits Degree seeking – declared major or certificate Control Group: “PEP”, non-degree, “new transfer” PEP – credits earned while in high school New transfer – new students with < 6 credits counted 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Methods Estimates using a difference-in-differences (DD) method – a method used to evaluate the impact of parental notification laws on abortion and birth rates in 1999 (Colman, Joyce, & Kaestner, 2008) and minimum wage increases in NJ in 1992 (Card & Krueger, 1994). Research centers on logistic regression model with both binary explanatory variable of interest (ACDV Required) and response variables (Returned 2nd Fall semester) 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Concerns Suitability of treatment and control groups for comparison The parallel-trends assumption is a simple but required condition for the DD method Controlling for student characteristics, e.g., full-time status, Pell grant acceptance, college-ready status, etc. Dealing with missing data Other factors inside and outside of institution 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Construct 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Next Clarify and identify comparison groups and verify required assumptions (otherwise change method of analysis) Identify and isolate (control for) confounding variables Specify functional form of retention model and run OLS, and Logistic Regression models to estimate causal impact Share results 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Thank You! 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

Tyrone McKoy UMBC – mckoy@umbc.edu CCBC – tmckoy@ccbcmd.edu Contact Tyrone McKoy UMBC – mckoy@umbc.edu CCBC – tmckoy@ccbcmd.edu 2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX