1. Retention: Voices, Findings and Recommendations
Nadya A. Fouad, Joel Bocanegra, Wen-shin Chang, Arpita Ghosh, Brittney Holcomb, Shin-ye Kim, Brett Opelt, Chad Olle, Rachel Reinders, Christina Wilson, Gary Young,

2. Overview What do freshmen say?
What are the experiences of those working with freshmen?
What have retention scholars found works (and doesn't work?)
What are recommendations for best practices?

3. Freshman Voices
Students have no clue what classes to take, unaware of campus resources, and feel unconnected to the University
Freshmen in the LLC section said the sense of community and belonging were important to them (e.g. going to the Career Fair together as a group to offer support).

4. Freshman Voices
"They enter the classroom tired, frustrated, and confused. When inquiring about the adjustment in presentation, students will often report difficulties preparing for midterms, finding a place to print an essay, and homesickness amongst others"
"I have taught this class at another large Midwest university and freshman are entering university campuses with a need for direction to activate success by braiding major exploration and academic basic skills for achievement. "

5. Freshman Experience
A 1 cr. freshman orientation course was required of all incoming freshman [at Whitewater];
Counted as GER
One required assignment was to interview a professor.
Professors were very welcoming and knew their students by name for most courses

6. Hard to Reach Freshmen CAPPS Peer Mentors Sent letters Sent emails
Created Facebook page
Created a website
Worked with peer mentors
Created role models
Created a video
Active recruitment-Union,etc
Still only had 14 /140 respond
Sent letters
Sent s
Telephoned where possible
Less than 1/3 responded

7. UWM Work Experience
Some of the things I have seen and experienced with these programs is that they all would be really great and helpful to students (developing connections both peer & campus, support, etc), [and] some of these programs [are] run by the right "fitting" individuals, but are also poorly funded which is tying their hands behind them for what they could be doing in helping students.

8. Findings
Reviewed all literature in “Retention”, “Persistence” and “Graduation” since 2000
Resulted in over 300 articles
Reviewed all abstracts to eliminate duplicates, ineligible studies
111 empirical articles
Around 150 non-empirical “best practices” articles/chapters (not all available at UWM)

9. Findings
Most studies focused on one aspect of retention (e.g., finances, cohort model).
Most focused on persistence (rather than graduation). Most on 1st-2nd year persistence
Most are not highly sophisticated research studies (tempers some conclusions)

10. Findings
Academic ability is the strongest and clearest predictor of 1st-2nd year retention
Second strongest predictor is student engagement.
Student engagement is defined in various ways, focus of many interventions

11. What works: Student Engagement
Freshman Year Experience (*)
Create Cohort
Mentoring/support
Living on campus (LLC)

12. What works: Student Engagement
Connecting to Faculty
Connecting to campus resources
Connecting to student organizations
Football game attendance
Facebook
Commuter students less engaged

13. What works: Skill Development
Time management
Study Skills
How to speak up in class
Greater confidence (self-efficacy) in academic and study skills
Goal orientation and intention
Financial management (converse is financial stress)

14. What works: Faculty Support
Supportive and approachable faculty
Early assignments with feedback

15. What works: Family support
Families are source of support, particularly for racial/ethnic minority students
First generation families have conflict when don’t understand university policies (e.g., FERPA)

16. What works: Advising
Advisors tracking attendance and contacting students with poor attendance records early
ing students prior to first homework
Requiring all students to meet with advisors early and often

17. What works: Counseling
Students who participated in either individual or group counseling more likely to persist
Counseling services required in one study

18. What works: Freshman Year Course
Included:
Time management and study skills,
Planning and coping skills
Career exploration and focus on a goal
Connecting with a mentor
Meeting with a professor,
Studying with other students,
Researching campus clubs/organizations

19. Best practices