1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Data
Currently have records of new student enrollments for fall 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Construct
2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

20. 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

21. Thank You!
2017 TYFY Conference, San Antonio, TX

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