The first day of class is always stressful for students. There learning something new and they want to see what type of teacher they will have. The teaching style that you have and your experience that you bring.

In todays world, we are dealing with so many multiple tasks per day that it's hard to know what exactly the stress is. When people add school to the equation I think it can be used as an escape from their other realities. As instructors this can be our opportunity to make them fall in love so to speak with school and put that fire in them so retention won't be an issue.

I feel that an important part of retention is not just "selling" the program to the student, but informing the student what life in the area is like in regards to housing, jobs, transportation availablilty and cost of living while attending school. All too often, students arrive on campus ready to start school but are then hit with the reality of having to survive along with having to study and stay focused on school. Ultimately, students are our customers and if we can't maintain customer satisfaction, the burden of trying to exist while going to school outweighs the benefit of trying to get an education. In some cases, the school experience is the students first time away from home, and home can be a long way away. Getting the student involved in school programs as well as providing the proper guidance as part of the enrollment process can do alot to at least prepare the student for school life away from home.

Program directors and faculty should contact new students prior to class, just to welcome them and set up excitment for the first day. During the first week, admissions and the program directors should contact new students and ask how it is going.

Faculty should introduce self and novel way to have students introduce and share with class to start the class support system quickly. Syllabus, class rules, should be spelled out clearly. You can discard items from the first days instructions, but difficult to add sometimes.

While the idea of having a traveling Orientation is great. Going from department to department. Great care should be given that bottlenecks, delays and space issues are brainstormed prior to orientation.

A little over three years ago I was hired to start a new program with my present employer. I was a rather tall order due to the fact that it was a program to be deliver in Spanish. After countless hours of translation and reviews we finally implemented the new program. To my personal and professional pride today that program as a Hispanic that program has a retention rate of 86% even better than the overall institution retention rate.

We attribute that success to the fact that the instructors and I keep constant contact with all the students in the program. During the initial orientation I place great emphasis in the relationship between attendance and academic success. We also point out the need of staying in contact with the instructors at all times. The team of instructors works together to identify and assist the slower learning students. I do believe that the overall success of the program is due to the neat closeness that we are able to develop within the instructors and students. We always know the whereabouts of all our students and I also managed to know all of them by their first name.

Openness and availability are crucial in the success of a great program.

 

Good placement rates absolutely drive retention..it keeps students eye on the prize. Placements should be shared with students on a regular basis and serve as a constant reminder of why they are in school.

Particularly at Career colleges where students are coming and going often and have busy lives school websites can create a common place where students get information such as important dates, events, and activities. It is a "hub" for students to connect with the school from home, work; anywhere. A well designed, informative website can improve retention as well.

The biggest challenge for an mentoring programs is organization, especially with a large student body.How do you facilitate a program with 600,800, or 1000 students?

Faculty have a responsiblity to help students with goal setting and goal achievement and information about progress toward that goal should be made readily available. The faculty and other employees should always tell students about the institution's support services and the school's commitment to student success. Students must have opportunity to connect with service providers in an environment that protects their dignity and acknowledges the importance of the issue. The services you promise must be proactive, positive and show the students that the institution really cares about each student's success. After proper and adequate service is provided the students will then make others aware of the schools apportunities. "Word of mouth" is a powerful tool among students. If the word in the halls is that people at the schools care students will take advantage of your offerings.

Retention can be defined in many aspects at any institution. The responsiblity to retatin students are placed upon faculty, staff and school administration. Additionally, the student has a responsbility to work with staff and faculty to maintain school work and reach out for adequate resources when needed. We all are responsibile for assuring the proper education of each student at the learning institution. Resources should be readily made available through departments.

One of the key requirements that I often find in job openings posts is "ability to work well individually and as a team." I believe that by promoting group activities in the classroom, not only will this give students the opportunity to work together as a team, but it will also give them the opportunity to learn more about their classmates and interact with them. I prefer assigning groups instead of allowing people to choose their groups because they will automatically group up with people they are familiar with, thereby limiting their chance of getting to learn more about their peers. Also, a student would be more likely to ask support from a classmate who he or she is familiar with (whether it's help on homework, a ride to class, or further explanation of the classwork). Whatever the case, I believe that group interaction in the classroom promotes the sense of feeling like a family, and fosters student retention.

It is important to maintain high retention rates. Some withdrawals are necessary and avoidable, and there is nothing that the faculty members or the institution can do to avoid the withdrawal. However, it is the unnecessary withdrawals that these modules focus on. The key to avoiding unnecessary student withdrawals is early detention and prevention. Unnecessary withdrawals occur because of stressors. There are hordes of organizations and services setup to deal with these stressors. The instructor has more contact with the students than any other faculty on the campus. Good faculty will make themselves available and accessible and show that they care about their students. They do this by building rapport with their students. Once rapport is built, the faculty member will be able to pick up on certain things, even when the student keeps the issue to him/herself. For example, someone who usually participates a lot in class suddenly becomes quite, more disinterested, as though there’s a lot on his/her mind. This is a flag indicator that something has happened in this student’s life, the onset of a stressor. The instructor may not be able to solve the student’s problem, but as long as s/he is knowledgeable of the services that the institution offers, the instructor can put the student in touch with the right person. Right person, right place, right time equals alleviated stressor and greater potential at the student remaining and succeeding.

Customer service skills are very important. It should be explained to student the importance of customer service in their future endeavor.

We should get to know the student as a whole. A student can not be effective if we do not address other issues that may inhibit the student from learning. Comprehension with our adult students can be an issue can be an issuen. If they are involed with students of younger ages, they may not grasp the informatuon as a quick.

The presence of faculty during the initial orientation is of greta important to most students. A brief contact with faculty could go long ways with the future students. Actually, that can be the convincing factor in getting the individual to accept it's new reality as an "student". Unfortunately, in our industry (for-profit) only a selected group of faculty is ever present during orientation. Mainly the administration and departments chairs are the main event performers at orientations. Various entities used different aprroaches to the handling of students and the information distributed during orientation. Is this type of operation help out students with acclimatization? Most certainly the answer is "NO". Sometimes a brief tour of the campus and departments does not arouse the curiousity of the future students. But what about the interaction with instructors baking some cookies and letting the future student take there product home. Now, that is awakening to a major experience. In conclusion involvement needs to be at a deeper level than just tour the facilities.

I had been a academic administrator in the education private sector for the last eight years and I have to say that sometimes our handling of students expectations are shortsighted. We promised the world to our studentd during the enrollment process and once reality sets down after the hand-off from admission to academics stories quickly change. Adult learners are usually returning to school in response to changes in their life and after many years of not been enroll in an educational program but this two factors do not make them less knowledgeable or deserving consumers. In all actuallity because of their life experiences they demand a lot more from the institution when it comes to quality of education and services provided. In summary we must be certain of what we offer our students and that we have what it takes to deliver education and services that meet the expectations of our student. Remember they are the reason that we are in business!

I really liked the diagram and intervention cycle. I do this process with my students naturally, but it is great to see why it is effective. I have had plenty of times with student that were stuck and had difficulty reasoning out alternative to current life circumstances. How have you handled it?

I think all of us as managers have discovered June, July, and August to be the most significant drop in retention. For the most, part there are issues concerning child care and finance. Most of our students are the sole providers of their families and most work during times kids are out of school during summer months. In Texas, a child cannot stay alone in a home unless they are 14 years old. This is a huge factor when it comes to a student making a decision to stay in school versus their children compliance to state laws as well as their safety at home.