Are retention and education enemies?
Are retention and education enemies? The simple answer is no. Retention is a product of quality education.
I have a recurring nightmare in where a teacher grants grades based upon effort rather than production. To make matters entirely more scary, the towns people are storming room teaching across the hall because the monster teaching that class allowed some of his students to fail. Just for sake of being lonely, I hope there are others out there who share in my horror.
To be fair, I have never heard anyone on this site state that we need to lower standards to improve retention; however, I'm not seeing anyone say that standards of quality education cannot be sacrificed to the gods of retention. To me, that is a message that should be repeated with every discussion on retention.
To be unfair, the found that the question in the quiz regarding a positive correlation between retention and how well someone is doing in the class to show, at minimum, a structural bias toward retention. I grant considerable benefit when doubting that it was instrumental.
The truth in education is that quality and retention can be friends when we examine why we teach. That is an important question, and one that impacts retention far more than any other question out there. A lot of teachers know what they teach and some even know how to go about doing it. The teachers that I remember, admire, and still look up to are the ones that knew why they were teaching in addition to the how and what. It is the why that drives us to push our students beyond where they thought it possible to go. It is the why that demands we be compassionate while still holding students accountable to the highest quality of work. It is the why that encourages us to work far beyond our pay and be there for students.
Trust me, as a sociolgy teacher, I understand the importance of socialization to any new environment, but I see that as just one of the functions of a quality education. Part of college should be the education of how to succeed in college, but success cannot be measured by retention alone because it is a function of education, not the other way around.
Ty,
Social passing does no one any good and ultimately hurts retention. Students will not feel as if they are learning as much as they can. They could leave and they will definitely share their experiences.
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
you can not have good retention without good instruction because even if they pass one class they won't be prepaired for the next one which could be the one that causes the trtention problem.
And relevant given the regulatory changes being finalized for enforcement later this year. Yes as a for profit career education corporation, we need to retain students to ensure the viability of our business. And now, coming to a school near you, greater scrutiny of the quality of the students education, the extent of their success and their ability to repay their loans instead of letting them go into default. And if scrutiny of our practices reveals non-compliance, the revenue source of federal student loans is liable to be closed off. Many of the ideas and tools detailed in the course are becoming increasingly important to the continues success of the business. I honestly don't think it is enough, to hold instructors accountable for this information at the point of contact. A thorough review of the student's experience is needed, from initial contact to the moment they accept their diploma and beyond. Get the right students to sign-up, position them to succeed, keep a close eye on those that may be facing challenges, mobilize the resources at our disposal to ensure their success and network with them beyond graduation.
Well said. Really, it does all start with the hire. Then, link to excellent advising, centered on career themes.
Dr. B
