How are colleges identifying their most and least effective practices for student retention?

This table shows that more than half of colleges and universities nationwide are primarily using outcomes data to determine the relative effectiveness of the various initiatives, programs, and interventions they are using to maintain or improve student retention.  The data are drawn from Noel-Levitz’s forthcoming report, 2011 Student Retention Practices at Four-Year and Two-Year Institutions.

As the table indicates, between 52 percent and 64 percent of institutions primarily use outcomes data to identify their most and least practices. In addition, about 30 percent of institutions primarily use informal feedback mechanisms and between 6 percent and 18 percent of institutions primarily use student feedback data.

Using outcomes data as the primary basis for identifying effective practices is the preferred approach that Noel-Levitz recommends to its consulting clients, and we encourage all campuses to adopt this standard. Specifically, we encourage institutions to look beyond their lagging outcomes data measures of retention and degree completion rates at the many earlier and contributing forms of outcomes data available, including but not limited to mid-year indicators and course completion data, by subpopulation, so that effective practices can be identified even more precisely and quickly.

Want to learn more? Consider attending the retention track sessions at our upcoming National Conference on Student Recruitment, Marketing and Retention July 26-28, 2011, in Denver.  You can also join us this fall for a one-day workshop: Student Retention and Degree Completion: Identifying the Most Productive Strategies, coming to Houston on October 12, 2011, and to Indianapolis on November 15, 2011. Watch for more information to be added to our Web site.

Also watch for the new report on retention practices to be released in July 2011 under “Papers and research” at www.noellevitz.com.