Our school has been struggling with retention for the past year. We've tried mentoring programs, in-service ideas about retention, but not advising. Do you think it would help and if so, how do other schools choose their advisors?

Our institution has developed a student mentoring program where new students are paired with current students to help in making the transition from current situations to college life. We try to recruit current students who have at least one year left to insure some continuity in the program. Also, faculty and staff serve as advisors to the mentors and also meet with the first quarter students. The student mentor and the advisor ask the new student various questions about how they are making the transition to college life. At first, the program was successful, but lately it has failed to achieve the required level of retention. Do any other institutions do similar things and if you do what kind of things have you found to be helpful in achiveing your retention goals?

Faculty are the "front line" in dealing with student issues that lead to withdrawl. Too many times teachers don't want to be involved with anything that is not directly related to subject matter. I think providing incentives might be one way to get teachers involved outside their subject area.

I frequently make myself available for students to discuss their classes and grades. I find the students who usually take advantage of this are the ones that least need guidance. How do we get the ones most in need of guidance and academic conseling to take advantage of the opportunites to do so?

I wonder if on occassion a teacher tends to see things in students that aren't really there. They project their own emotions, motivations, biases and so forth on to the student. This then colors the teachers perception of the student. Students have plenty of baggage of their own to deal with. Should we be doing somthing to help teachers recognize this tendency to project?

There is an ongoing discussion at my school about the value of preadmission testing. I think it would be a good way to screen for at risk students. We could then focus our retention efforts according to liklyhood of withdrawl. Any thoughts?

From time to time there will be a student who is attending school as a stepping stone to achieve a reqirement to reach another training program. What do you do with someone who just doesn't have any interest in the program.

1. I will contact all absent students. 2. All equipment will be upgraded. 3. Carpooling will be implemented.

Evaluating every instructor at the end of their term is very important.

It's importamt to identify stressors early on.

Make sure that admissions isn't "over selling".

At our school we have weekly student evaluations that the instructors complete and turn in to Student Services. The evaluations allow the instructor to rate the student (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor) on attendance, tests/quizzes, participation etc. Recently I have started passing this information on to the Admissions Department. We try to have our Admission Representatives active in the students progress throughout their enrollment. I have found this is a good way to keep instructors and staff connected. After reading one of the prior discussions I am interested in the web based access for students to contact Student Services staff. If anyone has helpful hints on getting that started it would be great!

Does anyone have any good ideas for blostering school commitment? For example, there is a student that I am dealing with who is struggling with school, and I speak with this student frequently and do all I can do show my commitment to helping him through. At the same time I am hearing that an instructor is projecting a very negative attitude. How do I deal with the instructor's attitude toward this individual student, keeping in mind that not all people will get along?

The module points out that while you may have an extensive orientation process new students can become overwhelmed by the flow of information and retain little of what they are told. At our school our Admissions Representatives frequently are in touch with students througout their attendance and can guide them to the proper staff members when they have trouble. But what about the student who may be over looked? Any good suggestions on putting orientation info back out into the student body midway through their programs? Any good ideas on places to post this info? Newsletters? Group E-mails?

If the concept of retention means one thing to administrators, another to recruiters, and something else to instructors, what are some possible methods of getting everyone to see the picture from all of the others' perspectives? What forms of cross-communication are being used in your institution?

Anytime a student comes to a staff member and says they have to quit, we feel we are half way home in our ability to save them. A student who says they must quit is really saying "I really don't want to quit. Could you help me find a way to stay?" I am concerned with finding someway to intervene with those students who simply vanish without saying anything to anyone. Does anyone have some techniques that they have found helpful in reaching out to these students?

One of the things we do to help stem Academic Erosion stress is to constantly provide reinforcement for the student on a personal level. One way is to create projects (it could be a quiz or a crossword puzzle or photographs of a clinical lab with the student as the center of attraction in the photo.) which are designed specifically to be taken home and placed on the refrigerator door. This helps them to show off a bit for their family and becomes a conversation starter about how well they are doing. It is especially fun for students with children at home to move some of the kids' stuff out of the way to put mom or dad's 'A' on that door. I would love to have some additional ideas that others use to bolster the students' self-esteem.

One of the biggest causes of stress and the subsequent attrition we face in our school comes from peer and family pressure. We have all to often seen parents that tell their sons or daughters "What makes you think you can do this, you never did anything else that you finished!". As they get closer to graduation, the pressure increases. We attribute much of this to jealousy. I would be interested in any ideas that others may have as to how to assist the students through this difficult area.

When students start in any new environment, they bring with them a set of expectations that may be unrealistic or unatainable. In our orientation sessions, we discuss with the students not only what we expect of them and what they can expect of us, but what do they expect to happen while they are with us. We also help them realize some of the common reasons that students drop out. (eg. transportation, child care, lack of commitment, work responsiblities, educational deficiencies, etcetera) We then help them come up with alternative plans and systems so when they encounter these issues they are prepared instead of surprised. What methods do others use to help determine and focus the expectations of incoming students?

Topic 1 implies that a lack of role models for many of our students to follow negatively affects retention. How have other schools dealt with this issue and with what results?