“What Do You Do If There Is No Silver Bullet?” John N. Gardner Policy Center on the First Year of College Higher Education Conference: Enrollment Management Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Oklahoma City, February 2, 2006
Introductory comments: just what did I learn in Speech 101 that I will apply here?!
There is no silver bullet. So what do we do about that?
A silver bullet that won’t work for you
What is the first-year experience anyway? What I meant vs what people heard me say and saw me do.
A need to reframe the retention conversation.
Moving away from a minimum standard to something more aspirational: we don’t offer majors and degrees in retention
Using Astin’s IEO model to focus on the “E”, the environment (what we control)
Taking more responsibility for student learning
Focusing on engagement: student behaviors vs our behaviors
One of the best kept dirty little secrets: the high risk course
Need to focus on the last retention frontier: the introductory course
Providing more opportunity for more students to start in the four-year sector? If not, what are the alternatives?
More NEED-based aid; and encouraging students to borrow more and work less.
Expanding opportunities for more on-campus student employment: should we be reinventing the “work college”?
Reducing course loads in the first term: five courses isn’t working for many.
Expanding opportunities for Summer Bridge
Declaring all out war on math failure
A strategy for some, but a minority: providing more opportunities for more students to live on campus.
More opportunities for peers to influence peers—but the kind of peers influencing each other in the ways you would want
Restructuring the time honored “retention committee”
Conducting a self study of the entire first year
More attention to the faculty rewards culture
Paying more attention to the leadership roles of academic deans and department chairs
More intentional integration of academic affairs and student affairs in pursuit of enhanced student learning
More opportunities for self-paced learning and open-ended term completion dates
Looking beyond the first-year experience to the sophomore year experience
My big bet: linking reaccreditation to first-year improvement efforts
Focus on raising expectations— the college experience just ain’t what it used to be
Redefining the historic purposes of the historic first year
Focusing on a grand design for the first year
Concentrating on what ALL students need
What are you going to take away from this speech for subsequent action?
An invitation: please join me for a conversation
Thank you ladies and gentlemen