Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange

1700 Asp Ave.
Norman, OK 73072

Phone: 405-325-2158
Fax: 405-325-7309
csrde@ou.edu

Tackling the Drop-Out Rates: Strategies to Improve Persistence in Three Ontario Community Colleges

presented by Fiona Bain-Greenwood, Seneca College

Date of webinar: January 20, 2010

*Materials for this webinar are not currently available.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION
To register for this webinar download this document, fill it out, and either mail or fax it to the CSRDE.

Abstract

Many post-secondary institutions are recording increasing enrollment rates, yet, these rates mask a common struggle: the high number of students who drop-out of their program of study. At some Ontario community colleges, almost 50 percent of students who enroll do not persist until graduation. Research shows the many reasons why students drop out of higher education institutions, but few initiatives try to identify these students before they actually leave. Foundations for Success, a pilot project involving 2,000 randomly assigned participants sponsored by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation in partnership with Confederation College, Mohawk College, and Seneca College, aims to test whether case manager-facilitated access to a combination of academic support, career education, mentoring, and financial incentives will increase the likelihood that students perceived at-risk of dropping out of college will persist and successfully complete their studies. This paper will argue that students deemed at-risk of not completing their program of study are more likely to engage in student support services if these services are coupled with a case management approach and a financial incentive. Preliminary results after one semester indicate a grade point average differential of 11% of students in the two treatment groups in relation to the control group.

The Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange at the University of Oklahoma is a consortium of two-year and four-year institutions dedicated to achieving the highest levels of student success through collaboratively sharing data, knowledge, and innovation.

CSRDE is a sponsored activity of the Center for Institutional Data Exchange and Analysis at