Faculty Views of “Nontraditional” Students: Aligning Perspectives for Student Success

Faculty serve as a primary point of contact for students in college, playing vital roles in students’ retention and attainment. The perceptions and beliefs held by these institutional actors are important for understanding the context that shapes students’ experiences while they are in college and potentially, long after they leave. The purpose of this work is to examine faculty members’ perceptions of nontraditional student experiences. Findings highlight faculty members’ awareness of students’ multiple roles and obligations; perceptions of student academic success, including barriers to succeeding; and the ways faculty connect with students and the types of connections they forge. The findings from this work highlight the need to consider more research on how the experiences of students who do not fit a traditional model are interpreted by those in positions of power at higher education institutions. As such, we add to calls for more work that considers these institutional actors explicitly and how they shape student success

Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates

College completion, earning a degree or certificate, is considered to be a key college success outcome, supported by every educational policymaker. Yet, institutions and policymakers in the U.S. know surprisingly little about the rates of completion for students who follow all but the most traditional of postsecondary pathways. This is because traditional graduation rate calculations are institution based and only count students who finish at the same institution where they started. Building on findings from previous reports in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center's Signature Report series, this new report measures this key college success outcome -- rates of first completion -- encompassing postsecondary credentials of all levels and types at any institution in any state, whether it is the first, second, third, or more, attended.Students in the U.S. pursuing a postsecondary education move along pathways that are increasingly complex. In its second Signature Report, Transfer and Mobility: A National View of Pre-Degree Student Movement in Postsecondary Institutions (Hossler et al., 2012), the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that one-third of first-time college students attended multiple institutions before earning a degree or certificate. Nontraditional students, like those who postpone college enrollment after high school, attend college part time, and/or have full-time jobs, have become the new majority among U.S. college students. This emphasizes the limitations of continuing to rely on traditional measures of student and institutional success that describe only first-time full-time students who never enroll at any institution other than their starting institution. Such measures fail to capture the full range of outcomes among today's college students. They also fail to recognize institutional and policy efforts to support students pursuing diverse pathways.This report draws on the Clearinghouse database's near-census national coverage of enrollments and awarded degrees to explore the six-year outcomes of a cohort of first-time-in-college degree-seeking students who started in fall 2006 (N=1,878,484)

Closing the Academic and Equity Gaps: How Achieving the Dream Redefined Assessment

This chapter will demonstrate how Achieving the Dream, a nonprofit leader of a national reform network of community colleges and open‐access universities, uses assessment to guide institutions toward a culture of evidence, equity and continuous improvement to improve student success.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146378/1/ir20257_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146378/2/ir20257.pd

Mobile Working Students: A Delicate Balance of College, Family, and Work

Increasingly, education policymakers are turning attention to the access and persistence of the new college majority,-a group that may be described as mobile working students (Ewell, Schild, & Paulson, 2003). Traditionally, much research on college students has focused on students who graduate from high school and move on to attend a four-year college on a full-time basis, graduating in four to six years. However, as Adelman (2006) and others show, even among traditional-age college students this pattern of linear enrollment is less and less common. Thus, as Kasworm (chapter 2) also argues, metaphors such as the education pipeline no longer fit. Instead, students are more accurately represented as moving along pathways or even swirling toward postsecondary success. The experience of the mobile working student as conceived in this chapter encompasses multiple aspects of mobility and the varied, nonlinear, and evolving patterns of college going increasingly characteristic of students nationwide. One aspect of mobility in this complex and emerging picture centers on students\u27 experiences at commuter institutions, moving onto and off of campuses. In addition, students enroll in multiple institutions, moving between them. Finally, because they move into and out of institutions as well, the concomitant issues of attrition, stop-out, and degree attainment are also important to this project.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/books/1048/thumbnail.jp

Working Students’ Perceptions of Paying for College: Understanding the Connections between Financial Aid and Work

For many students at urban commuter colleges, the process of financial aid is unknown or mysterious; and so they work—often many hours a week—to pay expenses that financial aid might have covered. Missteps, unforeseen events, and limited resources can have severe consequences for the academic progress of these students. The broader study, of which this paper is a part, represents an effort to explore and describe students’ college-going, working, family responsibilities, and academic success at three commuter institutions in a metropolitan region in the Midwest. The encompassing project aims to introduce new qualitative data and situated description into the study of these phenomena. In this article, we explore students’ views and experiences with financial aid, centering on the research question: How do students describe and conceptualize financial aid policy

First to Go to College and First to “Go Greek:” Engagement in Academically Oriented Activities by Senior Year First Generation Students Who Are Fraternity/Sorority Members

Using National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data, this study examined levels of engagement in academically oriented activities by college seniors who experience college as both first-generation students and fraternity/sorority members. On four of five NSSE scales, first-generation college students who are members reported higher levels of engagement than those who are not members, and members and non-members who are not first-generation. Because engagement in academically oriented activities positively influences student success, knowing students’ self-reported participation has implications for practitioners

Metodología 5s como estrategia para mejorar la productividad de los colaboradores en el Restaurante Alfa y Omega, Mocupe

El presente estudio de investigación tuvo como objetivo general proponer la metodología 5s como estrategia para mejorar la productividad de los colaboradores en el restaurante Alfa y Omega, Mocupe. Siendo una investigación de tipo descriptivo-propositivo, con un enfoque cuantitativo y un diseño no experimental de corte transversal. Asimismo, la población estuvo conformada por los 20 colaboradores de la entidad, la técnica que se empleó para la recolección de los datos fue la encuesta; y el instrumento que se utilizó fue el cuestionario conformado por 20 ítems. Asimismo, de acuerdo a los resultados de la investigación, la mayoría de colaboradores manifestaron que existe un nivel regular respecto a la metodología 5s con un 50% siendo una estrategia aplicada por parte del restaurante Alfa y Omega y por otro lado respecto a la productividad de los colaboradores de la entidad se encuentra en un nivel regular con 30%. Finalmente, se concluye que la empresa en estudio no aplica estrategias que permitan el incremento de la productividad de los trabajadores. Es por ello que, se ha creído conveniente la implementación de diversas estrategias basadas en la metodología 5s con el fin de brindar una mejora a la problemática plantead

Student Learning in Fraternities and Sororities: Using NSSE Data to Describe Members’ Participation in Educationally Meaningful Activities in College

The benefits and challenges for college students involved in social fraternities and sororities have long been sources of heated discussion among higher education constituents. A liberal education is meant to incorporate elements of critical thinking, diverse experiences, and challenging and enriching interactions with peers and educators. Past research indicates that involvement in a fraternity or sorority has had some positive effect in these areas, especially as students persist at their chosen institutions. This study uses data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to explore indicators of student learning among senior members of social fraternities and sororities. Regression analyses controlling for conditional variables indicated that students in these groups report higher involvement in critical developmental practices and larger gains in important educational areas than their unaffiliated counterparts. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed