FOCUS ON FRESHMEN: IMPROVING THE FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE

Prepared by Dr. Dianna Galante

Senior Fellow for Academic Practice

Introduction

In recent years, many colleges and universities have focused considerable time and resources on initiatives designed to improve and support the academic and social experiences of entering freshmen students. By providing support in many forms, implementation of these programs has resulted in increases in academic achievement levels and in the number of freshmen students who stay enrolled to the second year and beyond.

Why is it imperative to focus on the first year? Tinto found that it is vital to promote student success in the first year because approximately 75% of all students who drop out do so during their first year. Invariably, a high rate of first-year attrition leads directly to a lower rate of baccalaureate-seeking students and, as a result, directly impacts institutional viability. For this reason, many colleges have begun to frontload resources to support first-year students and, as a result, have experienced positive gains in student retention.

Factors Predictive of Student Retention

What types of programs and initiatives have been found to make a difference in the freshmen year? What practices have made an impact in terms of academic achievement and student retention to the sophomore year and beyond? Case studies of four institutions focused on implementing freshmen programs were developed. Table 1 lists the major initiatives recently put in place at these four institutions.

Table 1—Program Initiatives by College

Major Initiative / Brooklyn
College
CUNY / Purdue
Calumet University / Plymouth
State
University / Illinois
State
University
Freshmen Seminar / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes
Learning Communities / Yes / No / Yes / Yes
Freshmen-Focused
Faculty Development / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes
Supplemental Instruction / No / Yes / No / Yes
Revised General
Education Core / Yes / No / No / Yes
Required Freshmen
Orientation / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes

A freshmen seminar course is designed to place the first-year student in a course where academic and social support are provided. The course can take on many different forms. At some institutions the seminar is incorporated into an existing credit course. At other schools, the freshmen seminar is a series of workshops directed at providing survival skills for the first year including computer lessons, college-level study skills, and help for the homesick. To provide a sense of community, most colleges limit class size in the freshmen seminar to 25 students.

Learning communities are designed to give the freshmen student a sense of belonging and to help the student establish relationships with both faculty and other students at their college. A learning community can be a planned cohort program of classes where a group of students are registered together in at least two courses. Sometimes a learning community consists of two courses scheduled to allow collaboration between two or more different courses with a common goal such as service learning. At residential colleges, student major and dormitory space can provide an opportunity to study and live together.

Supplemental instruction (SI) is a support service that provides additional instructional opportunities in specific courses that form a foundation in an academic program. Courses are typically the first in a sequence required for the major. For example, in an engineering program, students enrolled in a first course in calculus would benefit from SI. The instruction is provide outside of class by another student who has previously passed the class with an A. These students attend class, set up weekly sessions and are given a moderate stipend.

Many colleges offer faculty development focused on providing specialized instructional strategies for those teaching first-year students. A variety of topics including active learning, service learning, emotional intelligence, and technology support can form the basis for improving instruction to freshmen students.

In addition, a variety of other programs have been implemented at these and other institutions including block or cohort scheduling, reduced class size,

freshmen department with administrator, an honors program, service learning

and summer bridge programs.


References

Carey, K. (2005). Choosing to improve: Voices from colleges and universities with better graduation rates. A report by the Education Trust.

Chickering, A. W., and Kuh, G.D. (2005). Promoting student success: Creating conditions so every student can learn (Occasional paper No. 3). Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research

Choy, S. P. (2004). Access & persistence: Findings from 10 years of longitudinal research studies on students. American Council on Education Center for Policy Analysis: Washington, DC.

Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. Journal of Higher Education. 68, 6. (November/December):599-623.

Tinto, V. (1998). Colleges as communities: Taking research on student persistence seriously. Review of Higher Education. 21,2 (Winter):167-78.

Tinto, V. (2000). Taking retention seriously: Rethinking the first year of college. NACADA Journal, 19,2 (Fall). 5-10.

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