Laurie Snyder

How better to engage students in a campuswide learning community and deepen the connection between student and coursework than a book club. The Justus Girls Literary Society at Monroe Community College’s urban campus is not just any kind of book club, but a literacy society for female students who read contemporary female authors. The book club helps students build close connections with faculty and enhance their education. Members also increase their reading outside of the classroom and participate in discussions with experienced readers trained in critical analysis.

It is these types of endeavors, initiated by faculty and staff, which help students stay committed to their education and enrolled in college through graduation. Ideas such as these are being grouped into a comprehensive packet as part of an overall retention plan at Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester, New York. The college understands the importance that our students’ success has on our community at large. And that success depends on retention; students need to stay in college in order to receive their certificate or degree, attain their job of choice, and achieve their dreams.

Research indicates the importance of social integration in retaining students. For many community college students, the classroom may be the only place where involvement occurs. As Vincent Tinto reports, students who interact with their teachers develop a support network and are more likely to persist. Although the issue of student persistence has been addressed in varied forms since our campus opened in 1992, efforts now are collective, comprehensive, and directed.

This strategic approach began in March of 2007, when a campuswide brainstorming discussion on student challenges to persistence led to a report identifying concerns and detailing action steps to address those issues. That summer, MCC received a Perkins award targeted toward three major efforts: (1) hiring a retention advisor in academic services for Damon City Campus; (2) improving retention of students with disabilities, and (3) funding the Doorway to Success program, a multicampus African-American male retention initiative. All three projects are designed to benefit students in career and technical education degree programs.

As part of the Damon City Campus effort, the academic services advisor coordinates a multidepartmental planning team of six faculty and five staff who examine student persistence and assist in implementing change. The advisor is also charged with researching and developing collegewide and departmental strategic retention plans, assessing strategies, and providing professional development related to retention for faculty and staff.

Faculty play a crucial role in student retention. Both in and out of the classroom, it is important that faculty find ways to build connections with their students; let them know that they are valued members of the class, the campus, and the college; and help them make the link between coursework and their future career. Knowing that faculty are a significant resource in helping students succeed, Damon City Campus offered faculty a workshop, “Retention First-Aid Kit,” to provide them with toolkits and which drew upon their insights to develop methods for better retaining students.

The toolkit included a folder of printed materials and provided faculty with resource guides detailing information for students on academic advisement, academic support, counseling, financial aid, career services, and more. It also included tips for faculty to encourage student persistence. These tips were derived from faculty suggestions and from a variety of expert resources offer ways to

• Learn names within the first three weeks of the semester;
• Create a positive, learning-driven classroom environment by providing access to course materials, communicating clear expectations, using a variety of teaching techniques and strategies, encouraging all students, and having students restate academic material through reflection and self-assessment;
• Provide opportunities for students to interact;
• Direct students to appropriate resources;
• Grant numerous options for evaluation;
• Prepare students both psychologically and academically for exams; and
• Inform students of their progress throughout the term.

The workshop also engaged faculty by asking them to share their best practices in the classroom. For example, one writing profession devotes one week of class time to scheduled 30- to 45-minute one-to-one meetings with each student. During these in-person meetings, the professor reviews the student’s portfolio of written work, identifies strengths, and provides individualized writing instruction to address the student’s weaknesses. The professor also discusses the student’s progress on grades and expectations. A sociology professor begins each semester by asking students to identify one goal. Students write down their names and their goals, and submit them to the professor. The professor then follows up with each student throughout the semester to check on progress and to assist the students with goal achievement or, if necessary, goal revision.

Following the Retention First-Aid Kit workshop, a Damon City campus retention summit was conducted by the campus retention committee. More than 50 faculty and staff spent a February morning brainstorming ways to improve students’ college experience. Through group consensus, participants identified a focused list of key issues pertaining to student retention. Several major themes were drawn from that list and are serving as the foundation for a formalized Strategic Retention Plan at MCC’s Damon City Campus to be presented to faculty and staff in summer.

We believe that improving student retention involves a combination of innovative initiatives, such as the Justus Girls Literary Society, that includes faculty, staff, and students working together as a community to acknowledge the obstacles to student persistence and to implement, monitor, and assess strategies that help students succeed

Laurie Snyder is a Damon City Campus Retention Advisor at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York.

Cynthia Wilson, Editor