IU works to improve US university graduation rates

There’s more to completing a degree than students’ actions, experiences and characteristics, a recent IU study found.

While most research about graduation rates focuses on the students, the new survey, conducted by the Project on Academic Success at IU and the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy and Practice at the University of Southern California, explored the policies and programming different institutions nationwide are implementing to improve student persistence.

“That’s a real missing piece of the puzzle in terms of our understanding of what institutions can do to help increase the odds of more students who persist until they graduate,” said Don Hossler, professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the School of Education and a principle researcher in this project.

The survey focused on what is actually being done among universities rather than what might or might not necessarily be working, Hossler said.

For example, the survey found most schools evaluate their retention rates on a regular basis, among other efforts, according to a press release.

“Universities should pay attention to organizing to address student persistence issues for many reasons,” said Gerome Lucido, executive director and professor of research at the center and a principle investigator in an email. “But the study shows that they appear to be in the early stages of doing so and that numerous approaches are in play.”

The survey also cited that many institutions have an administrator of some sort who concentrates on the school’s retention, yet those involved in the survey believe this is not enough. An administrator may be in place, they said, but universities are not supplying them with enough power or resources to initiate new programs and make a difference in the graduation rates.

“I think the sad part about it is we are seeing that some institutions are still not paying enough attention to their own policies and helping the students be retained,” said Vasti Torres, a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the School of Education and the director at IU’s Center for Postsecondary Research. “If retention is important and a priority, then an institution can make sure that dedicated efforts are there.”

Hossler said the survey itself may not have a huge effect on improving student persistence, but rather it will provide a “catalyzing effect.” This may cause institutions to pay more attention to what they are and are not doing and perhaps give them a push in the right direction.

“We might say that, thus far, it is unclear if institutions are making the requisite investment in guaranteeing students’ success in an organization,” Hossler said.
Lucido said further research is a must.

“More needs to be done to identify best practices and to create mechanisms to determine the effectiveness of those practices,” Lucido said in an email.

The project and the center are now working on a persistence survey for two-year community colleges in the U.S.