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An Evolutionary Perspective On Increasing Student Success, And The (Partial) Fallacy Of First-Year Retention, Doug Mcelroy, Kate Mcelroy

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

With state support for higher education declining and/or increasingly tied to performance outcomes, and greater emphasis being paid to the debt load incurred by students, student retention and success have become key drivers of universities’ strategic decision-making. Much effort has concentrated on first-year students; however, it may be more advantageous to pay greater attention to the fate of students at later points in their careers. We apply the concept of Reproductive Value to explore dynamics of retention rates, graduation rates, and degree production within and among seven state comprehensive universities. We ask: (1) Is enhanced first-year retention predictive of subsequent …