Retaining Students in Community College Classrooms: A Student Success Model

For the last decade, community colleges have been challenged by declining enrollment, reduced financial resources, and increased demand for accountability at national, state, and local levels, resulting in a need for enhanced focus on student retention and success. Community colleges are also challenged by competition at national and global levels as they struggle to meet the evolving demands of communities transformed by the information age. The retention research provided in this dissertation identifies abundant opportunities for higher education stakeholders to be more proactive in assisting students to complete their college goals. Students make critical decisions about their classes based on interactions with staff, faculty, and technologies being used. Learning expectations are evolving, along with the technologies used by current and future college students.
With a stronger focus on the classroom, where students spend most of their educational journey, student success is more likely. Meaningful, thoughtful, and systematic solutions won’t happen quickly, but community colleges that focus more closely on the student experience and overall success more likely will thrive. This dissertation provides practical retention and success solutions targeting enhanced use of student data, heightened student engagement, and classroom performance monitoring. Specific technological and innovative strategies are also provided. The work concludes with an implementation model and recommendations for successful implementation.