Sunday, March 18, 2007

10:00am – 1:00pm Registration

10:00am – 12:00pm Introductory Meetings (Institutional Teams Only)
Institutions will meet individually with retreat faculty for 15-30 minutes to discuss their issues, challenges, and goals for the retreat and their campus. Meetings will be set up prior to the retreat.

1:00pm – 2:30pm Introduction to Student Retention
The introductory session will look at the impact of student dropout on campuses, the cost of dropout to the individual, institution, and society, and how addressing this issue is an important part of institutional change and continuous improvement.

2:30pm – 3:00pm Refreshment Break

3:00pm – 4:30pm A Framework for Student Success
How do we envision the retention process? What is it that matters most to students and institutions? This session will introduce an evidence-based framework for understanding the dynamics of student retention and persistence. Based on a decade worth of research, Swail’s geometric model of student retention outlines a process for institutions to perceive and conceptualize the planning process.

The framework focuses on student cognitive and social outcomes, as they related to five areas of campus services:

• Financial Aid
• Student Services
• Academic Services
• Teaching and Learning
• Recruitment & Admissions

6:00pm – 8:00pm Reception
The evening reception will provide an opportunity for participants to get to know one another and share their experiences over heavy hors d’oeuvres.

Monday, March 19, 2007

7:30am – 8:30am Continental Breakfast (included in registration fee)

8:30am – 10:30am The Campus Audit
This session will focus on the importance of understanding your campus and collecting detailed information about practices, strategies, and programs on campus. Institutions must audit their efforts in order to find value in what has been done, while also setting benchmarks for future efforts. In this session, participants will learn:

• What should we look for on campus?
• How do we measure success?
• What data are important to collect?
• What do we do with all this information?
• How do we work toward a meaningful campus-wide plan for retention?

10:30am – 11:00pm Break

11:00am – 12:15pm Effective Practices in Student Retention (Part I)
The remainder of the day will focus on discussion revolving the various institutional inputs for student retention, including Recruitment and Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Services, Academic Services, and Curriculum & Instruction. Our conference faculty will present information on proven strategies currently used in institutions around the US and Canada, and invite participants to share their experiences and hindsight.

Using the retention framework as a guide, the information presented on Day Two will begin to layout a menu of strategies that can be considered for your retention plan.

12:15pm – 1:45pm Lunch (included in registration fee)

1:45pm – 3:15pm Effective Practices (Part II)

3:15pm – 3:30pm Break

3:30pm – 5:00pm Preparing a Plan
Participants will begin to think through an orchestrated plan of student retention. Facilitators will cover key areas of creating a plan, and participants will respond to questions to help guide them through the thinking necessary to develop an institutional retention plan. Participants will be given time to work on the associated worksheets, which will then be handed in to facilitators for review and comment by the next morning.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

7:30am – 8:30am Continental Breakfast (included in registration fee)

8:30am – 9:15am Discussion of Goals and Objectives
Teams and individuals will present their goals and objectives with discussion for all.

9:15am – 10:00am Campus Change, Institutional Leadership, and other Important Factors
Without the buy in of campus leadership, reform is difficult if not unlikely at any postsecondary institution. This session will discuss the importance of campus leadership and how to gain their interest and total support in developing a campus-based retention initiative. As well, leadership only counts if there are those to be led. The involvement and buy-in of faculty and departments will also be discussed.

10:00am – 10:15am Break

10:15am – 11:00am Monitoring Student and Program Outcomes Progress
The capstone session to our conference will discuss the importance of monitoring student success and institutional progress. The ability of institutions to benchmark and continuously collect and review data is paramount to the success of any large-scale initiative. Issues include:
• determining what data to collect
• how and when to collect information
• using data in a progressive manner
• understanding how data can change your plan
• incorporating a continuous-improvement cycle as a model for institutional change

11:00am – 11:40am Pulling It All Together
This last session will pull all the information together from the past two and a half days. Participants will be given instructions on how to proceed in the planning and implementation process.

11:40pm – 11:45am Final Thoughts & Adjournment