Issue 27(1)
Student
Success in College: Creating conditions that matter. (2005).
George D. Kuh, Jillian Kinzie, John H. Schuh, and associates.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 400 pp., Price: $38.00 ISBN #
0-7879-7914-7.
Review
by: Maura M. Reynolds
Director
of Academic Advising
Hope
College
(Holland,
Michigan)
Are you
like me when you find a new book about college; do you check the
index first for citations on “advising”? Student Success in
College: Creating conditions that matter will not disappoint:
its index lists 24 citations on advising among its 370 pages.
Here,
authors examine 20 diverse, four-year institutions which had higher-than-predicted
levels of student engagement (as evidenced by the National Survey
of Student Engagement [NSSE] administered between 2000 and 2002)
and higher-than-predicted graduation rates. Authors refer to these
20 as DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practice) schools.
Two-year institutions were not part of the study since NSSE was
designed for four-year colleges and universities; the
Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE, established
in 2003) is the two-year college equivalent of the NSSE. The authors
emphasize that the 20 institutions they studied are not the “best”
or “most effective,” but rather that each has approaches from
which others can learn.
So,
what can we learn? Some fairly obvious things: challenge
and support, collaborate, make student success an institutional
priority, stay the course, convert obstacles into opportunities,
articulate and live the institutional mission, pay attention to
first-year students, understand who students are and how they
learn, use physical space to promote learning, affirm diversity.
Not much surprising there, though it never hurts to be reminded—and
to see how diverse institutions address ever-so-common challenges.
And
what of those 24 citations for advising? Five are duplicates,
and several others indicate only that the word “advisor” or “advising”
appears on the page. That said, however, the authors recognize
the importance of advising for student success: “…academic advising
was a high priority at DEEP institutions” (p. 314) and “At these
institutions, advising is viewed as a way to connect students
to the campus and help them feel that someone is looking out for
them” (p. 214). The authors cite one school, concerned about a
lower-than-hoped-for retention rate of first-year students, that
focused on academic advising and formalized advising as part of
a revamped freshman year seminar (pp. 278-9). The authors are
likewise aware of the variety of advising models used at DEEP
schools and insist that people and institutional culture, not
structure, mediate student success (pp. 277-278).
Faculty
at several DEEP institutions reported that advising was “intrinsically
rewarding” (p. 214) or that they chose to work and to stay at
their college because of the attitude toward advising (p. 213).
However, tantalizing statements like, "…academic advising
is encouraged, supported, and rewarded at DEEP colleges and universities”
(p. 214) are not supported with specific information about just
what is involved in that encouragement, support, and reward.
The
authors recognize that student success is complicated and caution
that no single blueprint or simple tweaking will result in enhanced
student success. Improvement demands both reflection and resolve:
this book encourages both.
While
advisors could surely learn from dipping into this book, they
may find two, four-page, on-line policy briefs based on the study
both more accessible and more focused. In “Promoting
student success: What advisors can do” (Occasional Paper #11),
D. Jason DeSousa offers suggestions (with examples drawn from
the book) and a collection of questions to ponder. “Promoting
student success: What small steps campuses can take” (Occasional
Paper #9) authored by Elaine El Khawas follows a similar pattern
and is a good reminder that small changes, often made by “small
fry” (though this brief’s original title was “Small steps senior
administrators can take”), can result in significant improvement
in student success. Both DeSousa and El Khawas were members of
the Project DEEP research team.
Whether
advisors find this book or the policy briefs or some other resource
helpful as we work to enhance student success, the book’s final
sentence is a fitting mantra: “Let’s get to work” (p. 317).
References
De
Sousa, D.J. (2005).
Promoting student success: What advisors can do
(Occasional Paper No. 11). Bloomington,
Indiana:
Indiana University
Center
for Postsecondary Research.
El
Khawas, E, (2005). Promoting
student success: Small steps campuses can take (Occasional
Paper No. 9). Bloomington,
Indiana:
Indiana University
Center
for Postsecondary Research.
