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Trying to do the correct thing to prevent a student from dropping out


Hard to argue with your statement, Joseph, but what do you mean by “trying to do the correct thing”? Please provide some examples.

I currenty have a student who has missed several deadlines to turn in assignments. These deadlines were cearly stated on the syllabus which was passed out on the first day of class. The deadlines were also gone over on the first day of class. Should I remind her of these deadlines and thereby almost coddle her and give her a second chance or should I not remind her. By not reminding her I feel should most likely she will fail and probably may drop out. We have a resposibility to prepare our students for the business world and if she missed these deadlines, what would her employer do? Any suggestions.

What would her employer do? Good question, Joseph. Why not ask her what she thinks would happen? You could make it an assignment for her to find out what the repercussions of missed deadlines are in her chosen profession. Unfortunately, students have a tendency to discount the experience of their instructors, but will take the word of “outsiders” to heart.

While the student probably believed she had a good excuse, she clearly can't continue to miss deadlines. Perhaps she should time with a student support person to sort out the perceived barriers to doing her work on a timely basis.

Any other participants have any suggestions for Joseph?

I think each instructor has to get to "know" their students to the point that they are able to see before it happens - any situation that could allow the student to consider quitting or dropping out. The students do give you indications if you are available and actually listen to them. They want guidance, instruction, and good counsel at times. A good instructor must be many things to all students at all times.

Indeed, Ronald, an instructor must be many things. Unfortunately, that point is not understood by many instructors who view their role as gatekeepers charged with protecting their field of focus.

With the exception of sudden family or medical emergencies, there usually are some warning signs that the student is having problems, often before those problems manifest themselves in poor grades.
We often let early problem indicators such as poor attendance, lateness, poor attitude, lack of respect escalate to a serious level before we begin to address them. These problems need to be caught and corrected early. All members of the team need to keep their ears and eyes open, and not be hesitant to share their observations with one another.

Points well taken, Barry. Early intervention is important. When indicators escalate to the serious level it may be too late. Getting everyone to be responsive to those indicators is a major task because many people don't want to be involved with the issues that are uncovered.

I agree Barry. Each and every member of staff and faculty must present a united "front" if we are to keep students in school. It is everyone's responsibility to interact with students and show them that we do care about them, not just as a "student" but as people. A professional but caring attitude must be the message the student receives from us.

How do you share this message with staff and faculty at your school, Linda? Do you have specific in-service training or discuss these issues at staff meetings?

I agree with you a 100%, but sometimes doing the correct thing is not good enough to hold that student. Please supply some examples as to what is defined as doing the correct thing

what is the correct thing to do to prevent a student from dropping out


"Doing the correct thing" will vary by student and circumstance, but I believe retention starts by being student centered and focusing on presenting, and then satisfying,realistic expectations.

The "correct" thing depends on the circumstance at hand. However there are correct things we can do to help prevent or lessen the likely hood of a drop. One is the setting of expectations for the student and the school up front. Starting in admissions and continuing throughout the program. Students need to know what is and will be expected of them to be successful. We need to ensure the student's expectations are realistic.

Establishing realistic expectations – of and for the student – is a critical first step, Michael. Schools that have low ratings on their customer satisfaction surveys usually can track the problem to this issue so it is mission critical that the admissions message be routinely checked against the reality of the classroom. Does your school have a procedure in place to do this?

Barry, I couldn't agree more with your statement about early intervention. Although our school has a VERY strict attendance policy and although we track attendance by the hour, noone is actually responsible to call the student on their absence. Before signing up for this course, I had been recently re-assigned to a different department...from admissions to student services. I wanted this change to work on these issues. I plan to put a new policy into effect for our next class, although the practice is already in progress, to call a student after an absence. This shows the student we truly care about them not being in class. It also sends the message that we will call, so they should think twice about skipping. If we wait until they've missed 5 days in a row, we're too late. I am now in a position to pull reports of attendance on an hourly basis and can see by the hour who is in class and who isn't and when they last showed up. Maybe they just fell sick, but maybe they need a doctor and won't go because they don't know where to go. I find this on my call and help them. Maybe they got behind and were too afraid to come back, but didn't want to withdraw either. With no call from us, they end up being dismissed for severe attendance deficiencies. With a call, we point out the services to catch up, make appointments and show the care and help available. Student back in class. This just happened to me two weeks ago.

Encourage, Encourage, Encourage! Even if in your experience you know this student will not suceed, encourage them anyway. They may surprise you. On the other side, sometimes the right thing to do is to stop taking their money and encourage them to come back if they still want to train in this career. Maybe when their circumstances improve they will do better. Timing is everything!

It's difficult to overstate the power of encouragement from a person in authority, Mandy. Students respond to positive expectations and remember that someone cared about their performance. Are there some specific techniques that you use and could share? Do you find some to be more effective with certain types of students?

I would agree with your forecast. I would attempt to help the student identify the reason for the lack of commitment or missinterpretration of responsibility by sitting on a one-on-one counseling session.

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