Student Retention & Success Flashcards
7 cards from real CPI practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Student Retention & Success flashcards as text
A community college instructor notices that students in evening sections fail at higher rates than day sections. Which variable should be examined first?
Answer: Whether evening students have greater work and family obligations
Evening students often carry heavier external obligations that compete with academic demands, directly affecting retention.
Which of the following is an example of a 'high-impact practice' shown by research to improve minority student retention?
Answer: Undergraduate research experiences and learning communities
AAC&U-identified high-impact practices like undergraduate research and learning communities strongly improve retention for underrepresented students.
Tinto's Model of Student Departure emphasizes that retention depends primarily on:
Answer: Students' social and academic integration into the institution
Tinto's model identifies social and academic integration—feeling connected and academically engaged—as the central drivers of retention.
A student who was performing well suddenly stops submitting work. The most appropriate first response is to:
Answer: Reach out individually to ask if the student is okay and offer support resources
A compassionate, individualized outreach can surface underlying crises and connect students to support before they disengage entirely.
Which of the following financial aid concepts directly affects student retention decisions at community colleges?
Answer: Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements
Students who fail to meet SAP requirements lose financial aid eligibility, which is a leading cause of withdrawal.
An instructor wants to reduce equity gaps in pass rates among racial groups in the course. Which strategy is most evidence-based?
Answer: Implementing culturally responsive pedagogy and stereotype threat reduction techniques
Culturally responsive pedagogy and reducing stereotype threat are evidence-based approaches that improve outcomes across racial groups without singling students out.
Which metric is most commonly used to evaluate the effectiveness of a student retention intervention program?
Answer: Term-to-term persistence rate of students who participated vs. a control group
Comparing term-to-term persistence between participants and a matched control group isolates the intervention's actual impact.