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Co-published in association with Big Picture Learning.Measuring Noncognitive Variables: Improving Admissions, Success, and Retention for Underrepresented Students is written for admissions professionals, counselors, faculty and advisers who admit, teach, or work with students during the admissions process and post-enrollment period. It brings together theory, research and practice related to noncognitive variables in a practical way by using assessment methods provided at no cost. Noncognitive variables have been shown to correlate with the academic success of students of all races, cultures, and backgrounds. Noncognitive variables include personal and social dimensions, adjustment, motivation, and student perceptions, rather than the traditional verbal and quantitative areas (often called cognitive) typically measured by standardized tests.Key Features include: * Models that raise concepts related to innovation, diversity and racism in proactive ways * Examples of admission and post-enrollment applications that show how schools and programs can use noncognitive variables in a variety of ways * Additional examples from foundations, professional associations, and K-12 programs * An overview of the limitations of traditional assessment methods such as admission tests, grades, and courses takenEducation professionals involved in the admissions process will find this guide effectively informs their practice. This guide is also appropriate as a textbook in a range of courses offered in Higher Education and Student Affairs Masters and PhD programs.

Generation Z (Gen Z) nursing students have characteristics that differentiate them from previous cohorts. They are entrenched in technology, prefer to work at their own pace, seek a great deal of feedback, and can be anxious. Because Gen Z is also entrepreneurial, it is important to identify strategies for promoting satisfaction among Gen Z nursing students to retain them in nursing. This study sought to identify the psychosocial dimensions of the clinical learning environment that best predict Gen Z nursing student satisfaction in the medical-surgical clinical learning environment. A secondary analysis was performed on data collected using the Revised Clinical Learning Environment Inventory-32. Maximum Likelihood regression analysis identified predictors of satisfaction. Three subscales of the CLEI-32, reflecting 3 psychosocial dimensions of the clinical learning environment, significantly predicted student satisfaction in the clinical learning environment, after controlling for clustering effects of students within hospitals. Findings were consistent with the literature on Gen Z learners and revealed that their satisfaction improves when they can make decisions, work at their own pace, and receive direction, feedback, and support. The effect of hospital environment on the clinical learning environment should be investigated further; other variables that predict satisfaction remain to be identified. •Generation Z is technology driven, entrepreneurial, and seeks fulfillment.•Ensuring Generation Z student satisfaction is important for retention in nursing.•Shaping the psychosocial clinical learning environment promotes satisfaction.•Hospital environment affects student perceptions of the learning environment.

To explore historical student data to identify patterns predictive of attrition risk among nursing students, and hence train a predictive model of an individuals’ risk of leaving the course. The World Health Organization point to an international shortage of trained nurses, which poses a risk for patient safety and care worldwide. The risk is compounded where the workforce is also aging creating additional pressures on the delivery of quality care. To stabilize the workforce, a healthy supply of newly trained registered nurses is necessary; however undergraduate nursing has one of the highest rates of student attrition (approx. 24 %). This study follows a knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) methodology performing an observational analysis of routinely collected student data. The data (1840 students, taken from the pre-existing university business intelligence systems) was modelled for three end points; ‘attrition in 1st year’, ‘attrition in 2nd year’, and ‘failure to complete’. Analysis was performed via step-wise binomial regression. Several attrition factors have been identified by the model (e.g. students who return from periods of intermittence, are Male and/or non-mature have an increased likelihood to leave). To our knowledge this is the first study to examine the role of study intermittence on student attrition, or to be built on the pre-existing university business intelligence (BI) systems. The use of pre-existing university BI systems as reported here can serve as the grounding for an individual, tailored approach to retention strategy rather than an approach built on demographic assessment alone.

The physical therapy profession in the United States suffers from a shortage of providers of color. This is unlikely to change with newly graduating students, as 2.6% of 2017 graduates were African American and 5.7% were Hispanic or Latino. Faculty mentorship has a more profound influence on the retention of underrepresented minority students as compared with students from privileged backgrounds, according to undergraduate literature. The influences of faculty characteristics on physical therapy graduates of color are unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine faculty and programmatic characteristics that could influence the percentage of physical therapy graduates of color. This study implemented the theory of academic capitalism to inform the results of a retrospective panel analysis, which used accreditation data from 2008 to 2017. Data from 231 programs was used to create fixed effects and random effects models to estimate the effects that faculty and program characteristics had on the percentage of graduates of color that a program produced. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between faculty of color and graduates of color ( p  < 0.001), but faculty must be sufficiently diverse before a program can expect a meaningful change in their percentage of graduates of color. Academic capitalist principles suggest that competition between programs for resources could negatively influence the proportion of graduates of color. Cause and effect associations between variables cannot be established. The authors concluded that professional physical therapy programs appeared to have increases in the percentages of graduates of color when they had more core faculty members of color.

This narrative inquiry study examined community college nursing student repeaters, who failed a required nursing course and then went on to repeat the course. The purpose of this study was to learn about the experience of this group of students who are at high risk for attrition. While each participant had a unique story, common narratives emerged and were presented as storylines. Two storylines that are new to the literature were: Repeating is an Emotional Journey, and Ultimately Repeating was the Best Thing for Me. These findings suggest that there is a need for additional support for this population. •Nursing student “repeaters” are at high risk for attrition, despite having met many of the criteria for success.•Nursing student repeaters undergo a complex and challenging experience both academically and emotionally.•For nursing student repeaters to successfully continue in school, support is needed from faculty and peers.•In addition to academic support and guidance, nursing student repeaters may benefit from psychological support.

The effect of interaction patterns on JS3 learners’ retention in geometric construction was investigated in Anambra State, Nigeria. The researchers used a quasi-experimental approach with a non-equivalent control group for the pre- and post-test. The population consisted of 1,813 JS3 leaners. The study’s subjects were a group of 155 JS3 learners drawn from two schools. Two JS3 classes in the schools were assigned to the experimental and control groups at random. The geometric construction retention test (GCRT) was used to collect data, and it was validated by three experts. The reliability coefficient of the GCRT was 0.80. The mean and standard deviation of the data were used to report the study’s questions, whereas the hypotheses were tested via analysis of covariance at a 0.05 level of significance. According to the findings, students taught geometric construction utilizing interaction patterns remembered more material than those taught using the expository approach. It also found a statistically significant difference in retention between urban and rural learners, favoring urban learners. The interaction effect of group and location on student retention was not significant. One recommendation of this study is that teachers should use interaction patterns as an instructional method when teaching geometric construction.

The study used a theoretically guided questionnaire to examine student experience in college and to gain a better understanding about how college environment affects student persistence. Data were collected from a single four-year institution; the findings suggest that institutional control over academic quality is the most critical factor in reducing students’ dropout intention along with their ability to pay for college education. The results highlight the inconsistency between the specific needs of students in their particular academic settings and the dominant theoretical frameworks that focus on academic and social engagement, and these results offer encouragement for localized retention interventions based on sufficient understanding of students’ experiences.

The article presents a socio-critical model and framework for understanding, predicting, and enhancing student success developed at the University of South Africa. An extensive literature review indicated that predominant models from international contact institutions were of partial application in this context. Integrating socio-critical, anthropological, and cultural theoretical perspectives, the model applies the key constructs of situated agency, capital, habitus, attribution, locus of control, and self-efficacy to both students and institutions in understanding success at each step of the student's journey. The model and framework, to be implemented incrementally during 2011, provide useful pointers for open distance learning and other institutions in pursuing greater student success.