Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter

by George D. Kuh, Jillian Kinzie, John H. Schuh

Student Success in College describes policies, programs, and practices that a diverse set of institutions have used to enhance student achievement. This book clearly shows the benefits of student learning and educational effectiveness that can be realized when these conditions are present. Based on the Documenting Effective Educational Practice (DEEP) project from the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University, this book provides concrete examples from twenty institutions that other colleges and universities can learn from and adapt to help create a success-oriented campus culture and learning environment.

Genres: Education, Professional Development, Teaching, Nonfiction, Academic, Research

370 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2005

Reviews

[Marks54 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a summary report on a study of innovations to promote student success and retention in a diverse sample of US undergraduate institutions. There was a considerable mix between large and small schools, public and private schools, religious and non-religious. There were even a smattering of same sex institutions. The range of institutions is laudable, except that it rendered parts of the report less relevant to a reader, depending on their institutional setting. The report is fairly thorough and ends up in the right place. It is written as an education trade book/report, which suggests more than a little repetition, jargon, and cumbersome paragraphs and not much in the way of style or readability.

The problem is a worthwhile one, given what we know about changing labor markets and demographics, it is increasingly important to get more students, especially those from more disadvantaged backgrounds to do well in school, to not drop out, and to finish school in a timely manner. The question is how to do this. One cannot send students back for another crack at 8th grade or high school, but must work at educating the students that are provided. One can not expect that educational financing will loosen up any time soon or that prices will be coming down. Moreover, universities are very complex collections of smaller units that are problematic on their own terms but certainly very difficult to coordinate. Universities generally don't fit the overly neat critique of wasteful chaos -- the data on costs and results would look very different if they did. But universities do have a hard time having more of the moving parts coordinate with each other.

With this in mind, the book focuses on efforts to build a culture supportive of undergraduate learning and reach a balance with research and other tasks that sometimes distract universities from their primary tasks of educating. Of more immediate interests are efforts to socialize students to the college experience, watch their progress for signs of problems, and then intervene where necessary once problems are addressed to keep the student in school. Some general patterns are identified, but they are very general, bordering on the generic and one gets the idea that the angels and devils are in the details of particular cases. Unfortunately, the examples are not detailed in sufficient detail to really understand what is going on. ... and with thousands of students and hundreds of faculty, each of these institutions is a separate case embedded in a very particular environment with its own requirements.

So the book really cannot provide the detailed help it seeks to, but that is OK, because the basic story can be readily used and experimented with at one's home institution.

All in all, it is OK for the genre, but I do not like the genre. I enjoyed reviewing the effort, however, and the book has value.

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought this book would be more student services oriented. But it is more a matter of academic services and programs to support students.

[Mauimouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every higher education practitioner should read this book.

This book was easy to read and provided practical advice that can be implemented at any institution of higher learning.

[Ibrahim Elbagory]

HIPS

[Rev. Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter was and will continue to be a wonderful resource in assisting my college to enhance the success of students achieving their dreams. The book was based upon the results of the Documenting Effective Educational Practice (DEE) where twenty academic institutions were surveyed for their best practices to achieve success-oriented campuses. Five main themes emerged from the research as ways to achieve student success: Academic Challenge, Active and Collaborative Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction, Enriching Educational Experiences, and Supportive Campus Environments. There were six shared conditions among those surveyed:
1) Living Mission and Lived Educational Philosophy
2) Unshakeable Focus on Student Learning
3) Clearly Marked Pathways to Student Success
4) Improvement-Oriented Ethos
5) Environments Adapted for Educational Enrichment
6) Shared Responsibility for Educational Quality

I highly recommend to anyone having interactions with students in a college environment.

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do twenty institutions of higher education do to keep their students engaged? It's interesting to take a peek behind the scenes of schools like Wabash College and the University of Kansas, but unfortunately you have to wade through this really dry book in order to do it. This is to be expected, as the book basically summarizes the results of a survey (the book was published in 2005). There's a lot of good information here, and it's nicely synthesized. The bottom line: student engagement doesn't just happen. Schools need to make an intentional effort on many levels.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each chapter briefly discusses the main points, offers research, then uses examples from the 20 DEEP colleges (Documenting Effective Educational Practice)to demonstrate concepts in action.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book for a graduate class and it was great. The books details what colleges should incorporate for students to be successful. The key is student engagement.