Unsung Heroes: Identifying College Strategies for Improving Low-Income, First-Generation, and Underrepresented Students' Degree Attainment

• In Event: 43.024 - Examining Institutional Strategies for Success Among Transfer Students

Abstract

During this post-truth era, it is important to document how four-year institutions with highly diverse students can make a significant difference retaining and reversing the odds of low degree attainment, using evidence as a starting point for organizational learning and institutional change. This study used an explanatory, sequential mixed methods design in two phases: Phase I case selection used input-adjusted performance indicators, Phase (II) is a multiple case study design. Results from five campus cases indicate unique overall strategies from disruptive/decentralized to centralized/highly coordinated, active use of data, structural change, and advances in student success.

Authors

• Sylvia Hurtado, University of California - Los Angeles

• Katherine Soojin Cho, University of California - Los Angeles

• Xochilth Lopez, University of California - Los Angeles

• Josephine Winter, University of California - Los Angeles

• Adriana Ruiz Alvarado, University of Redlands