CPI Student Retention & Success 3 ā Questions and Answers
Question 1: A community college instructor notices that students in evening sections fail at higher rates than day sections. Which variable should be examined first?
- Whether evening students have greater work and family obligations (Correct answer)
- Whether the evening classroom has adequate lighting
- Whether day students are more intelligent
- Whether the textbook is different for evening sections
Correct 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.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a 'high-impact practice' shown by research to improve minority student retention?
- Undergraduate research experiences and learning communities (Correct answer)
- Stricter attendance policies with automatic failure penalties
- Eliminating electives to focus solely on core content
- Assigning all work as individual rather than collaborative tasks
Correct 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.
Question 3: Tinto's Model of Student Departure emphasizes that retention depends primarily on:
- Students' social and academic integration into the institution (Correct answer)
- The institution's tuition pricing structure
- The number of courses offered each semester
- Instructor years of experience in the field
Correct answer: Students' social and academic integration into the institution
Tinto's model identifies social and academic integrationāfeeling connected and academically engagedāas the central drivers of retention.
Question 4: A student who was performing well suddenly stops submitting work. The most appropriate first response is to:
- Reach out individually to ask if the student is okay and offer support resources (Correct answer)
- Immediately report the student to academic standards for failure to perform
- Wait until the withdrawal deadline passes before taking action
- Lower the student's grade and move on
Correct 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.
Question 5: Which of the following financial aid concepts directly affects student retention decisions at community colleges?
- Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements (Correct answer)
- Alumni donation rates
- Faculty salary schedules
- Accreditation self-study timelines
Correct answer: Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements
Students who fail to meet SAP requirements lose financial aid eligibility, which is a leading cause of withdrawal.
Question 6: An instructor wants to reduce equity gaps in pass rates among racial groups in the course. Which strategy is most evidence-based?
- Implementing culturally responsive pedagogy and stereotype threat reduction techniques (Correct answer)
- Offering extra credit only to students from underrepresented groups
- Separating students into race-specific discussion sections
- Ignoring race data as irrelevant to instructional decisions
Correct 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.
Question 7: Which metric is most commonly used to evaluate the effectiveness of a student retention intervention program?
- Term-to-term persistence rate of students who participated vs. a control group (Correct answer)
- Number of students enrolled at the start of the semester
- Average instructor evaluation score for the program
- Total dollars spent on student support services
Correct 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.
CPI Student Retention & Success 3
A community college instructor notices that students in evening sections fail at higher rates than day sections.
Which variable should be examined first?