The following District-wide indicators are reported:

• extent student body reflects Dallas County adult and special populations,
• market penetration rate for Dallas County and
• fall to spring credit student retention rates.

Student and Dallas County Adult Populations

The fall 1998 combined credit and non-credit student body mirrors the Hispanic and African-American populations, is lower than Anglo and higher than Asian populations.

Approximately 9% of the Dallas County adult population receive credit or non-credit instruction from the DCCCD each year.

The student body contains a slightly lower percent of individuals academically disadvantaged and about the same percent economically disadvantaged as found in the Dallas area.

Fall to Spring Retention Rates

Retention of credit students from fall 1997 to spring 1998 is consistent with previous fall to spring retention rates with full-time students having the highest rate (75%) followed by those enrolled 6-11 hours (62%) and others enrolled 1-5 hours (48%).

Using a success rate defined as retained students plus non-retained students in good academic standing, the success rate for fall 1997 students was 87.5%. This rate includes the positive forms of attrition such as graduation, university transfer and/or personal goal attainment.

Discussion

As noted, retention rates have been fairly constant from year to year. Research¹ indicates such consistency is generally the norm and that the amount a college is able to change its retention rate may be somewhat limited due to influential factors (i.e. low income level, student pre-college educational preparation, etc.) beyond control of the college.

However, there are areas (i.e. advising, scheduling, etc.) colleges can address to improve retention. For example, the ECC Retention Committee Marketing Plan calls for the development of a college resource guide for faculty to use to advise students. The RLC Summer High School Scholarship encourages students to enroll the summer after high school and continue in subsequent semesters by assisting with tuition if certain criteria are met. Students at CVC are telephoned by peers and reminded of early registration times for the upcoming semester. MVC counselors meet with students who are on probation to provide guidance for improving academic performance.

Improving course completion rates indirectly improves retention rates. At CVC, several
English courses are scheduled such that students who miss one class can attend another to
make up what was missed. This has reduced such course withdrawal rates to less than 10%. EFC and RLC have "delayed-starting" classes so that late registered students begin class together rather than joining a class that has already met several times. A study of BHC developmental reading/writing students led to the development of numerous strategies, which include increasing communication with students through contact prior to the start of class and then follow-up via telephone calls or letters to students who miss class.

These few examples are not comprehensive but serve to illustrate the creative and varied retention improvement efforts being undertaken at the college, program and classroom levels.
 

1998-99 Board Indicator Reports