Developing and Sustaining Successful First–Year Programs: A Guide for Practitioners

Praise for Developing and Sustaining Successful First-Year Programs "An essential guide to the thorny task of not only developing successful first-year programs, the critical building blocks for student college completion, but also sustaining them over time. It should be at the top of the reading list of all faculty, staff, and administrators concerned with making substantial improvements in student success in the first year of college." — Vincent Tinto , Distinguished University Professor, Syracuse University "Grounded in scholarly literature and higher education theory, Developing and Sustaining Successful First-Year Programs provides a much-needed next-generation resource to advance a comprehensive, integrated, and multi-faceted first-year experience as well as practical guidance to educators who want to become more effective first-year student advocates." — Jillian Kinzie , associate director, Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, NSSE Institute "The authors do an excellent job both of providing a conceptual framework for the first year and of grounding their program descriptions in the work of a diverse range of campuses, providing exemplars of good practice, centered on assessment, in enhancing student academic achievement and persistence. The book will be of use both to policy makers and administrators focused on enhancing student success and to practitioners who will make good use of excellent observations and recommendations." — Scott Evenbeck , president, The New Community College at CUNY

Preface by John N. Gardner xi The Authors xvii Acknowledgments xxiii Introduction: Where Have We Been, and Where Are We Going? xxvii 1 High–Impact Pedagogies 1 2 Summer Bridge Programs 21 3 New Student Orientation 43 4 Advising 67 5 First–Year Seminars 89 6 Learning Communities 113 7 Residential Learning Programs 136 8 Developmental Education 157 9 Early Alert Warning Systems 179 10 Probation Initiatives 202 11 Peer Leadership 224 12 Second–Year Transitions 249 Conclusion: Lessons Learned 271 References 277 Index 319

Gerald M. Greenfield , a professor emeritus of history at University of Wisconsin, Parkside and long-time director of its teaching and learning center, spent seven years there as a senior administrator in academic affairs. Greenfield led the university's participation in the Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year and organized and chaired their initial First Year Committee. He is accredited as a peer evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission. Jennifer R. Keup is the director of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition and also serves as an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policies in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina. John N. Gardner is the senior fellow of the National Resource Center, distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina, and president of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. Gardner is the author or coauthor of The Freshman Year Experience, Challenging and Supporting the First-Year Student, Helping Sophomores Succeed, The Senior Year Experience, and Achieving and Sustaining Institutional Excellence for the First Year of College.