Fictive Kinship Networks in Postsecondary Education

To discuss the disparity of education among minorities in this country, the understanding of the problem is essential. Education equality for people of color is based on their socioeconomic status and ethnic backgrounds. The lack of knowledge and appreciation of Black culture is a practice of disengagement that prohibits the connection between instructor and student. Utilizing Tinto's Model of Attrition and the Self-Determination and Resilience Theories, the chapter will explore the history of fictive kinship models, their impact on minority persistence in higher education and provide recommendations for the creation of networks on predominantly white institutions.

Student attrition in gender atypical fields of study. A matter of lacking social integration or pressure from significant others?

In most European countries, the choice of college majors is highly segregated by gender. Only a small amount of students enrolls in a gender atypical major. Previous studies indicated that these students may have a higher attrition rate than their counterparts in gender typical majors. In this paper, I investigated whether this higher attrition rate is caused by lower levels of social integration and pressure from significant others. I built a synthesis of Tinto’s model of student drop out and Kanter’s theory of tokenism and drew on theories of comparative reference groups to test these hypotheses. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study, which follows undergraduate students who enrolled in 2010, I conducted discrete time survival analysis. I found that men and women in gender atypical majors have a higher risk to switch to a more gender balanced major and – only for women - to drop out than students in gender typical majors. Low levels of social integration and disapproval of the major by significant others increase the attrition risk. However, these two aspects do not contribute to the explanation of the higher attrition risk of students in gender atypical majors. Alternative explanations are discussed.

Commitment in College Student Persistence

This investigation theoretically extended Tinto’s model of student persistence by drawing on interpersonal communication research to elaborate on the role of commitment in student persistence. College student departure literature was reviewed and critiqued concerning the conceptualization and measurement of commitment within the interactionalist model of student persistence. Rusbult’s investment model was used as an exploratory theoretical frame for understanding commitment between students and institutions. Self-report measures of commitment and investment model predictors for students in higher education were included. Support was found for hypotheses using the investment model as a frame for understanding how both students’ commitment and perceptions of their institution’s commitment are relevant in understanding persistence in the higher education setting.

Revisiting Student Attrition Studies: A New Conceptual Perspective

This article focuses on the overview of the student attrition model as well as related theory that are pertinent to student attrition studies. It comprises an investigation into the prominent student attrition models, such as the Undergraduate Dropout Process Model presented by Spady, and Tinto’s Model of Institutional Departure. Then, the focus is on the work by Bean that resulted in the Student Attrition Model, and the Pascarella produced the Conceptual Model for Research on Student-Faculty Informal Contact, as well as an exploration of attrition studies in Malaysian Higher Education. In addition, an initial conceptual research model derived from existing prominent student attrition models was proposed by the researchers for investigation in Malaysian Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) student attrition studies, as well as for academic student attrition studies.

Keeping Students in by Sending Them out: Retention and Service-Learning

<p>This review of recent literature examines the research on the impact of service-learning on student retention. The theoretical framework of the review draws on both Tinto’s model of student attrition and Knowles’s theory of adult learning, which together suggest that academic and social integration, active participation and engagement in learning, and application and relevancy of the subject-matter under study are key factors in student success. The role of these factors has been confirmed in a growing body of research around learning experiences in general and, as this review shows, particularly in service-learning experiences. Suggestions are made for how future research might expand and critically deepen this evidence and offers some implications for service-learning as a means of improving student retention.</p>

College Choir Members' Motivation to Persist in Music: Application of the Tinto Model

The purpose of this study was to assess the influences of parental musicianship and support in music, students' previous musical experience, self concept of musical ability, value of music, academic integration, and social integration in college choir students intentions to continue music participation in the future, both in and after college. Tinto's model of institutional departure (1975, 1982, 1987, 1993) was used in the present study. The Choir Participation Survey II, developed by the present author, was administered to 154 choir students in a large public university in the southern United States. The path analytical model fit data well and explained 50% ( p < .05) of variance in musical intention. The best predictors of musical intentions were social integration in the choir (beta = .34; p < .05) and the value of music (beta = .57, p < .05). The author concludes with implications of the findings and suggestions for future research.