Community College Faculty Perceptions of Their Role in Student Retention: A Replicated Study

Author

Maureen Ellis-Davis, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education

Advisor

Jo Campbell

Committee Member

Jenniger Quinones Nottingham

Keywords

community college, faculty perceptions, high impact practices, institutional retention initiatives, student persistence

Abstract

This investigation replicates a phenomenological case study of full-time community college faculty to discover the extent to which perceptions of faculty role in institutional student retention activities are shared. The study goal was to gain further insight into factors that encourage faculty support and participation as well into those that discourage participation in student retention activities offered by the college. This replication duplicated the original design by using the same sampling parameters, interview tools, and approach to analysis in order to discover the extent to which faculty views were consistent and how they differed across two structurally different settings, one rural and one metropolitan.

Significantly, respondents in both samples perceived their primary role to be teachers and devoted much of their efforts toward meeting instructional needs of their students. Respondents were also very firm in their position that good student-faculty relationships were fundamental to successful student retention and to their perception that motivating students was a significant aspect of their role as teaching faculty. There was additional agreement across the two samples that the institution itself often hampered their student retention efforts, either directly or indirectly.

This study adds to our growing understanding of community college faculty as a subset of the professoriate and offers an understanding into their role by describing their lived experiences as academic professionals. Some ways institutions can more effectively engage faculty members in their student retention activities were offered.

NSUWorks Citation

Maureen Ellis-Davis. 2020. Community College Faculty Perceptions of Their Role in Student Retention: A Replicated Study. Doctoral dissertation. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education. (285)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/fse_etd/285.