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Having read the extensive literature on student success, the very best statistical models generally explain no more than about 20 to 30 percent of the variance in the dependent variable, retention. And those studies nearly always focus only on what is easiest to measure: student demographics, high school and first semester performance, and other items that can be found on an admissions or financial aid application. Few at scale measure psychological forces, and nearly none do so via a random-control design. Given the extent of unexplained variance, and from what I have come to observe over years of student success work, archetypically captured in the person of Garien, I believe it is in this arena that EACH of us can work and realize extensive gains in retention, student performance, and persistence to degree. We can’t fix poverty, but we can change the internal narrative.
The College Transition Collaborative, a group with which I have had an affiliation over the years, works in this space and has curated research studies that zero in on the psychological forces that impact students, typically utilizing a random-control design, and often focused on the effects on historically marginalized students. And if I had to pick my three favorite articles in this arena, they would be these:
Belonging at a broad access university:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aba4677
Post-college outcomes of belonging:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aay3689
The mentor’s dilemma:
https://ed.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/the_mentors_dilemma.pdf
If you, like me, keep in touch with friends via Facebook, we often see pictures of food being made or eaten, a group picture, or a cool place visited. Garien’s Facebook page has none of that. He’s zeroed in on the psychological forces that hold a person back. Here’s just a sample from the past week:
- People can alter their lives by altering their attitudes.
- Repetitive complaining will attract things for you to complain about. Repeated gratitude will attract things for you to be thankful for.
- You never really know someone until you have listened to the soundtrack of their soul.
- Thinking of my students on this day. Praying they are all safe and provided with the things they need to sustain. My heart as an educator doesn’t turn off after I leave the building. The privilege to be an educator and to impact lives gives me gratitude.
As we go into the final push before the holiday break, take a moment to tell a student that while college is hard, they were admitted because we believe they are capable and that as a community, we are better for their being here. I was, and am, better because of Garien.
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