Overview
The Course Completion, Student Persistence, and Student Retention Rates displayed on the Home page dashboard only use historical data by nature.
- The dashboard widgets reflect actual student performance at your institution, allowing you to view overall performance or performance for specific student populations.
- This is different than the course completion and persistence displayed in SS&E which is based on Predict Models used to predict the future.
- The dashboard widgets update every night, while data used in the Predict Models is updated three times a year after the Fall, Spring, and Summer terms end.
- For more information about understanding predicted performance, see Current Behavior Risk Indicator Display.
Definitions
Student Persistence Rate
Student Persistence measures the percentage of students who enrolled in another term within 6 months OR earned a certificate/credential.
- Persistence Rates display the term-to-term historical retention.
- Since this is based on historical data, the Persistence Rate will not update until the event is in the past, aka the student has enrolled in the upcoming term or graduated from the institution.
Student Retention Rate
Student Retention only looks at new, full-time Fall students and measures the percentage of that population that either enrolled in the next Fall term OR graduated.
- A new student (as opposed to a returning student) is defined as a person who is enrolled in the Fall term and has not taken any coursework at the institution prior to the enrolled term.
- A full-time student is dependent on the individual institution’s definition of Full-Time Students, however this typically represents a student who is taking 12 or more credit hours in a term.
- Retention Rates display the Fall to Fall retention, aka return or (short term credential/ certificate) graduation of NEW full time students. Since this is based on historical data, the Retention Rate will not update until the event is in the past, aka New Full-Time students have registered in the next Fall term or Graduated from the institution.
Course Completion Rate
Course Completion measures the percentage of courses that have been successfully completed at an institution for a given term.
- Successfully completed, aka passing grades for a course section, represent transcript course records that start with (‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘P’, ‘S’) or if the quality points earned divided by credits attempted is above a 2.0.
- D grades are not included in the course completion widget.
Student Population
A Student Population represents a type of sub-population that a student belongs to.
- Student Population group types include Post Secondary students, Post Baccalaureate students, High School students, Continuing Education students, Non-Traditional Post Secondary students, and Special Credit students.
Dashboard Widgets
Course Completion Widget
Student Persistence Widget
Student Retention Widget
FAQ
Q: Why are some columns shaded with a darker color?
A: The terms shown with a darker shade are ones that your institution has been using Student Success & Engagement.
Q: Why is the Retention Rate for the most recent term so low?
A: This is common, since the Retention Rate measures New Full-time student Fall-to-Fall retention, and it is most likely due to students not registering yet for the next Fall term.
For example:
In the screenshot below, Fall 2021 Retention is low because we are looking at this chart after the Fall 2021 term ended, and the Fall 2022 term is in the future.
- Since Fall 2022 registration has not yet opened, there are only a few New Full-time students that graduated in Fall 2021, and there are no students from Fall 2021 who have already registered for a class in the upcoming Fall 2022 term.
- Once the Fall 2022 registration opens, as students enroll in the Fall 2022 term, the Fall 2021 Retention Rate will increase.
- Since the dashboard widgets update nightly and only use historical data, as New Full-time students represented in the Fall 2021 cohort register for Fall 2022 courses, the Student Retention dashboard widget chart will change based on the underlying data.