Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Now in its ninth year, a Mississippi State program to constantly remind freshmen of the importance of class attendance is having a significant impact on the number remaining in school.
"You can't argue with the data" said the program's founder, David McMillen, research scientist at the university's nationally recognized Social Science Research Center.
For 2005--the most recent year for which figures are complete--more than 82 percent of freshmen returned for their sophomore year, up from just over 75 percent when the program began in 1997. The number is the highest since the program's inception.
"When we started Pathfinders, retention percentages had run in the mid-70s for years," McMillen said. "We thought personal contact could be a non-threatening, convincing way to encourage class attendance."
Pathfinders enlisted faculty members to voluntarily report absences, based on research that showed student grades decline with the rise in classes missed. Initially the program asked to be notified after three absences; that number is now two.
"We'll contact students throughout the semester, but we're particularly interested in the first weeks of each semester when habits are being formed," said Ty Abernathy.
At the beginning of the fall semester, the SSRC research associate makes presentations at all campus residence halls to stress the importance of being in class, a message parents also receive in a letter from MSU President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong. The in-person presentations give a "face" to the program, its leaders have said.
"It gives us something to build on if we need to contact students about missing class," Abernathy explained. Pathfinders personally interacts with about 50-75 students each week through residence hall assistants, he estimates. "Housing and Residence Life at MSU has been particularly supportive," he added.
"Typically, we'll make a personal visit to their residence hall just to find out if there are any issues and to direct them to campus resources that may help," Abernathy said. Pathfinders also communicate by e-mail and phone calls to offer assistance and support to students living both on- and off-campus.
Annual research conducted by the social scientists shows that even the best students suffer when they don't attend class.
"Those who have absence problems typically will average a full grade point lower than those who regularly attend class," McMillen said. "That's the difference in 2005 between a 1.64 grade-point average with absences and a 2.86 grade point with none."
The good news is that the percentage of students reported to have absence problems in their first semester is dropping each year--to an all-time low of 6 percent at the recent mid-term for the fall 2006 semester.
"When that number goes down, you can be pretty sure at the end of the year, the grades will be better," McMillen said.
Among other factors identified by the annual student surveys:
--Involvement in campus life and having a social network are important to student success.
--In the last five years, MSU students reported increasing satisfaction with the Starkville community.
--A high percentage said they were satisfied with their instruction.
"The most important outcome for us is that we have a program in place to help more Mississippi State students succeed and graduate," McMillen said.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, telephone McMillen at 662-325-3936 or Abernathy at 325-0595.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.