TINTOS THEORY OF STUDENT DEPARTURE Christina Corona Abilene

TINTO’S THEORY OF STUDENT DEPARTURE Christina Corona Abilene Christian University Author Note: Presentation Prepared for HIED 613

COLLEGE STUDENT RETENTION Ever wonder why students leave college before completing there degree? • This question is of interest not only to scholars, but also to employers, institutions, students, parents of students, and spouses. • A student who leaves college before graduating paid tuition that will probably not be made up for through employment (Lundquist, Spalding, & Landrum, 2002). • Compared to college graduates a person who lacks a college degree will have diminished lifetime earnings. • The institution will experience a loss in revenue. Figure 1: Vincent Tinto (Brown University, n. d. ). • Society will suffer the loss of highly trained individuals to enter the workforce or perform civic duties (Lundquist, Spalding, & Landrum, 2002).

WHY RETENTION IS IMPORTANT? • Retaining a student is fundamental to the ability of an institution to carry out its mission. (Spady, 1971) • A high rate of attrition is not only a fiscal problem for schools, but a symbolic failure of an institution to achieve its purpose (Tinto, 1993). • Retention studies are important to institutions because if institutions can maintain or increase their retention rates, they can survive, and possibly prosper (Tinto, 1993). Figure 2: Why? (Shutterstock, 2017).

THEORIES OF STUDENT DEPARTURE • Scholars such as Vincent Tinto, have long held an interest in student departure for three main reasons: • It is a complex human behavior • Because it is related to other factors like • status attainment • self development • the development of human capital Figure 3: Thinking about dropping out (Shutterstock, 2017). • Because it is a place where theory can have an impact on practice (Spady, 1971).

• Vincent Tinto is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University and the former Chair of the Higher Education Program. DR. VINCENT TINTO Figure 4: Vincent Tinto (Brown University, n. d. ). • He has carried out research and has written extensively on higher education, particularly on: • student success and the impact of learning communities on student growth and attainment • Tinto has authored two books: • Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition which focuses on a theory and policy perspective on student success that is considered the benchmark by which work on these issues are judged. • Completing College: Rethinking Institutional Action which describes the range of programs that have been effective in enhancing student success • Tinto received his B. S. from Fordham in Physics and Philosophy, his M. S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Physics and Mathematics, and his Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in Education and Sociology (Tinto, 2017).

FOUNDATION FOR THEORIES • The explanatory theory underlying Tinto's model came from the research of William Spady, who saw an analogy between committing suicide and dropping out of school. In both instances, according to Spady, a person leaves a social system (Spady, 1971). • The French philosopher and sociologist Émile Durkheim had found that some people committed suicide because they lacked the values of the social system in which they participated, and because they were not supported by a group of friends (Schuh, Jones, & Torres, 2017). • At the core of his model, Tinto borrowed Spady's use of Durkheim's two postulates to identify the concepts of academic and social integration. Academic integration was thought to be the result of sharing academic values, and social integration was viewed as the result of developing friendships with other students and faculty members. In Tinto's model, a student who does not achieve some level of academic or social integration is likely to leave school (Schuh, Jones, & Torres, 2017; Tinto, 1993).

TINTO’S THEORY OF STUDENT DEPARTURE: 1975 • Tinto first introduced his theory of student departure in 1975, applying the idea of integration to the modern problem of college student departure. According to Schuh, Jones, and Torres (2017) Tinto explained students enter college with a variety of personal, family, and academic characteristics and skills that influence their commitments to the goal of getting a college degree and their commitment to the institution. • Tinto’s 1975 theory also described the institution's role in creating an environment that helped students succeed instead of making the student seem as if they are at fault for being unsuccessful in college. • Finally, Tinto’s research explained that just because students leave college, it does not mean they are not coming back. Some students could be taking a break and soon returning. • Tinto’s initial article offered several contributions to the study of college student retention. Tinto’s original 1975 article has been referenced, lauded, critiqued, tested, and revised by higher education scholars worldwide. However, his subsequent publications have garnered even more attention by practitioners and scholars (Tinto, 1975).

TINTO’S THEORY OF STUDENT DEPARTURE: 1993 • In his revised works, Vincent Tinto (1993) expands on the three major sources of student departure: • academic difficulties • the inability of individuals to resolve their educational and occupational goals • their failure to become or remain incorporated in the intellectual and social life of the institution. • Tinto (1993) identified different student groups, such as African American students, students from low-income families, adult students and transfer students, with unique experiences requiring groupspecific interventions and policies. • Tinto's (1993) Model of Institutional Departure states: “to persist, students need integration into formal (academic performance) and informal (faculty/staff interactions) academic systems and formal (extracurricular activities) and informal (peer-group interactions) social systems” (p. 104).

THE FOCUS OF TINTO’S 1993 THEORY Tinto (1993) identified three areas which may lead to institutions not retaining college students: (1) academic problems, (2) students not resolving academic and career goals, and (3) not transitioning well within the academic and social environments. Figure 5: Tinto’s Model (Tinto, 1993)

TINTO’S THEORY OF STUDENT DEPARTURE: TINTO’S MODEL PRE-ENTRY ATTRIBUTES GOALS/COMMITMENTS • This takes place before a student enrolls in college and includes areas like family background, skills, abilities, and prior schooling (Lundquist, Spalding, & Landrum, 2002). • This involves the student’s intentions and external commitments. • Each of these attributes influence how a student will interact in their college environment and commit to educational experiences consistent with values they learned prior to college (Lundquist, Spalding, & Landrum, 2002). • A student can be influenced in a positive way by their pre-entry influences, which helps them establish goals they are committed to meet, such as completing their degree. • These influences may cause a student to become isolated within the environment, which may cause a student to leave early and not return to complete their degree(Lundquist, Spalding, & Landrum, 2002).

TINTO’S THEORY OF STUDENT DEPARTURE: TINTO’S MODEL INSTITUTIONAL EXPERIENCES • These experiences takes into consideration all college experience. • This affects how interactions within the college environment. • Academics and social integration go hand in hand. • In order for students to enjoy positive experiences in college, the environment should be supportive of academics and social experiences (Lundquist, Spalding, & Landrum, 2002). ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION • Completing a degree will depend on the experience the student has in college. • Having supports for academics and social experiences will allow the students to enjoy college which contribute to their completion of a degree (Schuh, Jones, & Torress, 2017).

TINTO’S SEVEN ACTION PRINCIPLES • Tinto (1997) provides the following seven action principles for successful implementation of retention programs: • Institutions should provide resources for program development and incentives for program participation that reach out to faculty and staff alike. • Institutions should commit themselves to a long-term process of program development. • Institutions should place ownership for institutional change in the hands of those across the campus who have to implement the change. • Institutional actions should be coordinated in a collaborative fashion to insure a systematic, campus-wide approach to student retention. • Institutions should act to insure that faculty and staff possess the skills needed to assist and educate their students. • Institutions should frontload their efforts on • behalf of student retention. • institutions and programs should continually assess their actions with an eye toward improvement.

CONCLUSION • Tinto’s (1993) model of student departure has continued to guide research on theory of attrition and retention. Tinto proposes that students enter college with pre-existing attributes and experiences, including family background, skills/abilities, and prior schooling, to begin a longitudinal process of interacting with the formal and informal social and academic components of the institution. This process is affected by external forces and as a result of this interactional process, the student ultimately decides either to stay involved or to leave the educational environment.

REFERENCES Brown University. (n. d. ). Brown gives students the freedom to direct their education. Retrieved from https: //www. brown. edu/academics Lundquist, C. , Spalding, R. J. , & Landrum, R. E. (2002). College students’ thoughts about leaving the university: The impact of faculty attitudes and behaviors. Journal of College Student Retention, 4(2), 123 -133. Schuh, J. H. , Jones, S. R. , & Torres, V. (2017). Student services: A handbook for the profession (6 th ed. ). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Shutterstock. (2017, January 12). College student experiences. Spady, W. G. (1971) Dropouts from higher education: Toward an empirical model’, interchange, 2(3), 38 -62. Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45(1), 89– 125. https: //doi. org/10. 3102/00346543045001089 Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2 nd ed. ). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599623. Tinto, V. (2017). Reflections on student persistence. Student Success, 8(2), 1– 8. https: //doi. org/10. 5204/ssj. v 8 i 2. 376