Examining Successful Retention Practices Of A Career College Dean Of Education

<p>This intrinsic case study examined retention practices utilized by a dean of education at a career college where student outcomes in retention and graduation met and exceeded the standards set forth by the institution’s accrediting agency and the U.S. Department of Education. Furthermore, it seeks to understand how members of the campus leadership and faculty perceive and enact these retention practices. The guiding themes of the literature review were leadership in educational settings as related to the actions of successful educational leaders and how these actions influence student persistence and retention. Distributed and transformative leadership were of particular importance. This study had a total of eighteen participants. The dean of education and the campus president were interviewed individually, while the peers of the dean of education, the programs directors, and faculty members were interviewed in four focus groups. Interviews were recorded through an online meeting service, and transcribed by the researcher. Overall, three themes emerged from the data analysis procedure: (a) focusing campus culture on retention, (b) understanding student needs through individual engagement, and (c) engaging program directors and faculty through distributed leadership. The retention initiatives and leadership actions of the dean of education are important to several stakeholders within the educational organization and each career college campus, including educational leadership, faculty, and perhaps most significantly, retention efforts are important to the student.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Kemper, Victoria

Contributors dc:contributor

• Briana Parsons
• Michael Patrick
• Paul Bao

• Community College Education Administration
• Educational Administration and Supervision
• Educational Leadership

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dune.une.edu/theses/64

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dune.une.edu:theses-1063