Parent engagement matters to student retention

Students whose families are more involved with academic support are more likely to persist. That's what the research shows.

CampusESP sponsored an analysis of parent engagement and student retention at two CampusESP partner institutions, Abilene Christian University and Tarleton State University. The research was summarized by Kayla Reed, a PhD from Iowa State, who has also authored other related studies such as Helicopter Parenting and Emerging Adult Self-Efficacy: Implications for Mental and Physical Health (2016).

Parent Engagement is Connected to Student Retention is a brief study that shows how higher levels of college parent engagement are related to higher percentages of student persistence and progress toward degree completion.

 
 

Tarleton student retention rates are 9% higher among students with more engaged parents and ACU student retention rates are 6% higher among students with more engaged parents:

 
 

Parents were also classified into different engagement levels to further analyze parent engagement and student retention. The more emails a parent received, and the more engaged a parent was with emails and alerts, the more likely the student was to be retained.

The analysis helps dispel the notion that parent involvement is bad.  It's not. From a student retention perspective, not only does the data show that parent involvement helps, its shows that more parent involvement helps more.

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You’re a College Administrator and You Need Parent Emails. Where Do You Get Them?

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Parent communication: Five easy steps