Higher education's revolving door: confronting the problem of student drop out in US colleges and universities

The high rate of student dropout between the first and second year of college is a major concern for the majority of US colleges and universities. But dropout (or stop out) from higher education affects students in different ways, depending upon a number of factors. Although for the last 30 years, educational researchers have studied the dropout phenomenon, research to date has tended to focus upon student characteristics or the impact of external environments. Little research exists that explores the role of the college or university environment—especially the classroom itself—on student persistence. And while college and university educators have employed a variety of programs to improve retention—for example, first‐year seminars, learning communities, and Supplemental Institution—retention rates remain disappointingly static. A final frontier yet to be explored in retention research is the basic structure of higher education, especially the way instruction is designed and delivered.