Caseload Advising as Teaching: An Advising-Teaching Model to Improve the Retention and Persistence of First Year Students

Abstract

At the collegial level, academic advising has long been advocated as a scholarly activity based on its parallel to teaching. In fact, the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) has promoted the parallel between Developmental Advising and Teaching as its primary contribution to the education community and to its claim as a scholarly profession. While there are similarities between the two, this study seeks to contribute to the body of research by probing this theory via the restructuring of the CST 1001 Freshman Seminar Course offered within the College of Science & Technology at a large, urban public research institution. By implementing a caseload-teaching model of the course for first year freshman STEM students, the study sets out to illustrate whether caseload advising within a classroom/teaching setting can improve students’ first year retention and persistence to graduation. This evaluation study is two-fold: Not only does it set out to “treat’ students within a section of the course via the application of constructive and intrusive advising/teaching practices, and track student persistence to graduation in four, five and six years, it also examines the increasing demand on the academic advising role and its place within the higher education landscape. In search for its place in the higher education community and its claim as a profession, the study examines the advisor role to determine whether the advising practice offers more than its student service function, which is designed to carry out the mission of the institution.