Intake & Orientation

Evidence-based Strategies - Examples, Research and Tools

Strategy a:  Build a trusting, respectful, and caring relationship with students from the beginning by ensuring that the first contact with prospective students is welcoming (e.g. there is someone to greet new students, there is clear signage and information in students’ languages) and informative.

Examples

Making it Worth the Stay: Findings from the New England Learner Persistence Project, pp. 33-34
Andy Nash and Silja Kallenbach
These pages describe the strategies New England programs used to make students feel welcome in a program from the beginning.

Research

The First Three Weeks: A Critical Time for Motivation
B. Allan Quigley
This oft-cited research suggests that programs offer early and frequent opportunities for staff and students to make personal connections, especially with students who are at-risk due to dispositional barriers, or risk losing them within the first three weeks.

Reducing the Pattern of Student Drop-Out after the First ABE/GED Class Session through Moving TABE Assessment from the First to the Fourth Class Session
Elaine Rudy
In this action research report, a rural Pennsylvania program describes the 18% increase in retention that resulted from moving initial TABE testing from the first night to the end of the second week of class.

Retention and the GED
Jamie D. Barron Jones
In this action research project, the teacher created multiple opportunities to communicate with new GED students about their past school experience, goals, supports, and barriers. What she learned helped her make targeted referrals to a variety of support agencies. Those who received this on-going attention showed an 82% completion rate compared to 40% for those who didn’t.