Stop Asking Why Students Leave. Start Asking Why Schools Let Them.
Five Lessons Bahamian Schools Can Learn from Today’s Student Success Research
By Dr. Kevin A. Hall, Ed.D.
Founder, The Way Christian Educational Leadership Institute
Over the past two decades, educational leaders have invested enormous effort trying to answer one persistent question: Why do students leave? Researchers have studied persistence, retention, engagement, belonging, advising, financial barriers, predictive analytics, and institutional culture. While each study approaches the issue from a different perspective, a remarkable consensus has emerged.
The question is no longer “Why aren’t students committed enough?”
The better question is:
“What are schools doing to create the conditions in which students are most likely to succeed?”
This subtle shift represents one of the most important changes occurring in educational leadership today.
The Five Voices Agree
Recently, I reviewed five very different sources on student success.
- a peer-reviewed scholarly study,
- a higher education news publication,
- a corporate analytics case study,
- national enrollment data,
- and a nonprofit policy report.
These organizations serve different audiences, use different methodologies, and often have different goals. Yet they all arrived at essentially the same conclusion.
Student success is no longer viewed primarily as the responsibility of the student. It is increasingly understood as the responsibility of the institution.
That is a profound leadership lesson.
