will provide data to gauge students' 1) Academic Motivation, 2) Social Motivation, 3) General Coping Ability, 4) Receptivity to Support Services, and 5) Initial Impressions. The CSI also reports specific recommendations to begin meeting students' complex needs by helping to relate their needs to specific forms of assistance and present the issue of assistance as a set of clear alternatives that can be readily evaluated and compared. Students can be encouraged to become conscious of both their positive and negative attitudes, determine whether the attitude is helpful, and realize how they can change a negative attitude to a positive. Dembo and Seli (2004) report that "Efficacy beliefs are important predictors of student motivation and self-regulated behaviors." The process for change includes:
Examples of potential action statements range from getting help with study habits, to discussing family problems with a counselor, to getting help in meeting new friends, to discussing the job market for college graduates.
Astin, Korn, and Green note that “academic advising is probably the principal tool for helping students get involved in their studies. Involvement, in turn, is probably one of the key elements in student achievement and retention” (cited in Gaither, p. 13). Furthermore, Alexander Astin's theory of student involvement or “the amount of physical and psychological energy that a student devotes to the academic experience” (p.11) rests solidly on a foundation of academic and social integration into the academic community. Chickering's student development theory also informs the process as students develop “intellectual, physical, and social (interpersonal) competence” (Clarkson, p. 3, 2006). His research describes seven vectors of development, including 1) Developing competence, 2) Managing emotions, 3) Moving through autonomy toward interdependence, 4) Developing mature interpersonal relationships, 5) Establishing identity, 6) Developing purpose, and 7) Developing integrity. Through comprehensive support, students can build a foundation of success. Also related to student development are the basic needs which Maslow speaks of in his theory of human motivation: 1) Physiological needs, 2) Safety, 3) Belongingness and Love, 4) Esteem, and 5) Self-Actualization. Schlossberg's (1989) theory of mattering also informs this project by showing the importance of students moving from a sense of marginality to mattering. The mechanisms proposed by the QEP will serve to personalize the academic experience by helping new students develop the sense of belonging to a community where they find involvement and importance. John Gardner, Executive Director for the Policy Center on the First Year of College, has said, “Long after students have left college, the one thing they tend to remember from their college experience is the gift of self” (2007, p. 2).
Extensive research, particularly the work of Tinto (1997), has shown that membership in one or more college communities is a critical factor in student development and retention. For most college students, a campus learning community
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