Tracking student success: who is falling through the cracks?

This project describes the first phase of a longitudinal study designed to effectively monitor outcomes related to student cohorts at the institutional level and gain a better understanding of the root causes of disadvantage, as well as tracking the enablers of access, retention and success for students from diverse backgrounds. Tracking students in their day-to-day activities is an empirical process by which factors that hinder that progress can be identified. A process for monitoring and reporting on the educational progress of student cohorts (a cohort tracking system) would enable a large-scale impact assessment of current learning and teaching activities employed to improve underprepared students' higher education success and completion rates, such as inclusive pedagogy, bridging courses, mentoring and scholarships. Student cohort tracking enables robust evaluations of university participation activities under the [Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program] HEPPP and complements university evaluations. Student cohort tracking methodology is ideally underpinned by the theoretical frameworks that inform which student characteristics should be measured.

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