What factors contribute to students' lasting success?Much research has explored the impact of the first year of college on student retention and success. With the new performance-based funding initiatives, institutional administrators are taking a laser-focused approach to aligning retention and success strategies to first-year student transition points.This volume enlightens the discussion and highlights new directions for assessment and research practices within the scope of the first year experience. Administrators, faculty, and data scientists provide a conceptual and analytical approach to investigating the first-year experience for entry-level and seasoned practitioners alike.The emerging research throughout this volume suggests that while many first-year programs and services have significant benefits across a number of success outcomes, these benefits may not be universal for all students. This volume:* Examines sophisticated empirical models* Provides critical assessment practices and implications.* Examines the four-year college and the two-year institution, which is just as critical.This is the 161st volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

EDITOR'S NOTES 1Ryan D. Padgett1. Conceptual Considerations for First-Year Assessment5Jennifer R. Keup, Cindy A. KilgoThis chapter provides a foundational understanding of first-yearassessment as well as some considerations to help support keydecisions in the assessment process of first-year experiences andprograms.2. High-Impact Practices and the First-Year Student19Malika Tukibayeva, Robert M. GonyeaThis chapter examines the relationships between empiricallysupported high-impact practices--service learning, learningcommunities, and research with faculty--and selected outcomesin the first year of college.3. Good Practices for Whom? A Vital Question forUnderstanding the First Year of College 37Kathleen M. GoodmanDemonstrating the effects of good teaching and academic challengeon leadership and psychological well-being, this chapter revealsthe importance of disaggregating data by race or other relevantcharacteristics when examining the impact of college on first-yearstudents.4. Programs and Practices That Retain Students From the Firstto Second Year: Results From a National Study 53Linda DeAngeloUsing data from a nationally representative longitudinal study,this chapter provides additional evidence into what types offirst-year experiences affect persistence.5. The First-Year Experience in Community Colleges77Trudy Bers, Donna YoungerThis chapter provides a thorough examination of the characteristicsof first-year experience programs in community colleges and thechallenges in delivering these experiences in the two-yearsetting.INDEX 9