The College Persistence Questionnaire: Developing Scales to Assess Student Retention and Institutional Effectiveness

The current study extends previous research using the College Persistence Questionnaire (CPQ), an instrument designed to predict whether college freshman return for their sophomore years (Davidson, Beck, & Milligan, 2009). Between 6 to 12 weeks into their first semester, participants from three southeastern colleges and universities took the Student Experience Form of the questionnaire online. A principal component analysis was performed to determine if the Student Experience Form of the CPQ could be enhanced by a set of test questions. Two binary logistic regressions established the predictive validity of the CPQ and revealed that the additional items improved the utility of the instrument. The three most salient predictors of return status were Institutional Commitment, Academic Integration, and Scholastic Conscientiousness. A second principal component analysis used a majority of the same items and yielded an Institutional Effectiveness scale that could be used to assess a variety of campus objectives.