WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DOING THE ISRA?
Institutions that are truly interested in improving their services to students and, as a result, increasing student retention and persistence, can use the ISRA to guide them through the process of researching, planning, and institutionalizing retention-focused programming and strategies on campus. The ISRA is not a silver-bullet, sure-thing tool to solve the student retention puzzle on campus. Rather, it is a tool that can help guide the institution through the steps necessary to make change on campus. The ISRA is less about content and more about process. If institutional teams are mindful of that statement, they will be much better prepared to get something meaningful out of the experience. While content is certainly important in acknowledging the status of the institution, it is the team building, staging of questions, and acknowledgement of where the institution is and determination of what it wants to be that matters in the end. Thus, a simple forewarning for institutions that can
