Tinto's model of student retention

• Its central idea is that of "integration": it claims that whether a student persists or drops out is quite strongly predicted by their degree of academic integration, and social integration. These evolve over time, as integration and commmitment interact, with dropouts depending on commitment at the time of the decision. A first pass might perhaps try to measure these by:

Academic integration
Grade / mark performance
Personal development -- or does this just mean a student's private judgement on the value of what they are learning (as opposed to official marks / teachers' judgements).
"Do you think you are doing well academically?" (Academic self-esteem)
Enjoying your subject(s).
Enjoying studying your subject(s): i.e. the study patterns required/requested are or are not enjoyable.
Identification with academic norms and values
Identification with one's role as a student

Social integration
How many friends you have. It probably doesn't matter whether you fit with the dominant social crowd, only whether or not you have a group of friends you fit with.
Personal contact with academics. In fact, it may be that it is important to measure really small amounts of contact: how many staff know your name, smile at you, ... ("How many staff have you had a personal interaction with, however small?" "How many personal interactions with staff have you had this year?").
"Are you enjoying being at university?"