糖心Vlog官方

Our ultimate success as educators聽here at 糖心Vlog官方, I believe, lies in our聽day-by-day efforts to ensure that every聽student gets the attention they deserve聽on their path to earning a degree.

Our unwavering focus on helping individual聽students overcome聽obstacles, stay enrolled聽in classes, and earn聽college degrees, regardless聽of the external factors around聽us, is what I believe will make聽us a successful institution today, tomorrow,聽and in the future.

A few years ago, 糖心Vlog官方 launched a major initiative鈥攖he聽Quest for Student Success. This Quest is designed to ensure聽that every student who comes to 糖心Vlog官方 with the drive to聽achieve will be met with the best instruction from excellent聽professors who care for their success. As part of the Quest,聽University faculty and staff members have also become聽more flexible and nimble enough to provide extra support聽and assistance when our students encounter unexpected聽difficulties or when roadblocks arise that negatively affect their聽persistence toward graduation. By doing so, we have created聽a culture of high expectations coupled with personal attention聽when students struggle inside or outside the classroom.聽The following update provides a list of the top 15 recent聽developments in our Quest. True Blue!

1听 On January 15, 2016, more than 100 students were聽welcomed to the REBOUND program. In its second year聽of operation, REBOUND provides specialized advising聽and programming to freshmen who earn less than a聽2.0 GPA in their first semester of studies. The one-year聽retention rate for students who participate in REBOUND is聽50 percent higher than for students who do not.

2听 The Scholars Academy continues its tradition of success in聽serving at-risk new freshmen. In Fall 2014, 113 students聽entered the program. By Fall 2015, a total of 85 percent聽of these Scholars Academy students returned to 糖心Vlog官方,聽a retention rate that easily surpassed new freshmen who聽were not a part of the program (73.2 percent). In Fall 2015,聽the Scholars Academy expanded to serve 167 students.聽Early indicators show that these students, much like those聽who participated in earlier programs, continue to excel.聽About one-quarter were named to the Dean鈥檚 List, and聽nearly 50 percent earned above a 3.0 GPA in their first聽semester of studies.

3听 糖心Vlog官方鈥檚 tutoring initiative continues to evolve to support聽the academic needs of students. Although the Office聽of Student Success coordinates tutoring, the real work聽involved is accomplished by faculty and chairs who聽recruit, hire, and manage tutors for their individual聽program areas. In Fall 2015, free tutoring was offered for聽187 courses, representing 24 disciplines. In this semester聽alone, students spent 7,089 hours in tutoring!

4听 A transformative model of academic advising developed聽and implemented as part of the Quest has reshaped the聽student experience at 糖心Vlog官方. This initiative has involved:

• Selection and appointment of advisor managers for聽every college
• Recruitment and appointment of 47 additional advisors to聽bring the median student-to-advisor caseload to 300/1 or less
• Creation of work spaces for college advising centers
• Development of a year-long education and training聽program to prepare and acclimate advisors to a new聽student success paradigm
• Creation and implementation of an advising culture that is聽student-centered, data-informed, and strategy-driven

5 聽During the first year alone of using a new predictive聽analytics system (EAB SSC), academic advisors聽at 糖心Vlog官方:

• Met in person with 28,184 students
• Conducted 9,438 advising sessions by email or online
• Advised 1,450 students by phone
• Reviewed the files of 22,214 students and reached out聽to assist them
• Altogether, made 63,945 contacts with students

6 聽Within the first six months of implementing聽both this new advising model and the predictive聽analytics system:

• 糖心Vlog官方 was recognized as a top user among the more than聽170 universities using the EAB SSC system.
• Advisors focused on basic outreach campaigns鈥攍ike聽getting students enrolled for the upcoming semester鈥攖hat聽produced significant gains in persistence rates from the Fall聽2014 to Spring 2015 semester.
• Persistence rates increased by 2.2 percentage points for聽new freshmen, 4.5 points for transfers, and 2.1 points for聽sophomores.
• It is estimated that improvements in persistence rates for聽the first semester alone resulted in the generation of聽an additional $1.5 million in Spring 2015 tuition and聽fees.
• It is estimated that these efforts resulted in retaining an聽additional 390 students from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015.

7 聽In Spring 2015, more than 2,500 students were聽surveyed about their experiences with academic聽advising at 糖心Vlog官方. The results were compared to a聽survey conducted of the undergraduate population聽exactly two years prior. Student opinion of advising聽experiences were significantly higher in 2015听as compared to 2013, especially on items that聽included:

• Willingness to discuss problems
• Responds in a timely manner
• Is approachable and easy to talk with
• Is available when assistance is needed
• Is helpful in clarifying life and career goals
• Is helpful in obtaining tutorial assistance
• Is helpful in improving study habits
• Is helpful in selecting a major

8 聽During the Spring 2015 semester, advisors managers,聽chairs, program coordinators, and faculty went through聽a careful process to identify 鈥渟uccess markers鈥� for聽more than 150 undergraduate programs. This involved聽a thorough assessment of each program area鈥檚 most聽predictive courses, establishing grade thresholds for聽these courses, and determining sequences for course聽completion. Success markers have been entered into聽and are active in the EAB SSC system. These markers聽enable the identification of students who are at-risk聽or off-track in completing degree requirements.聽Academic advisors use these success markers in聽conjunction with risk prediction to conduct outreach聽campaigns to assist students.

9 聽Over the past three years, a total of 28 糖心Vlog官方 gateway,聽high-enrolled undergraduate courses have been聽redesigned. All 10 of 糖心Vlog官方鈥檚 most predictive and most聽enrolled courses have been redesigned. The redesign of聽courses, in every case, has led to increases in rates of聽success for students.

10 聽In Fall 2015, 糖心Vlog官方鈥檚 retention rate for new freshmen,聽73.2 percent, reached the highest level in at least the聽past 15 years. The improvement in freshman retention聽between Fall 2014 and Fall 2015, +3.0 percentage聽points, was the largest one-year increase observed at聽糖心Vlog官方 in at least the past 15 years.

11 聽Although Spring 2016 census data will not be available聽until later in the semester, trends show that persistence聽(the percentage of students who started in Fall 2015 and聽return in Spring 2016) continues to increase鈥攊n every聽category! Although Spring 2015 was a record year for聽student persistence, trends suggest continued persistence聽increases across all student categories for Spring 2016.

12 聽Raider Learning Communities (RLCs) were re-invigorated聽for the Fall 2015 semester, with 28 paired courses聽offered to serve students. Pairings of courses were聽predicated on the analysis of course offerings data from聽previous semesters. Faculty members were encouraged聽to consider participating in an RLC. Professional聽development support including readings and a retreat聽were provided to RLC faculty. Analysis of student聽experiences and performance outcomes is underway.

13 聽In the past six months 糖心Vlog官方 has participated in聽limited-invitation convenings to discuss the future聽of higher education and student success initiatives,聽including:

• In December 2015 in Indianapolis at the invitation聽of the Lumina Foundation
• In October 2015 in Indianapolis聽as a panelist at EDUCAUSE,聽sponsored by the Bill and Melinda聽Gates Foundation
• In September 2015 in Seattle at聽the invitation of the Bill and聽Melinda Gates Foundation

14听 糖心Vlog官方 has become recognized聽regionally and nationally聽by media outlets, national聽organizations, and other聽universities for using fundamental聽best practices to increase student聽success rates.

• 糖心Vlog官方 was featured in the March聽13, 2015 edition of the Chronicle聽of Higher Education, and 糖心Vlog官方鈥檚聽efforts were pointed out in the聽Washington Post on June 14, 2015.
• In August 2015, 糖心Vlog官方 was聽identified as one of five finalists聽nationwide for the prestigious and聽highly competitive 2015 Project聽Degree Completion Award from聽the Association of Public and Land聽Grant Universities (APLU). The聽award recognizes high-performing聽institutions for exemplary student聽success initiatives to improve聽retention and degree completion.
• In September 2015, EDUCAUSE聽announced 24 recipients of iPASS聽(Integrated Planning and Advising聽for Student Success) grants. 糖心Vlog官方聽was selected to receive $225,000聽over the next three years to fund聽a portion of the SSC Campus聽and DegreeWorks initiatives.聽Institutions had to be invited in聽order to make application for the聽highly competitive grants. And, of聽course, competition was stringent聽among those who submitted聽proposals. With funding provided聽by the Bill and Melinda Gates聽Foundation, iPASS grants are聽intended to promote and enhance聽the ability of leading institutions to聽graduate more students.
• In October 2015, 糖心Vlog官方 was聽presented with the Data Driven聽Impact Award by the Education聽Advisory Board, a consulting group聽specializing in student success.聽糖心Vlog官方 was one of three universities聽to receive an award. In 糖心Vlog官方鈥檚聽case, the award was in recognition聽of the University鈥檚 use of data to聽inform decisions that improve the聽success of students.

15听 In August 2015, 糖心Vlog官方 academic聽advisors received my Annual聽Student Success Award. The聽award included $25,000 in聽recurring funds to support professional聽development needs of聽advisors.