A Recipe for Improved Retention:A College Success Course plus Advising

Marsha Fralick and Susan RushFebruary 14, 2010

Ice BreakerThink, Pair, Share

Introduce yourself.Where are you from?If I were to visit your city, what is one place I

should make sure to see?

Presentation Overview Features of College Success Course

CollegeScope Demo

The Lone Star College System: Achieving the Dream

The Advising Component

Research on Program Effectiveness

Resources for Student Success

Features

Keys to Success

• The program helps students to make a good choice of a major and career.

Careers: A Key Component

The focus is on personal development.

PersonalityLearning StyleInterestsValuesCareer Research

Statistically accurateValid and reliableCollege scenarios are easy to read and

understand.

Exercise: Job Jar Activity

Keys to Success

• The program helps students to understand their learning style and how to become a lifelong learner.

• Productivity Environment Preference Survey (PEPS)

• Comprehensive– 20 factors affecting learning style

• Helps students understand how they learn best

20 Learning Style Factors Perceptual

Auditory, visual, kinesthetic, tactual

EnvironmentalSound, light, heat,

design Physical

Time of day, food, mobility

EmotionalMotivation, responsibility,

persistence, structure Sociological

Self, peer or adult oriented

Note that a detailed list of learning strategies for your style follows this chart.

Personalized for each student

• Based on personality and learning style

• Refers to the student by their name

Learning Style ActivityPaper Airplane

Applied Psychology

From theory to practiceAcademically rigorous, yet practical Easy to read Structured writing assignments for new

and developmental students

Broad Scope

College success

Career success

Lifelong success

College Success

MotivationTime and MoneyMemory and ReadingTest TakingTaking Notes, Writing and Speaking

Career Success

Personality and Related MajorsLearning Style and IntelligenceInterests and ValuesCareer and Educational Planning

Lifelong Success

Communication and RelationshipsCritical and Creative ThinkingMaintaining a Healthy LifestyleAppreciating DiversityPositive ThinkingLife Stages

5 Minute Video Demonstration

Research on Program Effectiveness

The most significant finding is increased persistence.

Persistence

• Students who return the next semester.

• Approximately half of community college students nationwide do not persist after the first semester.

College Persistence Semester to Semester 5 Year Average

at Cuyamaca College

• All successful PDC students 89%• All students 63%

A 26% improvement!

Lone Star College System

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Located in the North Houston metro area

Serve 1,400 square miles in Harris and Montgomery Counties

5 Campuses/6 Satellite Centers LSC-CyFair LSC-Kingwood LSC-Montgomery LSC-North Harris LSC-Tomball

62,000+ students taking credit classes

Lone Star College System

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Achieving the Dream Round 3 College

2nd Year of Implementation 2007/2008 – Planning year 2008/2009 – Implementation 2009/2010 - Implementation

2 primary Achieving the Dream Initiatives:

Student Success CourseCase Management Advising

Success Course Implementation

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Fall 2007/Spring 2008 – System-wide Taskforce was developed; made up of faculty/staff from all campuses

Primary Discussions: Credit vs. Non-credit Credit hours (1, 2 or 3) Prefix (HUMD vs EDUC vs PSYC) Course Objectives

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Important Decisions made for pilot: 3 hour course College credit Consistent text and syllabus Should include the following:

Adjusting to College/ Expectations of College

College Resources

Time Management Test Taking skills

Goal Setting Study Skills

Career Exploration Memory

Learning Styles Anxiety/Stress

Critical Thinking Motivation

Self-Exploration (MBTI/DWYA)

Success Course Implementation

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Reviewed 2 textbooks and brought both in for demo

CollegeScope was chosen to use for our pilot

Developed syllabus template

Provided training for faculty – Dr. Marsha Fralick provides the training each semester

Success Course Implementation

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Fall 2008: Each campus offered 4 courses (20 total courses) Not mandatory Promoted through advisors & counselors

Spring 2009: Each campus doubled their number of courses Not mandatory Promoted through advisors & counselors

Fall 2009: Numbers stayed the same as Spring 2009; Not mandatory Assigned advisors to course Required students meet with advisor twice during the

semester

Case Management AdvisingImplementation

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Fall 2007/Spring 2008 – System-wide Taskforce was developed; made up of faculty/staff from all campuses

Primary Discussions: How to implement with 50,000+ students Target group FYE process

Case Management AdvisingImplementation

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Fall 2008 Pilot:

5 Case Management Advisors were hired Advisors met consistently to develop similar

processes Randomly selected FTIC students who scored into

Math 0308 (Introduction to Algebra) Goal: To meet with the student twice during the

semester

Advising Response Rate Fall 2008

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66%

34%Responded

Did not respond

Campus Total Cohort # who did not respond

LSC-CyFair 117 41

LSC-Kingwood 82 32

LSC-Montgomery 125 70

LSC-North Harris 129 29

LSC-Tomball 133 26

TOTALS 586 198

Note: Response Rate ranges from a response to an e-mail, phone call or a face-to-face meeting

Advising Response Rate Fall 2009

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14%

86%

2 or more sessions

Less than 2 sessions

Campus Total Cohort

# who came in for 2 or more sessions

LSC-CyFair 117 20

LSC-Kingwood 82 18

LSC-Montgomery 125 11

LSC-North Harris 129 11

LSC-Tomball 133 24

TOTALS 586 84

Advising Implementation

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Spring 2009:

“Attached” advisor to developmental Reading course to assist with response rate; advisor came into classroom to meet students; gave presentations to class

Fall 2009:

“Attached” advisor to Success Course Required advisor sessions as part of course

Key Components

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Success Course

• Motivation• Learning Styles• Personality, Interest & Values• Career Exploration• Creating an Educational Plan• Time Management• Study Skills• Test Taking & Test Anxiety• Taking Notes

Advising Sessions

• Financial Aid• Career Goals• Academic Goals• Development of an Academic

Plan • Campus Resources

Referral to Career Counseling, if needed

• Preparation & Registration for next semester

Fall 2008 Data

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Retention

6876 76

95

0102030405060708090

100

Overall LSCS Early Intervention

Student Success Course

Intrusive Advising

Retention Rates are Rising!

LSCS - Achieving the Dream Initiatives Fall 2008 to Spring 2009 Retention*

*Retention – Students enrolled in the Fall 2008 semester who also enrolled in the Spring 2009 semester (any credit course)

Qualitative Data

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Faculty Evaluation Summary (handout)

Student Evaluation Summary (handout)

Next Steps …

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Begin phasing in Mandatory Success Course/Case Management Advising:

Spring 2010: Required for students scoring into 2 or more

developmental courses

Fall 2011: Required for student scoring into 1 or more

developmental course

Fall 2012: Required for all Full Time in College students

College Success 1

• Resources for faculty and studentshttp://www.collegesuccess1.com/

Training Notes

What is

• Something you learned?

• Something you found useful?

• Questions?

• Discussion

• Evaluation