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Connecting Policies and Practices to
Strengthen a Culture of Completion
Erin Barzen, South Seattle College
Hilary Loeb, Puget Sound Educational Service District
Mary Ellen O’Keeffe, Seattle Colleges
Kristi Wellington-Baker, Walla Walla Community College
League for Innovation Conference
March 13, 2016
Presentation Overview
• Introductions and small group discussion
• Rationale for creating a completion culture on our
campuses
• Project Finish Line overview
• Communications and outreach planning for completion
• Lessons learned and discussion
Small Group Discussion
• What are the needs and barriers of different populations that
are close to completion on your campuses?
• What strategies do you utilize to address these barriers?
• How do you gauge the success of these strategies?
• What are challenges that impact your work?
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Rationale for
creating a
completion
culture on our
campuses
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Completing a Degree or Transferring to a
4-Year College within Three Years
Innovation at Seattle Colleges:
Introduction of Technology
• Advisor Dashboard
• Education Plan
• Civitas ILLUME
Innovation at Seattle Colleges: Connecting
Student Success Initiatives
• Pathway to Completion
• Project Finish Line
• IPASS
• Guided Pathways
Innovation at Seattle Colleges: Impact on
a College System
• Seattle Colleges –three independent colleges
• Need for collaboration
• Need for professional development
• Need for Change Leadership
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green River
Community College
• Walla Walla Community College award winning model
• Reengagement of “potential completers”
• Changes to infrastructure, policies and practices
• Gates Foundation funding for one coach/campus with college match
• Goal of return on investment=69 FTE students/Completion Coach
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green
River College
Results Years One
and Two
8,016
3,809
2,193
-
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
Students Identified forCompletion Coaching
Students Responding toCompletion Outreach Efforts
Students Agreeing to Workwith Completion Coaches
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green
River College
Results Years One
and Two
230
91
1,009
1,330
1,147
-
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
Completes aShort TermCertificate
Completes aCertificate (not
short-term)
Earns a Two-Year or a BA
Degree
Total CredentialsCompleted
Total UniqueStudent
Completions
Puget Sound Coalition Learning
Community
• Open to college staff and community based organizations
• Expert counsel in adult learning design
• Co-designed by college representatives
• Stipends for groups of represented personnel at all Coalition
Colleges
• Collaboration with Dr. Rob Johnstone of National
Center for Inquiry & Improvement
• External evaluation led by Professor Bob Hughes
• Changes in infrastructure, policies, practices aimed at
supporting completion
Harsh Realities
“In spite of our collective belief that education is the engine for climbing the socioeconomic ladder- the heart of the “American dream’ myth-colleges are now more divided by wealth than ever.”-Why Poor Students Struggle by Vicki MaddenNew York Times, 9/21/2014
Completion Culture:
A Responsive Systems Approach
Completion at South
Staffing:
• A unique and sustainable approach
Critical attributes of successful coaches:
• Self-starters, problem solvers, systems navigators
• Data analysis skills and knack for connecting dots
• Breadth versus depth of college/campus knowledge
Completion at SouthGoals:
• Increase retention and completion rates
• Identify barriers
• Analyze data collected to make policies and procedures recommendations
• Provide seamless support services for students
• Address equity gaps
• Further a campus culture of completion
Common barriers to completion:
• Systems navigation
• Financial
• Personal
• Academic
• Institutional
Completion at South
Completion at South
Early successes:
• Awareness raising
• Support amongst our colleagues
• 17% increase in completions in 2015-2016
• 30% increase in graduation ceremony attendance
• PFL students 35% completion rate compared to overall 21%
rate
Completion at South
Lessons learned:
• Partnerships are absolutely critical
• Cooperation with IR and IT
• How to share the story – a culture of completion
• Financial Education an essential component
• Small fixes and more systemic recommendations
Completion at South
What’s next:
• An iterative process – Coaching 2.0
• Work is naturally aligned with
Guided Pathways initiative
• Further analysis of data collected to
inform policy & practice
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Communications
and Outreach
Planning
Why Plan for Communications and Outreach?
• Engaging stakeholders is critical for student success
• Different audiences have varied needs
• Just in time information can make a difference in
students’ lives
Why Plan for Communications and Outreach?
• Strong communication can…
• Shift consciousness to change culture: Colleges need to be student
ready rather than students need to be college ready
• Early program adopters can nurture partnership
• Critical communications resources:
• Compelling completion stories
• Clear completion data
Communications and Outreach Planning
for Student CompletionAudience Assumptions
What do we know about
them?
Research
What else do we need to
know?
Key Messages
What need will this fill for
them?
Strategies
How will we reach them?
Students Priorities: achieve
academic goals,
contribute to family,
take care of finances
Needs: help navigating
systems, access to
resources, sense of
success
Info: email, website,
phone, in-person
Who: Info Desk,
Financial Aid, advisors,
counselors peers,
student leaders
How best to reach
students-limited
success with email.
What unexpressed
needs do we not know
about? Any use for
focus groups?
Need to know which
systems-level barriers
are most frequent
and/or most
challenging
You are so close and
we’re here to help you
get over the last
hurdles. You can do it
& it’s worth it.
We’re here for you just
as much at the end of
your college
experience as we
were at the beginning.
There’s a resource for
that.
Having a degree will
make a tangible
difference in your life.
Be visible on campus
– staff at events & in
classrooms, signage,
and online presence
Referrals from staff &
faculty
ID programs, classes,
and student
meetings/events to
target
Use social media
Create systems to
anticipate & thus
mitigate barriers for
students
Individual or Small Group Exercise
• Complete the Communications and Outreach Planning for
Student Completion Tool individually or with a member of
your campus or organization team
• Large group debrief
• What opportunities does this spark for future work?
• What questions does this exercise raise?
Lessons Learned and Discussion• Completion is a system-
level endeavor
• Student services
• Institutional research
• Financial aid
• Technology
• Key Project Finish Line
supports
• Executive sponsorship
• Communication and
celebration of early
easy wins
• Collaboration across teams
on five campuses
A shared commitment to exploring and addressing issues of
equity helped us support students’ individual needs.
Resources
• Presentation and Materials: https://coalition.psesd.org/resource-repository/
• Road Map Project Community and Technical College Report http://www.roadmapproject.org/data-center/reports/
• Project Finish Line Website https://coalition.psesd.org/project-finish-line/
• AACC Completion College Fact Sheet http://www.aacc.nche.edu/About/completionchallenge/Documents/Completion-
Fact_Sheet.pdf
• Bailey, Thomas R., Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Davis Jenkins.
Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student
Success. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015. .