Passport to SuccessPresentation to the Michigan Career Education Conference

Martin Finney, Career AdvisorAntonio Riggs, Career Advisor

Delta College is a community college in the Great Lakes Bay Region with close to 12, 000 students attending on any given semester.

Delta College is a member of the League of Innovation and Achieving the Dream.

The Passport to Success program was started through a Title III grant to work with at-risk students.

Delta College

Focusing on the strengths and abilities and focusing on the solutions.

Based on “Positive Psychology” and “Appreciative Inquiry”

Appreciative Advising

The Six Phases of Appreciative Advising

Disarm

Discover

Dream

Design

Deliver

Don’t Settle

Bloom, J. L., Hutson, B. L., & He, Y. (in preparation). The appreciative advising revolution. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing.

Appreciative Advising Phases

Disarm – Recognizing the importance of first impressions, create a safe, welcoming environment.

Discover - Positive open-ended questions to draw out what they enjoy doing, their strengths, and their passions.

Bloom, J. L., Hutson, B. L., & He, Y. (2008). The appreciative advising revolution. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing.

Appreciative Advising Phases (continued)

Dream - Formulate a vision of what they might become, and then assist them in developing life and career goals.

Design –Devise concrete, incremental, and achievable goals

Bloom, J. L., Hutson, B. L., & He, Y. (2008). The appreciative advising revolution. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing.

Appreciative Advising Phases (continued)

Deliver – The students follows through on their plans. The advisor is there for them when they stumble, believing in them every step of the way and helping them continue to update and refine their dreams as they go.

Don’t Settle – The advisor challenges the student to proactively raise the student’s internal bar of self- expectations

Bloom, J. L., Hutson, B. L., & He, Y. (2008). The appreciative advising revolution. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing.

Students who were returning to school after a 3 year period and had previously fallen under Financial Aid Probation, were only succeeding (keeping their financial aid) at a 17% rate.

*Delta College guidelines require Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) in order to continue with financial aid eligibility. Students are on Financial Aid Probation if they have one or more of the following:

GPA under 2.00 Completion rate under 67% To many credit hours without a degree

Situation

Assumption◦ Students are technologically savvy

Finding◦ Not all students have technology skills◦ Even those students who understand computers,

do not necessarily know where to access helps◦ Students may know where and how to access

information, but do not read there e-mails or know what questions to ask

Assumptions and Initial Findings

Assumption◦ Students understand the situation that they are in

Finding◦ Most students either do not read the information

that is sent to them or do not understand it

Assumptions and Initial Findings

Creation of the Passport To Success Program◦ After a 3 year break in enrollment, students

were referred to Passport after appealing for their reinstatement of financial aid

Plan:

Attending a Passport to Success Orientation is required as a condition of being approved for a financial aid award

Students are made aware of the conditions they must meet in order to continue receiving financial aid

Conditions /Services:

Students are made aware of services that may assist them such as:

◦Career Research

◦Strength’s Finder Assessment

◦Academic Advising

◦Tutoring Services

◦Delta Closet

◦Food Pantry

Conditions /Services:

Students are taken on a tour of campus to see key areas such as:

◦Registrar’s Office

◦Library/Tutoring Center

◦Counseling/Advising

◦Student Engagement

◦Career Services

◦E-Learning Center

Conditions /Services:

Students meet with an Academic Advisor to go over scheduling/curriculum to ensure that they are enrolled in a schedule which will help them to have the best chance of success.

Conditions /Services:

After the semester begins, students are sent reminders of all of the services available to help them be successful.

Follow Up

By the end of the semester, students must have made satisfactory progress in all registered courses.

This requires that all grades must be of C or better.

◦(No grades of C-, D+, D, D-, F, or NC, no Withdrawals, and no Incompletes)

Conditions /Services:

Student Success

Regular FAP WI/2009 WI/2011 SP/2011 FA/2011% of Students who met Financial Aid Appeal Conditions Before and After Passport

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Out of the 53 Students who attended the Winter 2011 semester, 40 met their academic and financial aid conditions (75.5%)

Of the 13 who did not meet all the criteria, 6 passed 50% or more of their classes

Average increase in Grade Point Average

is 1.2

Results for Winter 2011:

Out of the 64 Students who attended the Spring/Summer 2011 semester, 51 met their academic and financial aid conditions (79.0%)

Of the 13 who did not meet all the criteria, 10 passed 50% or more of their classes and were able to attend the Fall Semester

Results for Spring/Summer 2011

Out of the 116 Students who attended the Fall 2011 semester, 83 passed all of their classes met their academic and financial aid conditions (79.0%)

Of the 33 who did not pass all of their classes, 18 passed 50% or more of their classes.

Results for Fall 2011

Student Retention

Pre-Passport 2nd Semester 3rd Semester Passport 2nd Semester 3rd Semesters% of Students who met Financial Aid Appeal Conditions Before and After Passport

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Since the inception of the Passport to Success program, an average of 79% of students have passed all of their classes.

22 students have improved their standing academically to the point where they are no longer on Financial Aid probation status.

Success

Passport to Success provides a formal but positive way to welcome students back and actively encourage their success.

Students are informed, in person, of the expectations for continuation of financial aid.

Benefits of Program:

Students do better when they are challenged and have a goal

Students will use services if the services are explained in a way that they are a benefit and not a punishment.

Benefits of Program:

Delta’s Counseling/Advising and Career Services staff become familiar to the students, which makes them more likely to use the staff as resources.

Provides students with a re-orientation to the class selection and registration process as well as assistance with financial aid issues.

Benefits of Program:

By sitting down with students and talking to them face to face, it helps students understand the situation they are in and the requirements that they need to meet to continue

Outcome

Martin Finney Counseling/Advising & Career Services Delta College martinfinney@delta.edu 989-686-9075

Antonio Riggs Counseling/Advising & Career Services Delta College antonioriggs@delta.edu 989-686-9077

If you have any questions…