2015Report on Student Success & Retention

The Texas Tech University Strategic Plan specifically recognizes the significance of student success to the institution. Research-based instruction, academic rigor, personal commitment, and financial resources are important variables to helping students engage, navigate, and make the most of their successful university experiences at TTU. The Task Force on Student Success & Retention is committed to identifying empirically sound and operationally viable methods of accelerating student progress towards a degree.

In keeping with its Tier 1 and AAU aspirations, Texas Tech University has set the goals of achieving a 90 percent first-year retention rate and a 70 percent six-year graduation rate.

In the following pages you will learn about the many ways TTU is applying its resources to reach these goals.

You may learn more about other activities that support the Student Success Initiative at the following website: www.provost.ttu.edu/success.

Introduction

Measures of Student Success & Retention at Texas Tech UniversityInstitutional Strategic Plan Goals vs. Historical & Current Performance

82.4/81.5

83.5/82.5

83.5/83.0

71.3/71.5

70.4/71.3

71.5/72.0

34.1/35.0

34.8/37.0

One-Year Retention Rate-IPEDS Metric from IR Factbook

Two-Year Retention Rate-IPEDS Metric from IR Factbook

Fall 2012 - Fall 2013 Fall 2012 - Fall 2014 Fall 2013 - Fall 2015 Fall 2010 - 2014 Fall 2011 - 2015 Fall 2009 - 2015Fall 2008 - 2014 Fall 2013 Fall 2014 Fall 2015Fall 2011 - Fall 2013Fall 2013 - Fall 2014 Fall 2014 - Fall 2015

Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Designation-IR Calculation

Four-Year Graduation-IPEDS Metric from IR Factbook

Six-Year Graduation-IPEDS Metric from IR Factbook

59.1/62.0

20.6/17.9

HSI Target Goal 25.0

22.0/20.7

23.3/21.0

59.9/63.0

Legend

www.provost.ttu.edu/success www.ttu.edu

Institutional ProgressSeveral years ago TTU invested in student advising and retention programs that serve undergraduates and graduates. In the measures of increased student retention, persistence, and graduation, we already see several early results of the following investments:

• Provided support for a freely available online appointment system that allows students 24-7 access to schedule future appointments with participating support personnel, instructional faculty, academic advisors, and college administrators.

• Provided for the creation of a collectively-owned and continually-improving Academic Advising Handbook, a blog for Advisor communications, a repository of research annotations, and a social space; all of these applications were built on and continue to improve using the wiki; a popular and simple technology framework that supports the asynchronous sharing and collective improvement of content.

• Developed the Advising Academy, an innovative variation on advisor training and professional development that brings together advisors from different parts of campus and, through the vehicle of self-assessment and collaborative conversations, prompts staff to cross organizational divides and engage in improvement-oriented consulting with one another and peer-reviewed action research.

• TTU’s relationship with the Education Advisory Board (EAB) has extended as we joined the 140+ members of its Student Success Collaborative (SSC), who are all committed to innovative approaches that solve the same challenges faced here.

• Support Operations for Academic Retention (SOAR) increased course offerings for Supplemental Instruction (SI) in particularly challenging courses that dramatically influence students’ progress toward graduation.

• The Committee of Academic Advising and Retention was restructured to align better with the goals of the Retention Task Force.

• The RaiderReady freshman seminar course assists in student retention and making strong gains for academically unprepared students entering TTU. Specifically, students who come from the 50th percentile and below of their high school class and enroll in RaiderReady have a one-year retention rate of 80.5%, compared to a 71.8% rate for those that do not take the course.

82.4/81.5

83.5/82.5

83.5/83.0

71.3/71.5

70.4/71.3

71.5/72.0

34.1/35.0

34.8/37.0

One-Year Retention Rate-IPEDS Metric from IR Factbook

Two-Year Retention Rate-IPEDS Metric from IR Factbook

Fall 2012 - Fall 2013 Fall 2012 - Fall 2014 Fall 2013 - Fall 2015 Fall 2010 - 2014 Fall 2011 - 2015 Fall 2009 - 2015Fall 2008 - 2014 Fall 2013 Fall 2014 Fall 2015Fall 2011 - Fall 2013Fall 2013 - Fall 2014 Fall 2014 - Fall 2015

Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Designation-IR Calculation

Four-Year Graduation-IPEDS Metric from IR Factbook

Six-Year Graduation-IPEDS Metric from IR Factbook

59.1/62.0

20.6/17.9

HSI Target Goal 25.0

22.0/20.7

23.3/21.0

59.9/63.0

Legend

www.provost.ttu.edu/success Report on Student Success & Retention 2015

The Jerry S. Rawls College of Business Administration (RCOBA) was the first academic unit to volunteer for the EAB-SSC pilot. This was instrumental in providing a high-volume use case that demonstrates the benefits of using the SSC to support student success. With six advisors currently serving 4,417 undergraduates, the Rawls Undergraduate Services is finding a variety of new ways to group and engage its student populations. Having fully embraced this technology, the team is already moving forward to implement more integrated technologies that unify predictive analytics, online advising documentation, student communications, appointment scheduling, referral management, and early alert.

Recently, RCOBA increased one-year retention rate of incoming students from 77 percent to 80 percent. This progress comes as a direct result of several new initiatives and programming.

During the 2013 Fall semester, the Rawls Business Leader Program was piloted to provide a dynamic learning experience where students can gain real-world knowledge in order to excel in leadership roles. Along with academic success programs, the personal success of Rawls students is being developed through a residential learning community in Murray Hall for Pre-Business and Business majors. Furthermore, the RCOBA Career Management Center continues hosting workshops and seminars that contribute to the college’s current job placement rate of 91 percent.

RCOBA has demonstrated an exceptional ability to spot the areas in which it can affect the success and retention of its students and put into place strategic, efficient, and feasible solutions.

College Spotlight

ObservationsIncorrect or missing contact information and limits on callers’ availability to participate resulted in many potential returners who were not engaged in any personal way.

Slightly more than half of the outreach efforts did not result in students’ enrollment. However, data were collected indicating students’ reasons for not returning to Tech.

Late summer calls and text messages significantly increased enrollment in Fall 2015.

Relative to the small number completed, late spring and early summer calls were very effective, especially when initiated by a student’s assigned advisor.

RecommendationsStudents’ current cell phone numbers should be recorded by advisors (or gathered via a periodic automated prompt in Raiderlink) and returned to update Banner for use in other important institution-student communications.

Supplemental calling services provided by the Office of the Provost have been generally well-received by the colleges. This service should continue to supplement the colleges’ calls, especially during particularly busy periods of the advising season.

Colleges’ callers should make every effort to complete a first round of communication before Summer I begins. For example, colleges can begin examining enrollment patterns during early registration and contacting students who have not yet registered for classes.

Enrollments of the TTU Colleges would likely benefit from having their own full-time advising personnel invested in completing this outreach effort each term.

Campus Initiative - Enrollment Calling Campaign(Spring 2015 to Fall 2015)

Early calls resulting in enrollment

Late calls resulting in enrollment

Late calls resulting in no enrollment

No contact no enrollment

Summer calls to students on First Academic Suspension after the spring term might support increased rates of return. Re-enrollment policies and timelines differ between colleges and do not currently lend themselves to encouraging students’ return to Texas Tech University.

TTU is quickly becoming capable of identifying barriers to student success and, in turn, achieving higher retention rates. Texas Tech extended its relationship with the Education Advisory Board (EAB) in the summer of 2014 and joined the Student Success Collaborative (SSC). Our participation makes available the data analysis and advising platform provided to all members of the SSC. As of August 2015, the Collaborative included 165+ member schools.

The SSC data platform predicts a student’s likelihood to succeed and graduate in a wide range of majors. Predictions are generated by comparing key academic factors for each student against historical patterns of persistence and retention at TTU. This is especially helpful because these risk indicators are not broad generalizations of success at the institutional level; they provide specific risk/success indicators at the level of the academic major.

The opportunity to use data for effective and engaging academic advising is not limited only to TTU Administration. The Student Success & Retention Initiative is providing leaders across campus with their own opportunity to review college-level data. The SSC provides an analysis of student success patterns, major changes, test scores, course grades, credit accumulation, and other predictors of student success. It is expected that each unit will use the SSC data to further inform its own efforts to improve student success and retention efforts.

SSC Pilot Group Spring 2015With the cooperation of five different undergraduate advising offices, the EAB-SSC project is working to bring institution and college insights to front-line advisors who are well positioned to help each student benefit. Special thanks to English, Philosophy, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Agricultural Communications & Education, and the Rawls Undergraduate Services Center for agreeing to be part of the pilot.

Impact of Total Credit Completion in First Year

38%NO 33.9%

YES 75.3%

Earned 24+ Credits by End of Year One

NO 50.9%

YES 81.6%

Earned 30+ Credits by End of Year One

NO 27.6%

YES 86.5%

Earned 48+ Credits by End of Year Two

Earned 60+ Credits by End of Year Two

Graduation Rate by Total Credit Completion

Did Not Earn 24 Credits in First Year

Trade-offs for Switchers:Time-to-Degree vs. Graduation Rate Transfer

StudentsFirst Generation College (FGC) Students

0

1

2

3

4+

%

Switched Major at Least Once

Years

Graduate in Another Major Within First Declared College

Switches

Graduate in First Declared Major

Success Rate

Graduate in Another Major Outside of First Declared College

Impact of Major Switching on Success For Students Entering as Declared Majors

Examining Success and SwitchingThrough “Special” Lenses

Student Success Collaborative

www.provost.ttu.edu/success Report on Student Success & Retention 2015

The following charts are based on the findings of a historical analysis completed by the SSC at Texas Tech University. Data were taken from a 10-year period beginning August 2001 and ending July 2010.

6.28 92.7%

83.7%

80.4%

75.0%

37.8%4.05

4.32

4.65

5.0153%Entering declared students who switch

78%

NO 48.9%

YES 92.7%

Military Veterans

In response to the issues surrounding student success, TTU reinvented its coordination of retention initiatives by appointing the Provost’s Task Force on Student Success & Retention. Following the Deans’ review of nominations provided by their Department Chairs and Associate Deans, Dr. Juan Muñoz recommended 32 individuals for appointment to this important new advisory group. This process aimed to assemble a diverse group whose members would offer their unique departmental, college, and administrative perspectives. Based on members’ skills and expertise, they organized into four distinct working groups to produce recommendations and plans. The four working groups are as follows:

Academic Enhancements & Interventions The Academic Enhancements & Interventions working group is in the process of identifying all academic interventions currently available to students. With an understanding of current interventions, the group will then provide a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of each approach to classroom enhancement and student intervention. As effective strategies are identified, the group expects its work will transition to making these strategies more readily available to faculty members, support personnel, and administrators.

Assessment & Accountability The Assessment & Accountability group gathering existing institutional metrics and identifying their intended uses, definitions, timelines, responsible parties, and target audiences. By comparing its findings with existing literature and scholarly research, the group hopes to design, produce, and support the use of high-quality processes and measures that are thoroughly integrated into existing and proposed mechanisms for improvements to evaluation, assessment, and institutional effectiveness.

Academic AdvisingThe Academic Advising group has focused its initial work on two areas. First is Academic Advising Expectations and Resources, which includes tools, funding, communication practices, and essential functions of advising offices and their personnel. Second is Academic Advising Professionalization, which incorporates initial and ongoing training for advising personnel, plus the professionalization of advising work through research and professional development.

Analysis & Technology Ecosystem The Analysis & Technology working group has two areas of focus: inventory and improvement of available technology, and integration of data processing systems used by TTU personnel. Once a consistent institutional understanding of how to communicate about student success has been established, TTU can leverage technology to streamline, automate, and validate formerly disparate processes.

Task Force on Student Success & Retention

Members

Cindy Akers ............... Karen Alexander ....... Katherine Austin-Beltz Joshua Barron ........... Christine Blakney ...... Stefanie Borst ............Adrienne Carnes ....... Kelli Cargile Cook ..... Fanni Coward ............ Cathy Duran .............. Keith Dye .................. Michael Farmer ......... Laura Heinz .............. Patrick Hughes .......... Sam Jackson ............. Michelle Kiser ........... Mitzi Lauderdale ....... Ethan Logan .............. Justin Louder ............ Jeremy T. Mason .......Sukant Misra ............. Juan Muñoz .............. Catherine Nutter ....... Dimitri Pappas ........... Jamie L. Perez ........... Lori Rodriguez .......... Michael Serra ............ Jennifer Snead .......... Kevin Stoker ............. Susan Tomlinson .......Marijane Wernsman .. Becky Wilson .............

www.provost.ttu.edu/success Report on Student Success & Retention 2015

2014 - 2015 Task Force MembersRepresenting

Ag Sciences & Natural ResourcesHuman Sciences Information Technology Student Success & Retention Student Business Services Arts & SciencesBusiness Administration Arts & Sciences Education Student Affairs (UESA) Visual & Performing Arts Ag Sciences & Natural Resources University Libraries Undergraduate Education (UESA) Ag Sciences & Natural Resources Support Ops for Acad Retention Human Sciences Undergraduate Admissions Worldwide eLearningArts & SciencesInternational Affairs UESA & DIDECE University Advising Arts & Sciences Engineering Architecture Arts & Sciences Arts & Sciences Visual & Performing Arts HonorsMedia & Communication Student Financial Aid

Phase II• Recommendations from the 2014-2015 Task Force on Student Success & Retention Working Groups

• Institution-wide adoption of EAB-SSC Core Analytics and Campaigns

• Rollout of EAB-SSC GradesFirst, an appointment scheduling and interaction documentation system provided online to all Students, Faculty, Staff, and Support Programs at appointments.ttu.edu

• Regional Symposium on Student Success & Retention: February 29 – March 1; McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center

• Outcomes of Colleges’ Innovation Programs seeded by Provost Grants for Student Success and Retention

• Online Reporting System for timely data and updates on initiatives and outcomes of working group reports

• Design and implementation of college-specific communication campaigns engaging targeted student populations

www.provost.ttu.edu/success Report on Student Success & Retention 2015

www.provost.ttu.edu/success

“There is a growing conviction that we must not only maintain, but we must improve the quality of education in this country – for the sake of our economy, our position in the world leadership and even our physical survival.”

– Preston Smith, January 19, 1964

2015Report on Student Success & Retention