Accelerating Student Success: Focusing on Meaningful, Measurable Change

University of Nebraska Lincoln Hobsons

Amy Goodburn Alison Hilsabeck Stephen M. Smith

Today’s Presenters

Peter Meiksins Robin ArmourCleveland State University California

Community Colleges National Louis University

Why Student Success?

31%

59%Full-time, first-time bachelor’s-

degree-seeking students graduating in 6 years

Full-time, first-time certificate or associate’s degree-

seeking students graduating in 3 years

NCES (2015), The Condition of Education 2015

Our Philosophy

Success must be measured

Success requiresengagement

Success entailsacademic achievement

Success is amoving target

University of Nebraska Lincoln

Amy Goodburn

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Goal:60% six-year graduation rate by 2017

Flagship Land Grant University20,000+ Undergrads

State Capitol, 300,000

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ConnectPlan

Outreach

First Year Husker Program

Plan

Integrated Planning and Advising

Academic Maps and Milestones

Student SuccessTracking

Department ClassScheduling

Outreach to First-Year Students

First-Year Student Surveys

Emerging Leaders

Explore Center Programs

UNL’sChronology of Change

2012Implemented Starfish for university-wide advisoryCreated Advising Coordinating BoardCreated Explore Center

2016

2015

2014

2013Created Office of First-Year ExperienceOpened instructor flags and referralsFormed Academic Advising AssociationImplemented probation recovery program

Published four-year plans for all undergraduatesImplemented Transferology for transfer studentsPiloted Compass program

Developed HuskerScan to track student participationCreated Veteran and Military Success CenterFed first-year survey scores to advisors

Developing Integrated Planning and Advising SystemImplementing Emerging Leaders Program

National Louis UniversityAlison Hilsabeck

• 130-year-old, independent non-profit, Chicago-based university

• Core Values:Access, innovation, and excellence

• Focus“Professionalizing the helping professions,” including education, psychology, health, and human services

Overview

National Louis University

• 50+ Degrees OfferedUndergraduate through doctoral

• Serving Approximately 7,000Working adults and first-generation students

Our Commitments

Continuous improvement in retention across programs

Addressing the national undergrad achievement gap

National Louis University

Why Students Don’t Enroll/Persist

• Limited-quality college options unless student is a top academic performer

• Financial barriers

• Need to work or take care of family

• Limited career planning and course-taking guidance

• Lack of readiness in terms of academic or non-cognitive skills

• Limited academic and personal support, often first-generation

Pathways Program Value Proposition

2.0+ GPA req.; non-traditional recruitment and admissions

Affordable at $10K/year

Predictable F2F schedule

Clear pathway to a degree with well-defined coursework

Flipped and adaptive learning model that uses technology and provides data-driven support

High-touch, supportive environment with Success Coach

Undergraduate Challenge

HP3 Fall 2015 Undergraduate Initiative - Demographics

Female69%

Male31%

Gender

$1 - $5K21%

$10K-$14K1%

$5K - $10K4%

> $15K5%

$0 EFC68%

Undocumented1%

Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

2 or more races3%

Asian1%

Black or African

American49%

Hispanic46%

Undeclared1%

Ethnicity

Meeting Our Commitments

• Starfish• Tableau• SmartSheet• Acrobatiq• D2L• Noel Levitz• IDEA

Tools

• Early Warning• Intrusive

Advising• POD

Approach• HP3: Weekly

Team Reviews of Std. Dashboard

• Program Dash & Annual Rpts.

Processes

• Increased retention

• Affordable, high-quality education

Commitment

Lessons Learned

Importance of non-cognitive skills in retention

A need to go beyond academic supports

Benefits of early intervention and intrusive advising

Facilitated by the proper tools

It is powerful and sustaining for members of the community to engage together in work

Keeping our students at the center of our work

Cleveland State UniversityPeter Meiksins

CSU in 1991

“We’re an open-access school, with mostly low-income, high-risk, poorly-prepared students. Of course, many of them don’t succeed.”

CSU Today

“We’re doing better. What can we do to improve our completion rates even more?”

What changed?

State Funding ModelEconomic pressure to do better

• Presidents did not accept the received wisdom

• Faculty and administrators aware of national discussions

New Leadership

It started to work.

But most important: We started doing something and…

Freshman Cohort Retention6 Year Trend (2009-2014)

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 201440.00%

45.00%

50.00%

55.00%

60.00%

65.00%

70.00%

75.00%

80.00%

63.70%

65.90%64.80%

67.20%69.70%

70.60%

Percent Retained Fall To Fall

• Multi-term registration• Early warning/intrusive advising• Hybrid developmental/college-level

courses• Math emporium

Learned about and implemented best practices

What Did We Do?

What did we do?

We got organized We invested We used data

• Created Student Success Committee (Faculty Senate)

• Made Division of Academic Programs responsible for student success efforts (Hired a director of student success programs in that office)

• Created dedicated freshman advising staff and transfer advising office to work with new students

• Starfish Early Alert

• We identified high DFW/high enrollment courses

• Made them a target for SI/SLA• Made them Target for Teaching

Enhancement grants for innovation

Still have people to convince

Are we done?

Need to get better at using data strategically

Long list of things we’re planning to implement the next three years

California Community CollegesRobin Armour

o 2.1 million studentso 113 collegeso Largest higher ed in USo Shared governanceo Counseling facultyo Academic freedomo Professional networks

o Highest povertyo Highest unemploymento Highest incarceratedo Large urban vs. rural

disparities

A Large and Complex System

Community College in California

Student-Centric Problem Solving…

I’ll just drop this course and worry about the impact

later! The course was full or not available!

I can’t ever get time with my

advisor!

I took classes I didn’t need!

I changed my major – now

major problems!

Finish?No idea!

This has got to be fixed…

Student Success Task Force• Multi-disciplined community• 22 recommendations

o Mandatory core serviceso Priority enrollmento Major or specific education goal requiredo Fee waiver tied to academic standardso And the tools and funding to deliver

Meaningful changes

Change in Funding Paradigm

Headcount + Services = Favoring Performance

$185M to implement core servicesOrientation, Assessment, Educational Planning

Three Initiatives• Online Education Initiative (OEI)• Common Assessment Initiative (CAI)• Education Planning Initiative (EPI)

• Student Services Portal• Career Exploration• Common Assessment• Orientation• Education Planning• Early Alert• Integration, Training, and

Support

Statewide Tools and Support

Timelines and Outcomes

Spring 2016Working Together

• Complete pilots with 14 colleges

• Implement improvements Summer 2016Moving Forward

• Begin next round of college implementations

• Career Exploration tools available

• Continue implementations at 60 colleges

• Evaluate improvements from baselines

Winter 2017-Summer 2018

Making a Difference

Open Forum

Amy Goodburn, University of NebraskaAlison Hilsabeck, National Louis UniversityPeter Meiksins, Cleveland State University

Robin Armour, California Community CollegesStephen M. Smith, Hobsons