CASE STUDY: TRANSITIONAL TERRI ACADEMIC MODELS CASE STUDY: TRANSITIONAL TERRI

The Advising Process: A Problem Solving Orientation TRANSITIONAL TERRI ENTERS THE INSTITUTION WITH TWO STATED GOALS: Transfer and full time status Placement scores put him at Eng. 108 Advisor assessment supports his ability to take a full course load and places him in Eng. 108 and a Math appropriate to his Math placement Copyright, 1996 © Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.

Advisor’s Dilemma and Considerations Identify 2 additional courses that are appropriate to both the stated goal and placement scores. The advisor must consider that Transfer implies a C or better The advisor must consider that Transfer infers that the student is prepared for the demands of the four year institution.

Academic Models Team Response Review all 100’s level course descriptions and prepreqs. as presented in catalogue Assess writing and reading requirements in those courses to ensure that student is appropriately placed to maximize potential learning and goal attainment

Outcome As the work progressed, course by course,the assumptions about appropriateness became more and more anecdotal. The determination was too often based on “who teaches the course” as opposed to “course competencies”

Outcome was unacceptable Faculty assignment is fluid Articulation agreements are created course by course not instructor by instructor Anecdotal information provides opportunity to base advising on individual value judgements and not on the students stated goal The Academic models team is committed to basing the advising process on data and not on anecdotal or value based assumptions

Implications for Transitional Terri He can register for two clearly appropriate courses, Eng108 and Math BUT the remaining two courses become a crap-shoot. OR the academic models team and the instructional division can identify courses that will assist Terri in reaching his goals

What we know about this cohort National Data suggests that Terri and his cohort, if advised appropriately, will succeed in meeting his goal. Unfortunately, the same data suggests that Terri is a fence walker and if he is ill-advised or given mixed messages he will not persist at the institution. Unlike clearly delineated developmental students, over which intervention has little effect, Transitional Terri and his cohort will clearly be an institutional success of failure.

Getting to an Acceptable Response to the Case Study The instructional division must decide which courses are appropriate to complete Terri’s registration in a way that provides clear expectations that can be articulated to the student. Those courses must assist Terri is reaching his stated goals: Transfer and fulltime status.

AN INSTITUTIONAL SOLUTION We must look at all 100’s level courses to assess the reading and writing competencies necessary for success in those courses. We must identify which courses should have an Eng111 pre or co-req We need to ask ourselves “ can a student who is at a 108 level at the beginning of the course, with tutoring and clear expectations, succeed in the course and be more prepared to meet the challenges of courses that follow?”