A Matter of Degrees Promising Practices for Community College Student Success

I Have a Goal! On the SENSE survey, entering students say… 79% want to obtain an associate degree. 73% want to transfer to a four-year institution. 59% want to complete a certificate program. 2

Students Speak Bringing data alive through student voices… 3

What did you hear?  About “front door” experiences?  About learning and teaching?  About support for students?  About what makes a difference for students? 5

Not all orientations…or learning communities…or student success classes…or whatever the practice… are created equal! 6

Design Principles for Effective Practice  A strong start  Clear, coherent pathways  Integrated support  High expectations and high support  Intensive student engagement  Design for scale  Professional Development 7

The College with the Most Innovations… …doesn’t necessarily win! This is NOT a checklist! 8

The effectiveness of educational practice depends on…  Specific design of the practice  Quality of implementation 9 Integration of the combination of practices the college intentionally employs… at scale!

Promising Practices for Community College Student Success Planning for Success –Assessment and Placement –Orientation –Academic Goal Setting and Planning –Registration before Classes Begin 10

Discussion Questions What practices are in place at your college? What is mandatory? For whom? What have you brought to scale?  Registration before classes begin?  Academic goal-setting and planning?  Orientation?  Assessment and placement? 11

Promising Practices for Community College Student Success Initiating Success –Accelerated or Fast-Track Developmental Education –First-Year Experience –Student Success Course –Learning Community 12

Discussion Questions What practices are in place at your college? What is mandatory? For whom? What have you brought to scale?  Accelerated or fast-track dev ed  Student success course?  First-year experience?  Learning communities? 13

Promising Practices for Community College Student Success Sustaining Success –Class Attendance –Early Alert and Intervention –Experiential Learning beyond the Classroom –Tutoring –Supplemental Instruction 15

Discussion Questions What practices are in place at your college? What is mandatory? For whom? What have you brought to scale?  Class attendance (as in “it’s important to show up.”)  Early alert and intervention?  Experiential learning beyond the classroom?  Tutoring? Supplemental instruction? 16

Center for Community College Student Engagement – CCCSE Collecting Data from Many Perspectives  Quantitative data – 4 surveys – the “what”  Qualitative data – focus groups – the “why” 17

Four surveys  CCSSE  CCFSSE  SENSE  CCIS Focus groups  Initiative on Student Success – Starting Right  High-Impact Practices Initiative  Improving Outcomes for Men of Color 18

Structured Group Learning Experiences – Promising Practices  Orientation  Accelerated / Fast-track developmental education  First-year experience  Student success course  Learning community 19

Structured Group Learning Experiences 20 Percentage of colleges that report they implement each practice (N=288) Source: 2011 CCIS data.

CCIS, CCSSE, CCFSSE Promising Practices Promising Practice Colleges That Report Having It Students Who Report Doing It Full-Time Faculty Who Teach or Facilitate Orientation96%58%13% Student Success Course 83%24%12% First-Year Experience 58%26%17% Learning Community 56%13%16% Accelerated Developmental Education 42%26%14% 21

Structured Group Learning Experiences 22 Among responding colleges using each practice, the percentage that require the experience for all first-time students (part-time and full-time) *Required for first-time developmental students only (part-time and full-time) Source: 2011 CCIS data. Yes (105 of 276) Orientation Yes (15 of 120) Accelerated or fast-track developmental education* Yes (45 of 166) First-year experience Yes (35 of 238) Student success course 1% Yes (2 of 160) Learning community

Students don’t do optional!!

Orientation …leads to higher student satisfaction, greater use of support services and improved retention of at-risk students. However… 19% of entering students are unaware of it. 38% of colleges require it for all students – full-time and part-time. 24

Orientation 25 Percentage of CCSSE respondents who report participating Source: 2011 CCSSE Promising Practices data. Yes (N=237,325)

CCSSE Benchmark Scores by Orientation – Participated in Orientation Did not Participate in Orientation Sources: 2011 CCSSE data

Student Success Course Student success courses improve students’ study skills, time management, note-taking and test- taking skills However, Only 15% of CCIS colleges (35/238) require it for all first-time students. 27

Student Success Course 28 Percentage of CCSSE respondents who report participating Source: 2011 CCSSE Promising Practices data. Yes (N=229,696)

CCSSE Benchmark Scores by Student Success Course Participated in Student Success Course Did not Participate in Student Success Course Sources: 2011 CCSSE data

Late Registration?  11% of CCSSE respondents reported that they registered for class after the first class session had started.  Yet, 62% of faculty responders (CCFSSE) say that at least one student registered late for a class Data - CCFSSE (Faculty) Promising Practice Items combined with Student CCSSE responses 30

CCSSE Benchmark Scores by Registration Registered for all courses before the first day of class Registered late Sources: 2011 CCSSE data

 What are the challenges that get in the way of implementing promising practices? Bringing them to scale?  What could you implement tomorrow – low- hanging fruit? 32

If I Ran the Zoo… One improvement that you believe would have a significant impact on improving student success…  for the college or my department  in my role

High Performing Colleges …make student engagement inescapable!

Learning College Summit 2012 Arleen Arnsparger, Project Manager Initiative on Student Success