Expanded Orientations Make a Difference for Community Colleges, Too! American College Personnel Association Annual Conference March 18, 2002 Long Beach, California Melissa Edson, M.S., &Merril Simon, Ph.D., NCCC Esau Tovar, M.S.Santa Monica College & Santa Monica College, Calif. State Univ., Northridge Santa Monica, 310/ Susan Maiorano, SMC alumna/UC Berkeley student

Need for Project High probationary rates Low persistence rates At-risk population Replication with larger sample with pilot study 1

2 Research Questions What are some of the factors that are related to community college students’ success? What effect do collaborative approaches used in orientation have on student satisfaction, academic achievement, and persistence? What effect do collaborative learning approaches employed in English and math classes have on student satisfaction, academic achievement, and persistence?

3 Theoretical Support Astin’s theory of student involvement Tinto’s model of social and academic integration Collaborative learning theories

4 Professional Faculty Involvement College-wide Various fields

Interventions Orientation Provided by team of counseling and instructional faculty 7.5 hrs. (vs. control of 2 hrs.) Available for course credit 5

Orientation Activities Interactive & small groups Included social integration cases Provided food Parent Orientation available Campus tour Campus fair 6

7 Follow-up Interventions Collaboratively taught English & developmental math classes Courses from other disciplines: (Biology, Geography, Speech, and Sociology) Student Success Seminar (Human Development 20) Other out-of-class activities

8 Interventions (cont’d.) Follow-up Services  Follow-up Orientation  Advising/Counseling (academic & career)  Mentoring

9 Quantitative Measures GPA Deans’ list Success rate Persistence Retention

10 Qualitative Measures  Instructional faculty reflective journals  Student relationship with academic counselors

11 Highlights / Lowlights Persistence rates Retention rates

12 Highlights/Lowlights (cont’d.) Students who participated in SSP orientation expressed a higher level of satisfaction than those regular orientation participants. The GPA of the study group overall was significantly higher than the control group.

13 Highlights/ Lowlights (cont’d.). Participants expressed a high level of satisfaction with collaborative learning approaches.

14 Highlights/ Lowlights (cont’d.) The two factors most often mentioned by students as success inhibitors were: (1) job responsibilities and (2) commuting

15 Funding Matriculation Title III Grant Fund for Instructional Improvement–State of California Chancellor’s Office Competitive Grant

16 Replication & Future Planning Modifications More counseling staff, training and increased use of intrusive advisement Expansion Incorporate additional fields of study

17 Recommendations Provide professional development for faculty on teaching/learning approaches with special emphasis on collaborative learning. Implement out-of-class activities that promote collaborative approaches and relate to in-class learning/assignments. Promote collaboration between academic and student affairs.

18 Recommendations (cont’d. ) Make student success an institutional commitment. Promote evaluation of institutional programs through research.

Expanded Orientations Make a Difference for Community Colleges, Too! American College Personnel Association Annual Conference Monday, March 18, 2002 Long Beach, California Melissa Edson, M.S., Merril Simon, Ph.D., NCCC & Esau Tovar, M.S.Calif. State Univ., Northridge Santa Monica College, & Santa Monica College Santa Monica, 310/ Susan Maiorano, SMC alumna/UC Berkeley student