Presenters: Yumi Takahashi-Ede Academic Advisor in the College of Arts & Sciences Halbert Bates Director of Recruitment & Retention in the Haworth College of Business Western Michigan University 2011 NACADA Annual Conference CODE 435

Attendance Initiative & Retention Efforts at Western Michigan University

1. Descriptions of Attendance Initiative and Early Alert System 2. Reaching out to our students 3. Retention rates at Western Michigan University (WMU) 4. Findings for the past two academic years ( and ) 5. Future plans

Purpose  Increased effort to contact students who are not attending a class regularly  To track the effort made to contact and the success of contact with students reported

Goals  To make our students feel that we care about them as an individual and about their academic success at WMU  To promote more personal and closer relationships between students and the university community  To improve our retention rates  To improve academic outcomes

Purpose  To reach out to all new degree-seeking students (new beginners and transfers) with at least one midterm grade below a 'C' or who have been reported as not attending at least one course Goal  To assist students reported at the early stage of the semester

Attendance Initiative  Review their current schedules  Contact reported students by or phone  Check their files in the office to see if they have come in  Contact them multiple times if necessary Early Alert Report & Midterm Grade Report  Contact reported students by or phone  Strongly encourage them to come in to meet with an advisor  Offer resources and support available on campus

Probationary (Four Phases) 1) Beginning of the semester Initial contact to students who are on academic probation 2) Middle of the semester Reminder contact to those who have not come in to see an advisor 3) Before the last day to withdraw from courses Another reminder to those who have not come in to see an advisor 4) End of the semester Final reminder to those who have not yet to come in

Haworth College of Business

 Sending out letters to students who are reported as not attending class

University wide retention rate First to second year retention rates for first-time, full- time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC) Head CountUniv. Wide Head Count Univ. Wide Percent Fall 20103,163 (Fall 2009 Head Count) 2, % Fall 20093,806 (Fall 2008 Head Count) 2, %

College of Arts & Sciences First to second year retention rates for first-time, full-time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC) Head Count Univ. Wide Count Univ. Wide Percent College Specific Head Count College Specific Percent Transfer in from Other College Original and Transfer- in Subtotal Net Change Fall (Fall 2009 Head Count) % % Fall (Fall 2008 Head Count) % %

Haworth College of Business First to second year retention rates for first-time, full-time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC) Head Count Univ. Wide Count Univ. Wide Percent College Specific Head Count College Specific Percent Transfer in from Other College Original and Transfer- in Subtotal Net Change Fall (Fall 2009 Head Count) % % Fall (Fall 2008 Head Count) % %

Fall 2009 through Summer II 2010 Students in CAS Total Number of Students Reported 453FR105 (23%) SO102 (23%) JR140 (31%) SR106 (23%) Students eligible to return to Fall (82%)FR64 (61%) SO84 (82%) JR123 (88%) SO102 (96%) Students retained to Fall (65%)FR34 (53%) SO62 (73%) JR88 (72%) SO60 (59%)

Fall 2010 through Summer II 2011 Students in CAS Total Number of Students Reported 427FR78 (18%) SO99 (23%) JR100 (23%) SR150 (35%) Students eligible to return to Fall (85%)FR56 (72%) SO75 (76%) JR88 (88%) SO143 (95%) Students retained to Fall (68%)FR24 (43%) SO62 (83%) JR65 (74%) SO96 (67%)

Positive Findings:  Compared to the academic year of ,  Total number of students reported as not- attending class decreased in the academic year of (453  427)  Freshmen reported as not-attending class also decreased in (23%  18%)  Percentage of students eligible to return to WMU in the following academic year was improved (82%  85%)  Percentage of Freshmen eligible to return to WMU in their Sophomore year was also improved (61%  72%)

Positive Findings:  Compared to the academic year of ,  Overall retention rates to the following academic year went up in (65%  68%)  Retention rates of all class standing except Freshmen also went up in  Sophomore: 73%  83%  Juniors: 72%  74%  Seniors: 59%  67% (Number includes students who graduated during these academic years)

Areas need to be improved:  Number of Juniors reported in and number of Seniors reported in are higher compared to other classes.  Juniors in : 31%  Seniors in : 35%  Percentage of Freshmen eligible to return to WMU in the following academic year is still low compared to other classes.  Academic year of : 61% (out of those FRs reported as not-attending)  Academic year of : 72%

Areas need to be improved:  Retention rates of Freshmen decreased significantly from to (53%  43%)  Both retention rates of Freshmen rates are very low.  Academic year of : 53% (out of those FRs eligible to return to WMU)  Academic year of : 43%

Fall 2010 through Summer II students started in Fall 2010 in HCOB Number of students reported as not- attending 343 Students eligible to return to Fall % Students enrolled in Fall %

 Improve retention rates by continuing Attendance Initiative and Early Alert Reports  Increase touch points by advisors and faculty with students  Reach out to Sophomores and Juniors  Collect more data  Work on the Retention Initiative assessment