1. Building Blocks of Data-Driven Academic Advising Approaches

2. What is the importance of Data-Driven Academic Advising?
Intentional approaches and strategies
Accountability
Assessment of effectiveness
Improvement of performance
Student satisfaction

3. Retention and Data-Driven Advising
The direct result of a data-driven approach is the success and the improvement of retention rates of students under your caseload.

4. Some Retention Definitions
Graduation rates of specific cohorts
Persistence rates from one semester to the next
Successful transfer rates from one institution to the other
Recovery of students from academic probation

5. Definition of Attrition
Attrition includes both voluntary leave such as withdrawal from a course or a semester and involuntary leave such as academic dismissal.

6. A Look at Statistics!
Only 59% of full-time, first-time Bachelor degree seeking students who are enrolled in fall 2005 at 4-year institutions in United States completed their degree by the year 2011
(Source: National Center for Education Statistics, 2012)

7. Importance of Academic Advising to Student Retention
Academic advising represents a referral hub to other institutional resources.
However, surprisingly it is the single most underestimated service in higher education institutions (Light, 2001).
The importance of academic advising to student retention is yet to be explored and institutionalized through effective data-driven programing.

8. Steps for Turning Data Into Academic Advising Strategies
Define your sources of data
Look for specific patterns in data
Identify the sources that you refer our students to
Define your Academic Advising Strategies

9. Step 1: Define Your Sources of Data
Look at what data you have and what you still might need
Does your College/ Department /institution provide you with any data about the incoming cohorts?

10. Sources of Data Institutional Data Unit-specific data
Institutional Surveys
Early Alert Programs

11. Institutional Data High school GPA Cumulative GPA
Courses with high rates of grades D, F, W, I
Participation in Programs and Services
Student Characteristics: gender, age, employment outside the institution, first generation students

12. Unit-Specific Data
Focus groups with students who belong to your college/department/unit
Number of visits of students to your unit/department/center
Unit-specific student satisfaction surveys
Chats with your colleagues

13. Institutional Surveys
National Survey of Student Engagement NSSE
College Student Inventory (CSI)
Student Satisfaction Survey SSS

14. Early Alert Programs Ellucian Course Signals Grades First Star Fish
Appointment Manager

15. Step 2: Look for Specific Patterns in Data
What is the data showing you:
How many students do you have under your case load?
Are there specific group/s of students who are at risk?
Who really needs to be served?

16. Patterns in Data How many of your students are: First year students
Students enrolled in courses with high DFWI rates
First generation students
Commuter students
Employed students
Students with family responsibilities
Married students
Students who failed a course twice
On probation

17. Step 3: Identify the Sources that you Refer Your Students to
List the programs/services on your campus that you already have in place?
Which are the top 5 programs/services your students are likely to be referred to?

18. Referral Sources on your Campus
Counseling Center
Faculty and department heads
Registration Department
Office of Admission
Enrollment Management
Graduate teaching assistants
Student learning support centers
Residence hall coordinators (RHCs)
Success coaches
Financial Aid
Career Service

19. Step 4: Define your Academic Advising Strategies
What should be your strategies for improvement:
Define your goals
What is realistic?

20. Examples of Retention Goals
Increase the rate of students recovering from academic probation from 42% to 52% by a specific date
Increase the number of student who return for academic advising
Increase opportunities for students to meet and/or visit with faculty
Connect students to resources
Identify gap between expected rate and actual rate and normalize first year lower performance
Gather data during the first term on students on probation and institutional resources that could help them

21. Key Performance Indicators?
Increase in GPA
Increase in student satisfaction
Increase in retention rates
Increase in graduation rates

22. Conclusion and Final Thoughts
There might be a wealth of data at your fingertips. Use it to find out what kind of support students need.
“Students are most likely to persist and graduate in settings that provide academic, social, and personal support.”
Vincent Tinto
Distinguished University Professor
Syracuse University

23. Thank you!

24. Presenter Contact Information
Dr. Selma Haghamed

25. Resources

26. Retention Theories that are closely connected to Gulf-Arab Institutions
Reasons for student departure from institutions of higher education
Commuter students needs
Challenges faces by first generation students
Who are the non-traditional students and what are their needs

27. Success and Retention Resources
Retention Article
Haghamed, S. (2014). The Impact of Academic Advising on the Retention of First-year Students in a Gulf-Arab University retrieved Jan 19th 2015 from:
Retention Journals
Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice
NACADA Journal
First Year Journal
Data Centers
QU OIPD Data Warehouse/Cognos
Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
Center for the Study of College Student Retention
IPEDS, National Center for Education Statistics
Data websites:
U.S. Department of Education
Common Data Set (CDS)
College Scorecard website

28. Success and Retention Resources
Most Famous Retention and Success Books
Braxton, J. M., Hirschy, A. S. and McClendon, S. A. (2004). Understanding and reducing college student departure. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes of student attrition (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Bean, J. P. (1990). Why students leave: Insights from research. In D. Hossler, J. P. Bean, & Associates (Eds.), The strategic management of college enrolments San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Gordon, V. N., Habley, W. R., Grites, T. J. & Associates. (2008). Academic advising a comprehensive handbook. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-BASS.
Ishler, J. L. C., & Upcraft, M. L. (2005) The keys to first-year student persistence. In M. L. Upcraft, J. N. Gardner, B. O. Barefoot, & Associates (Eds.), Challenging and supporting the first-year student: A handbook for improving the first-year of college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. J., Whitt, E. J. & Associates. (2005). Student success in college: Creating conditions that matter. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students (Vol. 2). K. A. Feldman (Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Seidman, A. (2012). College student retention (2nd ed.). Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
Tinto, V. (2012). Completing college: Rethinking institutional action. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.