Advising and the Completion Agenda: Strategies for Student Success Page 1. Web Event Handout. Overview. Definitions of Terms and Concepts

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1 Advising and the Completion Agenda: Strategies for Student Success Web Event Handout Panelists: Sandy Waters Executive Director, Advising and Transfer Programs Old Dominion University Moderator: Jennifer Joslin Associate Director for Content Development NACADA Kathleen Shea Smith Director, Advising First Florida State University Vanessa Harris Director of University Advisement The University of New Mexico Overview Higher education institutions are working furiously to achieve President Obama's goal to increase the number of students who complete degrees, certificates, and other credentials by In our September 2014 webinar, Advising and the Completion Agenda: Key Voices in Higher Education, our panelists shared an overview of the major issues that are a part of the Completion Agenda. In this follow-up Web Event, led by NACADA Associate Director Jennifer Joslin, NACADA members will share advising strategies that can be adapted and used around the globe to meet persistence and completion goals. Definitions of Terms and Concepts Educational Data Mining/Big Data Data mining or the use of big data is a way to sort large amounts of data using algorithms and statistics. The ultimate goal of effective data mining is prediction. Educational data mining (sometimes used interchangeably with predictive analytics) is an effort to find trends in student patterns or behaviors that would aid an institution in completing their mission. US Department of Education source: Predictive Analytics Extracting information from data mining (finding patterns) to predict trends and behavior. When applied to student success it might be identifying patterns exhibited by successful students (or unsuccessful students) to replicate (or intervene against) those patterns or situations. Learn more here: or here Murky Middle Students with a first year GPA between who do not progress but could with the right type of intervention. This large, often-overlooked student population completes their first-year successfully but might leave without a degree due to sometimes murky reasons. Institutions often focus on first-year students or on high-achieving students or on at-risk students leaving a large population that do not always garner attention or programming. The use of data mining or predictive analytics could possibly help institutions create appropriate interventions specific to students in this category. Find out more information here: College Scorecard President Obama has focused extensively on higher education issues including issues pertaining to college affordability, degree attainment, achievement gaps, and strengthening community colleges in the U.S. One of the President s most important initiatives focuses on improving transparency around college costs and outcomes. The Advising and the Completion Agenda: Strategies for Student Success Page 1

2 College Scorecard is designed to allow students and their families access to accurate information about college costs, loans, degree attainment, and post-baccalaureate employability. Completion Agenda An umbrella term that describes state and national policy initiatives that focuses on degree completion at two and four-year higher education institutions in the United States. This agenda encompasses a broad focus including but not limited to: Federal and state financial aid policies coupled with rising institutional costs; Institutional issues and barriers that impact student attrition, persistence, and degree completion; Attainment gaps that impact rising potential students; Policies and barriers that affect transfer students moving between two and four-year institutions; Remediation policies and courses which influences student persistence; and Institutional cultures which create barriers for students due to lack of intra or inter-institutional cooperation. Source: NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising Completion by Design A five-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative that works with community colleges to significantly increase completion and graduation rates for low-income students under 26. The Gates Foundation has awarded competitive grants to three groups of community colleges to help transform their students experience. The goal of Completion by Design is to substantially increase completion rates for these students while holding down costs and maintaining access and quality. Source: Completion by Design: Goal 2020/Goal 2025 The White House and other national voices have identified the crucial gap between degree/certificate attainment and job force needs that will occur by In 2009, President Obama set the goal that, to meet increasing market needs and to lead the world in having the highest proportion of college graduates, the U.S. needed to dramatically increase the number of college graduates. Many states and foundations have created their own Goal 2020 or Goal 2025, to address the issues raised and to work toward meeting these state and national goals. United States Department of Education: Performance or Outcomes-based Funding Appropriating state and national funding according to performance measures such as the number of students retained (and on-track for graduation) from first-year to second-year; improvement in the number of certificates or degrees awarded; improvement in the number of successful transfer students who earn their degrees in four-years; and other metrics that support measurable progress toward a degree. An additional example of performance-based funding would be to reward institutions that meet completion gains and goals for rising potential student populations such as low-income or under-represented students. Source: NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising Post-Webinar Questions for Participants 1. As a practitioner, do you see policies and procedures at your institution that limit or impact student completion and degree attainment? 2. Are there ways you or your unit could build stronger relationships with students to improve student success? 3. What advising outcomes would you like to see for your students? 4. How have partnerships worked on your campus (between campus partners) to improve student success? Would yours be an ideal campus for a grant opportunity that would involve working with campus partners? 5. What are your institution's retention and graduation goals? Do you or your unit have a "seat at the table" for determining those goals? NACADA Resources and Links Degree Completion Resources Reports and articles from Complete College America, the Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, Center for Public Education, American Association of Community Colleges, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Education among other sources. Advising and the Completion Agenda: Strategies for Student Success Page 2

3 Retention-related Resources Links to articles and reports focusing on retention, persistence, attrition, and engagement from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Education. Articles/Retention-related-articles.aspx Additional Resources and References Miller, C., Binder, M., Harris, V., & Krause, K. (2011). Staying on track: Early findings from a performance-based scholarship program at the University of New Mexico. Available at A Guide to Writing a Fundraising Strategy. (2008). Available at Brownstein, R. (2015, January 14). The coming college decline. National Journal. Retrieved from Baum, S., Ma, J., & Payea, K. (2010). Education pays 2010: The benefits of higher education for individuals and society. The College Board. Available at Field, K. (2015, January 20). 6 years in and 6 to go, only modest progress on Obama s college-completion goal. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from Only/151303/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en Foundation Center website: Four-Year Myth. (2014). Complete College America. Available at Guided Pathways to Success: Boosting College Completion. (2014). Complete College America. Available at OECD (2012), Education at a Glance 2012: Highlights. OECD Publishing. Available at Puget Sound Grantwriters Association website: Shaffer, L. (2014). Advising financially at-risk students: Detecting and addressing premature affluence. NACADA Journal 34:2. Symonds, William C., Robert Schwartz, and Ronald F. Ferguson Pathways to prosperity: Meeting the challenge of preparing young Americans for the 21st century. Cambridge, MA: Pathways to Prosperity Project, Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Available at The Game Changers. (2013, October). Complete College America. Available at What Works in Student Retention? (2010). ACT. Available at Advising and the Completion Agenda: Strategies for Student Success Page 3

4 ELEMENTS OF DEVELOPMENTAL ADVISING Informational: the advisor assesses academic progress and provides accurate and timely information on liberal studies/major/university-wide requirements, suggests manageable/balanced course schedules each semester, and ensures that all academic recommendations correspond with academic milestones and graduation requirements. Relational: the advisor emphasizes a high level of authentic engagement by demonstrating a caring attitude, initiating conversations that extend beyond information, asking open-ended questions, exhibiting an ease in communication, expressing positive non-verbal cues, responding to student cues, and maintaining availability. Goal-oriented: the advisor assists the students with the identification and realization of meaningful goals that align with academic, career and personal development areas. Advisors monitor the student s academic plans for congruency and consistency with career goals and personal development areas and model strong evaluation/decision making skills by encouraging the student to consider various options, weigh potential consequences, and deepen awareness. Holistic: the advisor incorporates a focus on the whole person, is sensitive to and addresses the following areas demonstrated to impact college success: academic achievement, campus involvement, financial stability, wellness/health, personal effectiveness, management of responsibilities, and commitment to graduation/future career. Integrative: the advisor customizes referrals to campus resources that augment and enhance student engagement and/or support personal challenges, connecting with campus representatives when appropriate, and providing detailed contact information. Continuous: The advisor sustains an ongoing, collaborative partnership by encouraging subsequent visits, following up on recommended action items, addressing challenges, celebrating accomplishments, and deepening the level of mutual trust throughout the advising relationship. Brought to you by:

5 Quantifying a Developmental Advising Session Informational: the advisor assesses academic progress and provides accurate and timely information on liberal studies/major/university-wide requirements, suggests manageable/balanced course schedules each semester, and ensures that all academic recommendations correspond with academic milestones and graduation requirements Relational: the advisor emphasizes a high level of authentic engagement by demonstrating a caring attitude, initiating conversations that extend beyond information, asking open-ended questions, exhibiting an ease in communication, expressing positive non-verbal cues, responding to student cues, and maintaining availability Goal-oriented: the advisor assists the students with the identification and realization of meaningful goals that align with academic, career and personal development areas. Advisors monitor the student s academic plans for congruency and consistency with career goals and personal development areas and model strong evaluation/decision making skills by encouraging the student to consider various options, weigh potential consequences, and deepen awareness

6 Holistic: the advisor incorporates a focus on the whole person, is sensitive to and addresses the following areas demonstrated to impact college success: academic achievement, campus involvement, financial stability, wellness/health, personal effectiveness, management of responsibilities, and commitment to graduation/future career Integrative: the advisor customizes referrals to campus resources that augment and enhance student engagement and/or support personal challenges, connecting with campus representatives when appropriate, and providing detailed contact information Continuous: The advisor sustains an ongoing, collaborative partnership by encouraging subsequent visits, following up on recommended action items, addressing challenges, celebrating accomplishments, and deepening the level of mutual trust throughout the advising relationship

7 Advising and the Completion Agenda: Strategies for Student Success A Panel Discussion Higher education institutions are working furiously to achieve President Obama's goal to increase the number of students who complete degrees, certificates, and other credentials by In our September 2014 webinar, Advising and the Completion Agenda: Key Voices in Higher Education, our panelists shared an overview of the major issues that are a part of the Completion Agenda. In this follow up Web Event, led by NACADA Associate Director Jennifer Joslin, NACADA members will share advising strategies that can be adapted and used around the globe to meet persistence and completion goals. Completion Agenda Literacy Terminology, concepts, trends, key voices and players; Understand how the Completion Agenda is affecting higher education today; Understand our responsibility as advisors and advising administrators facing this shift in higher education. Today s Scope Campus Trends/Advising Opportunities Mobilizing for Change Practitioner Voices Key Terms Questions Completion focus Accountability Changing student demographics Legal issues Financial issues Adoption of Enterprise wide Technology Changing modes of delivery and competition Changing curricula Key Terms Predictive Analytics: Extracting information from data mining (finding patterns) to predict trends and behavior Data Mining is a way of finding patterns and trends in large datasets using statistics and machine learning. Audrey Watters Identify bottleneck courses for at risk students Off campus and out of state student retention trends Sections with high D/F/W rates across student populations 1

8 Key Terms Murky Middle: Students with a 1 st year GPA between who do not progress but could with the right type of intervention Marked also by a decline in GPA over several semesters/terms during sophomore and junior years Sizeable and often overlooked Key Terms College Scorecard: US Dept of Education effort to increase information transparency on affordability and graduation for students and parents Key Terms College Scorecard education/college score card Sandy Waters Executive Director, Advising and Transfer Programs Old Dominion University About Old Dominion University Founded in 1930 as an extension of the College of William and Mary and Virginia Tech Urban Research Public University 19,500 Undergraduate; 5,000 graduate 6 colleges 69 baccalaureate programs, 55 master s, 42 doctoral, and 2 education specialist programs 7 advising centers (professional advisors); Distance Learning Advisors; faculty advisors The Completion Agenda from an Advising Administrator s Perspective Legislative impact on institutional policies New technologies Predictive analyticsdata, data, and more data Human resource issues 2

9 Student Success Committee Outcomes Reviewed academic policies and registration holds: Raised financial holds to $100 or more Placement testing holds removed Changed student classification to 30, 60, 90 credits Changed minimum credits for students in academic difficulty to 15 per term Adjusted financial aid awards under federal guidelines Finish in Four website Curriculum maps Major videos Live Chat Transfer course information Data Analytics Entering Class indicators Home 150 or more miles away 46% or more of financial need unmet High School GPA below 3.0 Non cognitive factors (Transition to College Inventory) 3

10 Interventions Calling campaigns outreach to students not registered for the next term High impact programs: Learning Communities, Undergraduate Research, University Orientation course, trips and social events, financial literacy programs Promote summer school enrollment and offer more online classes in summer Next steps at ODU More data: Focusing on the murky middle Parallel curriculum planning Kathleen Shea Smith Florida State University Director, Advising First Florida State University Research University 40,000 Students 32,000 Undergraduates 16 Colleges 300 Programs of Study 3 Torches Represent Strength, Knowledge and Character Postsecondary Accountability Advising First Network Excess Credit Hour Surcharge Restructuring General Education Preeminent Benchmarks Advisors Placed in 21 Sites Advising First Center for Exploratory Students Advising First Center for Academic Planning AF Center for College Life Coaching 4

11 Addressing Barriers to Completion COMMON THEMES Inadequate Preparation Financial Challenges Competing Demands Academic/Career Indecision Advising First: Structured Depth Six Elements of Developmental Advising Informational Relational Goal Oriented Holistic Integrative Continuous College Life Coaching Comprehensive and Sustained Support Impact of Coaching FTIC Academic Navigation Campus Integration Self Regulation Financial Competence Resilience and Grit Impact of Coaching CARE Qualitative Themes 5

12 Vanessa Harris Director of University Advisement Doctoral Candidate Educational Psychology Certified Academic Coach The University of New Mexico University of New Mexico Undergraduate enrollment of 21,138 for fall 2014 Designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education 32 Fall 2014 Retention and Graduation Rate Retentation and Graduation Rate Retention and Completion Initiatives Grants focusing on Retention and College Completion First Year Retention 79.1 Vision Inspired Scholarship Through Academic Success (VISTA) Hispanic Retention 80.1 Percentage CNM UNM STEM UP Cooperative 6 Year Graduation Rate 48 Unidos STEM Collaboration Center (STCC) 33 What does Performance Based Scholarship (PBS) at UNM? The PBS study at UNM is known as the Vision Inspired Scholarship Through Academic Achievement (VISTA) Open to Pell eligible freshman (NM residents), ages Random assignment design an interested and eligible student has a 50/50 chance of receiving a scholarship Two entering cohorts Fall 2008 and Fall 2009 with a total of 1,000 students in the study (500 scholarship group and 500 control group students) VISTA s Components Scholarship group students receive up to $1000 per semester, for 4 semesters: $250 paid at matriculation $250 paid at mid terms, and $500 paid at end of semester Students must meet requirements to receive their money: GPA of 2.0 or higher Enrolled in 12 or more credits for 1st semester and 15 or more credits for subsequent semesters Students required to meet with VISTA advisors to check progress at each disbursement period

13 VISTA s Preliminary Finding The early findings on the VISTA program are modest but encouraging By the end of their first year in college, VISTA students were more likely than experimental group students to have earned 30 credits Staying on Track Importance of Securing Grants Gives your organization instant credibility and more exposure as an expert in that area Allows you to know how a specific project will make a difference Funding to improve an existing project Having one grant makes it easier to secure other grants How to Secure a Grant? Grant Sources Establish a grant team Research grant opportunities Be very specific as to why you are seeking funding Have a plan and a budget Know the details of the grant and what the funding agency is looking for Demonstrate that the project will make a difference Resources NACADA Research and Grant Writing Resources Regional and National Conference Puget Sound Grantwriters Association Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Lumina Foundation Advising and the Completion Agenda: Strategies for Student Success Moderator: Jennifer Joslin, NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, jejoslin@ksu.edu Panelists: Sandy Waters, Old Dominion University, smwaters@odu.edu Kathleen Shea Smith, Florida State University, KSSmith@admin.fsu.edu Vanessa Harris, The University of New Mexico, vgharris@unm.edu NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising Copyright 2015 ~~ All Rights Reserved All recordings of NACADA materials are copyrighted by the National Academic Advising Association. See for NACADA s complete Copyright statement. 41 7