A Holistic Approach Elizabeth H. Stanley

Transcription

1 A Holistic Approach Elizabeth H. Stanley Director, Student Persistence Success TG

2 TG Created by the Texas Legislature in 1979 Public, nonprofit corporation Promotes educational access and success, enabling students to realize their college and career dreams

3 Student and Institutional Success Center for Financial Aid Policy and Practice in Community Colleges, The Charley Wootan Grant program Council for Student Financial Success in Higher Education, The

4 Student and Institutional Success Education Finance Initiatives Financial Literacy (FL) program Pre-College Success Public Benefit (PB) grant program Student Persistence and Success

5 Student Persistence and Success Created in 2002 to inform institutional policy and practice to improved student success Resource for all sectors of secondary and postsecondary education, state agencies, affiliate associations, community-based organizations, P-16 Councils, business, and industry

6 Elizabeth H. Stanley Director, Student Persistence and Success 19 years in enrollment, degree completion, and education services Former College Board chief higher educational manager and interim vice president Director of Admission, St. Edward s University Assistant Director, Southwestern University

7 How did we begin? Institutional culture Practices, programs, and policies Inventorying student success efforts Student and institutional success challenges Creating strategic planning momentum Improving student retention, completion, and career readiness

8 Description: Certificate and Degree Completion (a newly published, no-cost TG resource) assists institutional leaders and practitioners through an assessment process that provides numerous opportunities for discussion, information gathering, reflection, self-analysis, and action planning. The process then shifts to a review of the institution s student success efforts using a comprehensive set of intervention strategies as a framework for inquiry and review. The strategies not only serve as an analytical lens through which to consider current institutional practices, programs, and policies but also serve as potential alternatives for institutions to adopt to strengthen their student support efforts. Join us to learn how this tool can guide institutional thinking towards improved certificate and degree completion.

9 Agenda: The CDC Process Student outcomes data collection Student readiness Retention Completion and career readiness Inventorying practices, programs, and policies Strategies Objectives Institutional self-analysis Reflection Construction Action planning and implementation Evaluation and excavation

10 As they enter

11 As they persist

12 As they depart

13 The Strategic Planning Process Cycle

14 Key component #1 Strategic Action Goal: Should be action-oriented, achievable, and related directly to the student success challenge Should provide clear purpose and direction for action Should be acceptable to those who will execute the action

15 Key component #2 Core Objective: Focus on necessary actions to realize the goal Describe what will be done and how it will be accomplished Several may be needed to frame the action steps for goal attainment Must directly support the goal; be attainable, clear, measurable, and convey responsibility

16 Key component #3 Action Steps: Identify what will be done Template prompts planners to identify components for each action step: Individuals or administrative units responsible Affected stakeholders Indicators of successful implemented Timelines for completion

17 Key component #4 Resources: Required to implement action steps Currently available to support the plan Resource inventories Facilitate estimating types/amounts of resources necessary to develop/implement new strategies Compare with those available to anticipate gaps Establish a cost basis for budgetary planning

18 Key component #5 Conditions: Factors that may facilitate successful implementation or serve as barriers Template prompts planners to identify all the supporting and challenging conditions Internal, external, tangible, intangible Resource availability and organizational silos Institutional culture, values, assumptions, tradition

19 Action Areas Institutional Commitment to Student Success College Readiness and Student Support Developmental Education Retention, Completion, and Career Readiness Data, Evaluation, and Improvement

20 Institutional Commitment to Student Success A student-centered and success-oriented institutional culture is a core commitment of the institution and is evident across institutional practices. A comprehensive and long-term student success plan guides the development and implementation of student success initiatives at the institution.

21 Self-Assessment Team Participants:

22 Organizational Alignment:

23 Initial group discussion Please explore the following questions. How would a student at your institution know that student success is central to institutional culture, including values and expectations, and to campus activities? In what ways is the institution s commitment to student success evident in the actions of senior institutional leaders? What about in the actions of faculty and staff? To what extent are conversations about student learning and achievement common among members of your campus community?

24 Institutional Commitment to Student Success A student-centered and success-oriented institutional culture is a core commitment of the institution and is evident across institutional practices. The institution is committed to achieving equity in student outcomes and closing achievement gaps across racial, ethnic, and income groups. Institutional leadership groups regularly communicate that success for every student is central to the institution, and that all members of the campus community play a significant role in student success. A dialogue about student success is ongoing at the institution, and it includes a diversity of voices among faculty, staff, administrators, and students.

25 Discussion questions: Discuss where and how each strategy is used at the institution, and the ways in which the strategy has been supportive of the institution s student success objectives. Identify any conditions that challenge or constrain the implementation and/or effectiveness of each strategy as it currently occurs at the institution. Describe the action steps that would need to be taken in order to improve the effectiveness of each strategy as it is currently implemented at the institution.

26 Institutional self-assessment

27 Strategic Action Checklist

28 Strategic Action Plan Template

29 Strategic Action Plan Template

30 Attrition costs are exponentially costlier than recruitment costs. Subsequently, institutional leadership, faculty, and staff must invest energy and resources in strategies that will yield the greatest return. -Fraire, 2012

31 Questions?

32 Contact Elizabeth H. Stanley Director, Student Persistence and Success P.O. Box 83100, Round Rock, TX (800) , ext (512) (direct) (512) (fax)