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Armstrong State University Campus Plan Update 2016

Campus Plan Update (PDF version)
Appendix
Strategies: 
AdvisingTracking Student SuccessCredit by ExamDual EnrollmentDecrease Credits at graduationDefault SchedulesOn-time Degree Completion15-to-FinishCorequisite Learning Support

Institutional Mission and Student Body Profile

Armstrong’s strategic plan, Charting Excellence Together, reaffirms our commitment as a teaching-first University where student-focused and transformative education is valued, with the primary goal of fostering student success through “ScholarSHIP, LeaderSHIP, and StewardSHIP”. The strategic plan serves as the lens through which faculty members, staff and administrators help motivated students realize their potential as productive citizens of the world.

Our Complete College Georgia-Armstrong plan is consistent with our institutional mission of providing diverse and transformative learning experiences that support student success, with the overarching goal of assisting students from matriculation through graduation. Armstrong has a history of service to the 6-county coastal Georgia region (Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Glynn, Liberty, and McIntosh counties) and to students who desire to enter college from a variety of pathways: traditional freshmen, transfer students, and non-traditional students. Slightly less than 30% of our first-time, full-time freshman students are first-generation college students and may not have had the benefit of parents, siblings, or other mentors to help them navigate the college experience.

More than one-third of Armstrong students are non-traditional adult learners who need flexible course offerings, support services, and career counseling. Additionally, the number of potential non-traditional students in this area, including veteran and active duty military (more than 75,000 veterans and over 24,000 active duty personnel in the region), is large and drives many of our initiatives. Students also need assistance with financial aid and payment procedures, such as completing the FAFSA, submitting and signing necessary documents, understanding the variety of financial aid available, and managing money for college and personal expenses. Nearly 46% of our students are Pell eligible, and over 85% of our students receive financial aid. Still the average Armstrong bachelor student loan debt is $25,977 (USG Academic Warehouse). We provide numerous workshops on campus and in the community to meet this need.

Demographically, Armstrong undergraduate student population tends to be full-time (73.4%), female (66.4%), and Pell-eligible (44.9% are recipients) (Appendix Table 1). The population distribution of students remains mostly stable, with a trend over the 3-years toward a slight increase in the number of minority students, Pell eligible students, and learning support students (Table 1 & 2). New students are increasingly military affiliated students, minority, and female. Our entering student population First generation and Pell eligible students remain consistent at nearly one-third and two-fifths of the entering student body respectively (Appendix Table 2). As a result, we intentionally target our programs to serve first generation, minority, veteran, and learning support populations to assure they are progressing timely toward their degree. 

Complete College Georgia Goals Armstrong selected to target

CCG Goal 1: Increase the number of undergraduate degrees awarded. Table 3 highlights Armstrong’s 6-year graduation rates. For the last three cohorts (2007-2009), the graduation rate is similar for all student populations – near 30%. However, we find that male students, military affiliated, and learning support students graduate at a lower rate than other students (approximately 20 to 28%). We have seen small increases in the number of Pell recipients as well as Hispanic and multiracial students graduating within 6-years.

Since Armstrong is an institution that enrolls a significant number of transfer students, it is important to monitor our total number of degrees granted, not just the FTFTF graduation rate.  Appendix Table 4 shows nearly a 24% increase in associate degrees and a 19.5% increase in Bachelor’s degrees conferred since FY 2012. Tables 5 and 6 also show the breakdown of the associate and bachelor degrees awarded by race and ethnicity, while Table 7 indicates the number of STEM degrees awarded, which has been trending up over the past five years.

CCG Goal 2: Increase the number of degrees that are earned “on time.” Armstrong is making strides towards improving graduation rates for the associate degrees conferred in 2 years and bachelor degrees conferred in 4 years (Table 8a and 8b). To further our efforts to increase the number of undergraduate degrees awarded, we look to improve student retention. Our retention data, shown in Table 9, indicate that our retention rates are increasing across the board and in some cases with more than a 10% increase. For example, we increased from 66.2% in 2011 to 72.7% in 2015 institutionally while Pell Recipient retention went from 66.8% in 2011 to 74.9% in 2015. Table 10a and 10b highlights that we have increased in the number of students taking 15 hours or more over the course of 5 years. Most gains are seen primarily at the freshmen level due to our 15-to-Finish messaging at orientation and our pre-registration of all freshmen for 15 hours prior to their coming to orientation (fully implemented in 2015).  

CCG Goal 3: Decrease excess credits earned on path to getting a degree. Table 11 indicates the number of credits to complete a degree has fluctuated since 2011 but with an overall trend downward (95.42 credits in 2011 to 84.97 credits in 2015 at the time of associate degree conferral and 138.28 credits in 2011 to 137.58 credits at the time of bachelor degree conferral). This is an 11% reduction in the total credits earned for associate’s degree students, and a 0.5% decrease in total credits earned for bachelor’s degree students. Students are still taking approximately 30% more credits than needed to obtain an associate’s degree and 10.5% more than needed to receive a bachelor’s degree. However, some of our bachelor degree programs require between 128 and132 hours, making this number not too far from the norm. 

Another encouraging piece of data supporting improvement on Goal 3 is that students are successfully completing an average of 85% of their courses each year (Table 12). 

CCG Goal 6: Shorten time to degree completion through programs that allow students to earn college credit while still in high school and by awarding credit for prior learning. As seen in Table 13, the number of students enrolled in dual and joint enrollment (including Move on When Ready) programs have increased 15% since 2011 along with a 23% increase in the number of credits awarded based on AP exams. There is a more moderate increase in the number of credits awarded for CLEP testing (0.2%) and a reduction of credits awarded for IB exams (48%) and for the number of credits awarded for dual/joint enrollment students (7.4%).

CCG Goal 7: Increase the likelihood of degree completion by transforming the way remediation is accomplished. Our learning support courses were overhauled to the co-remediation model in Fall of 2015. In addition, our academic advising restructure provides a dedicated advisor for non-traditional students. What we find thus far is that of the 91 students in Learning Support, 27.5% successfully completed the course(s) within 2 semesters and 48.4% successfully completed the courses within 3 semesters.

Institutional Goals and Strategies

Our overarching CCG-Armstrong goals are to:

  1. Increase the number of undergraduate degrees awarded by Armstrong by 0.5% per year (CCG Goal 1).
  2. Increase the number of degrees awarded on-time by increasing our 6-year graduation rate 0.5% per year (CCG Goal 2).
  3. Decrease the number of excess credits toward degree 10% by 2020 (CCG Goal 3).
  4. Implement and expand improvements in advising services for FTFTF and at-risk students to improve freshmen and sophomore retention rates to 80% and 59% respectively by 2020 (CCG Goal 4).
  5. Improve college access for students who are non-traditional, military, first-generation, and/or from historically underrepresented groups (CCG Goal 6).
  6. Restructure instructional delivery to support educational excellence and student success, especially in the area of remediation (CCG Goal 7).

These goals increase student completion 

First, identifying, examining and removing barriers to student success reduces the amount of time to complete a degree. For example, Armstrong has consolidated prior learning experiences (PLA) into the Testing Services office so that Adult Learners can go to one location for Compass (soon to be Accuplacer), CLEP, and DANTES testing, as well as a point of contact for PLA portfolios. The goal is to ensure that students receive appropriate transfer credit and not take unneeded courses. Table 13 shows that the number of students who enrolled in dual or joint enrollment programs increased by 15% between 2011 and 2015, while the number of credits awarded based on AP exams increased by over 23%, the number of DANTES credits awarded went from 0 in 2011 to 11 in 2015, and the number of credits awarded for CLEP scores increased by 0.2%. The only drop came with the number of credits awarded to dual enrollment students (down 7.4% since 2011) and the number of credits awarded for IB exams (down 48% over the same 5 years).

Second, providing advisement to students by professional advisors to the point they transition to faculty advisors/mentors, we seek to have students develop appropriate goals for college and a plan for completing degree programs. To this end, Armstrong is implementing EAB’s Student Success Collaborative technology beginning in Spring 2017 to identify student success markers for improved advisement and therefore improved degree completion. These strategies are intended to establish a plan for students that better enables them to graduate in four years with a baccalaureate degree or two years with an associate’s degree.

Third, targeted improvements to our learning support population is meant to increase the retention rate of these students, many of whom are adult learners and first generation students, and have a large impact on retention, progression and graduation rates. To accomplish this, Armstrong has developed an “active intervention” plan prior to a student receiving academic warning, probation or suspension, whereby students in good standing who have earned less than 29 hours with a 1.8 or less GPA will take a Strategies for Success course (2 credits) the following semester. This policy became effective Fall 2016.

Finally, by establishing better pedagogical practices, such as co-remediation of learning support, the use of supplemental instruction and peer-mentors in core and high DFW rate courses, students can graduate more quickly due to their successful earning of core course credit on-time. In Fall 2015, we had 10 peer mentors working with faculty and students in the First Class Learning Communities. The participants of the Fall 2015 Living Learning Communities had a one year (Fall 2015 to Fall 2016) retention rate of 81.5%. This is compared to the Fall 2015 commuter community’s retention rate of 75%. Both of these were higher retention rates than our first-time, full-time freshman (FTFTF) of 73.9%.

The barriers

The barriers at Armstrong are similar to those found at most other institutions. Students have trouble paying for classes, maintaining their HOPE scholarship and balancing school, family and work obligations. Faculty need to be encouraged and rewarded for developing innovative pedagogy that promotes student success, which can be difficult with tight budgets. Finally, advisors have high workloads and yet must also be constantly involved in continuing education to stay abreast of transfer rules, changes in financial aid and academic policy as well as student development theories and trends. Improved professional development for advisors can be a challenge to accomplish, especially when there is high turnover and new staff are hired into these positions. Armstrong has addressed this challenge by restructuring academic advisement with a total of 13 advisors and a Director of Advisement to spread out the advising load. Armstrong also requested and received funds from USG to provide professional development opportunities for our professional advisement team. We continue to work through these challenges and look for opportunities to be creative in our approach to minimize each of these barriers.

Summary of Goals, High-Impact Strategies, and Activities

High Impact Strategy

Implementation of Adult Learning Consortium Principles for awarding credit based on verifiable experience or prior learning.

Related Goal

Goal 1

1.) Increase in the number of undergraduate degrees awarded by Armstrong, by 0.5% per year

2.) Increase the number of degrees awarded on-time (raise our 6-year graduation rate 0.5% per year for each student type)

3.) Decrease the number of excess credits toward degree, by 10% by 2020    

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact
  1. Armstrong conferred 69 Associate degrees and 1,018 Bachelor degrees in 2015 (Tables 4, 5 & 6). While the number of Associate degrees conferred increased by 9.5% over the last 5 years, the number of Bachelor’s degrees conferred increased by 12% over the same time, greatly exceeding our goal of 0.5% per year (or 2.5% over five years)
  2. The 6-year graduation rate for FTFTF for the 2009 cohort was 32.6% - down nearly 3% from the 2007 cohort. However, our target populations saw an increase i.e. Adult Learners went from 27.6% in 2007 to 35.7% in 2009 – nearly a 30% increase, Pell Recipients went from 31.3% in 2007 to 34.1% in 2009 – nearly a 9% increase, and Learning Support students saw a small decline (21.7% in 2007 to 21.5% in 2009 – a 0.9% decrease) (Table 3).
  3. The number of credits earned at degree conferral for students earning associate degrees went down from 95.42 in FY2011 to 84.97 in FY2015 – a near 11% decrease, while credits earned at degree conferral for students earning bachelor degrees went down from 138.28 in FY2011 to 137.58 in FY2015 – a 0.5% decrease (Table 11).

Primary Point of Contact

Becky da Cruz, Interim Associate Provost for Student Success

Becky.daCruz@Armstrong.edu

Summary of Activities

In implementing the recommended principles of the adult learning consortium to reduce the number of credit hours taken by students for a degree, we added the PLA portfolio, adjusted our minimum CLEP scores to the recommended 50, expanded our AP and IB credit acceptance policies, offered challenge exams in courses where no CLEP exam exists and worked to improve our ACE/JST transcript acceptance policies and procedures. We have evaluated over 60 ACE course recommendations and are working to simplify the awarding of ACE course credits.

Measures of Progress and Success

Measure, Metric, or data element

We assess our success by collecting data on the number of degrees conferred; the number of credit hours earned by our graduates at the date of conferral; and the number of PLA, AP, IB, CLEP, DANTES, and ACE credits granted.

Baseline Status

We awarded a 5-year average of 5,511 PLA credits from AP, IB, CLEP and DANTES (Table 13). We graduate, on average, 34% of our adult students in 6-years and 31% of our military affiliated students (Table 3).

Interim Measure of Progress

Each of these items is fully in place for the 2015-2016 academic year and continues for 2016-2017. We have had some increases in the number of credits awarded via AP, DANTES and dual-enrollment. We have also seen an increase in our military affiliated graduation rate, which was 28% for our 2009 cohort, and Pell Recipients, which was 34% for the same cohort.

Measure of Success

We expect to see a continued measurable increase in the use of these credit options within our student population coupled with a measured decrease in the number of excess credits at graduation. Success in this area is evidenced by a steady increase in the graduation rate of adult students and traditional student (AP) using these credit options. 

Lessons learned

Prior learning assessment is multi-faceted and requires dedicated staff to manage the process. For some students, the portfolio option is a significant amount of work that they are not willing to do. Thus, adult students typically prefer a CLEP exam or an ACE credit evaluation over a portfolio option. Having a well-trained and staffed testing center and advising center can assist with educating students on their PLA options.

We do expect to see improvement with the graduation rates and reduction of credit hours at the time of degree completion with our new centralized advising model, where professional advisors can encourage CLEP testing. While our dual-enrollment population and credits earned have increased, our IB credits have trended downward, which is likely a direct result of not marketing Armstrong to local IB schools. This is something we have been working on for Fall 2016 and beyond. We also expect our dual-enrollment numbers to continue to increase with the expansion of MOWR into local high schools.

 

High Impact Strategy

Implementation of new technology to assist advisors and students with degree planning and intrusive advising (DegreeWorks, EAB Student Success Collaborative, and Grades First).

Related Goal

Goal 4: Implement and expand improvements in advising services for FTFTF and at risk students.

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact

Investment in new EAB Student Success Collaborate technology to track students’ achievement in courses and progress toward degree completion in addition to the use of DegreeWorks and GradesFirst.

Primary Point of Contact

Mark Taylor, Director of Academic Advisement & Support

Mark.Taylor@Armstrong.edu

Summary of Activities

DegreeWorks was released to Students in March of 2015. Faculty and staff were trained in the use of Degreeworks through the Fall of 2015. Since Fall 2015, GradesFirst has been used for all students under 60 hours with less than a 2.6 GPA, including students on academic warning, all freshmen, sophomores, athletes and learning support students. To assist in developing an at-risk model for student graduation, we invested in the EAB-Student Success Collaborative platform in 2015 with initial training scheduled for Fall 2016 and Spring 2017. The full rollout occurs Spring 2017.

All academic advising staff (professional and faculty advisors), tutor center staff, IT staff, and the Registrar’s office are involved in DegreeWorks, GradesFirst and the EAB-Student Success Collaborative.

Measures of Progress and Success

Measure, Metric, or data element

Percentage of increase of students’ who pass a course after having academic intervention after being identified as at-risk for failing the course and the reduction of excess credits earned toward degree completion.

Baseline Status

Our baseline GradesFirst data indicates that 14% of students are at risk of failing a course, but, of those students 42% go on to pass the course after intervention by an academic advisor. Faculty respond to Grades First Alerts at a rate of 27%. In the pilot of the EAB-SSC platform in the Spring of 2016, we were able to identify gateway courses and students who are at risk of not graduating in their chosen major.

Interim Measure of Progress

DegreeWorks (degree audit system) has been used to improve advising communication and there has been an increased use of DegreeWorks by students. The use of GradesFirst is expected to continue to increase with the number of faculty reports increasing of at-risk students thereby leading to an increase of students who pass a course. Our use of the EAB Student Success Collaborative technology is also expected to improve our advising processes, due to additional communications and outreach to at-risk students.

Measure of Success

DegreeWorks usage has reduced advising errors and will help students map their path to a degree, resulting in a measurable (11%) decrease in the excess credits students accumulate for the associate degree and a 0.5% decrease for bachelor degrees over 5 years (Table 11). We expect to see measurable increases in student earned versus attempted hours as well for both four (Table 8) and six-year (Table 3) graduation rates as a measure of success, due to early alert interventions. GradesFirst will see continued usage and the number of faculty reports will increase (target 75%), and the number of at-risk students who pass a course will increase (target 60%). Our EAB risk model is predicted to help us identify an additional 5% of at-risk students over a baseline prediction model.

Lessons Learned

Armstrong has not, in the past, effectively or efficiently used available technologies and data to assist with intrusive advising and academic coaching. The implementation of these new technologies requires significant faculty and staff training. We are already seeing that a small amount of intentional outreach to a student can make a big difference in student retention, progression and graduation.

 

High Impact Strategy

Centralization of 1st and 2nd year advising to normalize caseloads and provide targeted advising and coaching/intervention services to specific student populations (freshmen, transfer, adult, military and secondary-admit programs)

Related Goal

Goal 4: Implement and expand improvements in advising services for FTFTF and at-risk students to improve freshmen and sophomore retention rates

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact

Our preliminary data for 2015 shows a marked increase for year-to-year retention, which is now 72.7%. The overall retention rate increased 14% from 5 years ago (a 63.7% retention rate) and 7% increase from 2014 (a 67.8% retention rate).

Primary Point of Contact

Becky da Cruz, Interim Associate Provost for Student Success

Becky.daCruz@Armstrong.edu

Summary of Activities

In January 2016, we formally centralized advisement, where the academic advisors pre-register all freshmen for 15 credit hours prior to their attending orientation, and discuss the need to take 15 hours (Fifteen to Finish) each semester during their orientation. Our professional academic advisors will advise freshmen and sophomore students. We believe the new structure will provide better coordination of advising, mentoring and coaching services and allow for improved advisor professional development to intentionally focus on freshmen and sophomore retention. The new advising team will also run our supplemental instructor (SI) program, which has expanded in the freshman and sophomore classes, contributing to a 1-2% higher retention rate in courses with SIs than students in courses without these programs. Implementation for the 2015-2016 academic years also include revising 15 to Finish initiatives, pilots of appreciative and intrusive advising training and SAP training for advisors.

Measure of Progress of Success

Measure, metric, or data element

Retention rate

Baseline Status

As of Fall 2015, our freshmen retention rate, for associates and bachelor seeking students is currently 70.0% (Table 15). Our sophomore retention rate (bachelors seeking only) currently stands at 54.4%.

Interim Measure of Progress

Progress is measured by an increase in freshmen (bachelors and associate seeking) retention rate (Table 15), which hovers on average 68% year to year, but currently stands at 70.0% for Fall 2015 (10% points behind our CCG target of 80%). A reduction of students on SAP, a decrease in DFW rates and an increased number of credits completed in the first two years will show that we are headed in the right direction (Tables 10 & 12).  Finally, increasing our sophomore retention rate, currently 54.4% for Fall 2015 (just 4.6% points needed to meet our CCG target of 59%) will significantly increase our overall retention and graduation rates.

Measure of Success

Our goal is to achieve an institutional 80% retention rate for FTFTF students and a sophomore retention rate of 59% by 2020. We are also targeting an increase in the % earned/% attempted hours (90%) as shown in Table 11 and increase in the number of students at the freshmen and sophomore year taking 15 credits each semester (by 1% per year, See Table 10).

Lessons Learned

Professional advisors are key to student retention, especially in the early college years.  Professional advising and counseling take a significant investment of time and resources to be successful.  The complicated curriculum, financial aid rules, and the many stresses that accompany the transition from high school to college are best managed by a dedicated professional advisor who is responsive to students and knows the resources available to the student.  Students can and should be mentored by faculty to pursue their academic and professional dreams and engage in their academic discipline.  Students often need additional support and coaching to realize their full potential.  Pre-registration of all freshmen is best accomplished with teamwork and cross training. Most students and parents expressed satisfaction with their student’s schedule.

 

High Impact Strategy

Workshops, programming, and community outreach regarding college readiness and financial options/incentives, targeted to adult, military, first-year and historically underrepresented students.

Related Goal

Goal 9: Improve college access for students who are non-traditional, military, first-generation, and/or from historically underrepresented groups.

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact

Enrollment of students who are non-traditional, military, first-generation, and from historically underrepresented groups has increased proportionately across campus. While first generation students decreased in numbers (699 in Fall 2011 to 517 in Fall 2015), they increased slightly in overall student body proportion (31.5% to 31.7% respectively). The same is true for the military affiliated students (173 students in Fall 2011 to 167 students in Fall 2015 – 7.8% to 10.2% of the overall student population). The trend is similar for African American, American Indian, multiracial students, and Pell recipients i.e. fewer in numbers but increase in overall proportion of student body population. The adult learner dropped in both numbers as well as overall proportion of the student body (Table 2).

Primary Point of Contact

Becky da Cruz, Interim Associate Provost for Student Success

Becky.daCruz@Armstrong.edu

Summary of Activities

Armstrong eliminated all non-course fees for active duty military, expanded course offerings at the Liberty Center and increased our offering of evening, flex-term and hybrid classes for adult/military students. A military education coordinator recruits and provides assistance to veteran and military students. We have significant outside partnerships with Ft. Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, and the Community College of the Air Force. We hold adult information sessions and adult one-day registration sessions. The Office of Hispanic Outreach and Retention holds sessions in the community to address Hispanic student questions and concerns about college. A Hispanic Outreach and Retention Coordinator recruits and coaches Hispanic and Latino students. Our “Tickets for Success” program, run by our advisors, provides information on study skills financial aid, impacts of SAP and course withdrawals and other necessary success information to current students. Our FYE director implements our QEP “First Class,” which educates first-year students on campus resources and information literacy competency. Peer mentors have been added to FYE courses to assist the faculty and students. Our Office of Multicultural Affairs provides a USG funded mentoring program for African American males (MOVE), African American females and Hispanic males. One of our newest initiatives is the TRiO Student Support Services program, providing comprehensive academic coaching, Individual Academic Success Plan, tutoring, and workshops for first generation, low income, and/or disabled students. Our Pirate Passage summer bridge program and commuter student learning communities intentionally seek to improve access and retention of target student populations.

Measures of Progress and Success

Measure, metric, or data element

Graduation rate of the targeted student population.

Baseline Status

Over the last three years, the average graduation rates of each group targeted with this strategy (military, African-American, Hispanic, multi-racial, non-traditional learners and traditional freshmen) have fluctuated widely without showing a definite trend upward. Each group has a graduation rate that averages from 30.5%-35.8% (Table 3).

Interim Measure of Progress

Progress would be evident in a dampening of the major fluctuations of this data such that a trend upward for a number of years would be recognized.   

Measure of Success

Measurable and consistent increases of at least 0.5% per year in the adult, military, Hispanic, African American, and non-traditional student enrollment, retention and graduation rates would be an indicator of our success. Our 1-year retention rates for the Pirate Preview summer bridge program has been trending upward over the last three academic years and now sit at 79.5 These learning communities have assisted with retention by providing additional support to targeted first-year students.

Lessons Learned

Resources targeted to improving student retention and graduation are not one size fits all. Consistent resources and time must be dedicated to the specific needs of each population. With our TRiO program, Men of Vision & Excellence (MOVE) African American male initiative, membership in the Adult Learning Consortium, HOLA and Military Coordinator workshops, we hope to improve the graduation rates of these targeted student populations.

 

High Impact Strategy

Implement co-remediation in learning support courses

Related Goal

Goal 8: Restructure instructional delivery to support educational excellence and student success, especially in the area of remediation

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact

Of the students enrolled in learning support courses in 2015, 27.5% of students completed their English, Math, and/or Reading requirements within 2 semesters, 48.4% completed their requirement within 3 semesters, and 48.4% completed within 4 semesters (Table 14). As a result of nearly 50% of students successfully completing their learning support course(s), retention of Learning Support students increased from 55.6% in Fall of 2011 to 65.8% in 2015 – more than an 18% increase (Table 9e).

Primary Point of Contact

Becky da Cruz, Interim Associate Provost for Student Success

Becky.daCruz@Armstrong.edu

Summary of Activities

The Languages, Literature and Philosophy Department, Mathematics Department, IT, Registrar, Advising, Admissions, and Testing Services worked together to implement new co-remediation models for learning support.

This year, the first group of freshmen was involved in the co-remediation model with a total of 34 students enrolled in these courses.

Measures of Progress and Success

Measure, metric, or data element

Retention, successful completion of learning support courses, and graduation rates of learning support students.

Baseline Status

Tables 3, 9e and 14 show our learning support graduation, retention and success data respectively. These numbers are all quite low but tracking upwards. Still, improvements in this area could yield large results.

Interim Measure of Progress

Students coded as learning support will have lower DFW rates in their Core A classes beginning Fall 2015. Fewer learning support suspensions will be issued.  More non-traditional students and more freshmen at the lowest end of our admissions spectrum will receive the needed support to succeed in their early math and English courses, thus improving the number of credits earned and improving their 1-year retention rate.

Measure of Success

Our completion rate for learning support and Core area A courses for this population will increase, by 1% per year to 2020. The graduation rates for students in learning support will increase 1% per year to 2020. 

Current data in the co-remediation courses are limited at this time since we just began the new model. However, due to the poor graduation rate related to the standard pre-req model, we believe we will see improvements.

Lessons Learned

To be even more aggressive in improving student success among our learning support students, we will be adding an Active Intervention plan by which students who have earned less than 29 hours with less than a 1.8 GPA will be required to take a 2 credit hour Strategies for Success course. This will be implemented Spring 2017. 

Observations and Projections

In reviewing our original CCG-Armstrong plan, we have noted that many of the original proposed goals are incorporated within these modified and more focused goals. Our original goals were to improve access for traditionally underserved groups, improve student success and rates of credential completion and increase alumni and donor engagement to support student access and success. We have made strides and are continuing to make strides in each of these areas. Each of the previous tactics has been implemented, from implementing MOUs with Savannah Tech, Georgia Southern and the Community College of the Air Force to reaching out to educate the local community to an increased commitment and fundraising for student gap funding to prevent stop-outs and are part of institutional culture and process. From these initiatives, we have begun to see significant increases in degree production (Table 3). Based on preliminary FY 2015 numbers, our degree production is up 18% since 2012.  While these increases may not be directly attributable to CCG activities, the results of our collective efforts are positive. We believe they are making impacts, and we are confident that the numbers of graduates and enrollees will continue to increase. Our modified goals, as stated above, show our continued commitment to the original goals of our 2012 plan, with formative changes and expansions of new goals and strategies. For example, we have noted learning support, part-time and African American male students have the lowest six-year graduation rates, thus we are reemphasizing our strategies to address their needs, while continuing the higher levels of service we now provide to military and FTFTF students. To this end, in addition to our continued participation in the AAMI program, we have recently received our first $1.1 M TRiO student support services grant from the Department of Education to focus retention and graduation initiatives on our low-income, Pell-eligible students.