South Georgia State College Campus Plan Update 2016

Implementation of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching “Quantway” remedial mathematics curriculum and pedagogy to employ “real-life” situational mathematical problems and  collaborative student interactions to promote active learning and productive persistence.  This strategy also engages in the USG’s model for co-requisite remediation.

Transform remediation to increase likelihood of degree attainment; increase the number of undergraduate degrees awarded.

Of SGSC’s fall 2016 incoming freshmen, 38% require one or more remedial mathematics course(s).  With the new USG Learning Support math policy in place at SGSC beginning fall 2015, the Quantway course is now the “Foundations for Quantitative Reasoning” course, which provides an avenue for non-science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) students to complete their remedial math requirements in one semester if successful in the credit-level quantitative skills course (MATH 1001) while simultaneously enrolled in the co-requisite “Support for Quantitative Reasoning” course (MATH 0997).  This strategy aims to transform remediation and reduce time in remediation and time to a degree.

Dr. Charles Johnson
Dean, School of Science
Charles.johnson@sgsc.edu

This strategy is fully implemented.  Activities include faculty development, development of courses in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and in accordance with new USG Learning Support policy, and collaboration with other institutions nationwide.  Activity highlights include the following:

1. The SGSC Quantway team has been active in professional development in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.  The team is comprised of mathematics faculty members, a campus Quantway administrator, and a campus Quantway institutional researcher.  All SGSC team members attend training sessions in California and continue to attend annual Carnegie Pathways forums, the most recent of which was this year (summer 2016).  At Carnegie’s request, one of the SGSC mathematics instructors works with Carnegie apart from the regular meetings and forums to assist in developing processes, procedures, and teaching materials and pedagogy.
2. The Quantway course has been offered on the Douglas Campus each semester for over six years.  The course was offered at the Waycross Campus for the first time spring 2015.
3. The Quantway course, MLCS 0099, was renamed and numbered in accordance with the new USG Learning Support policy.  The Quantway course is now MATH 0987, “Foundations for Quantitative Reasoning” and was offered as such at SGSC for the first time fall 2015.
4. The support course from Quantway to MATH 1001 (“Quantitative Reasoning”), MATH 0999, (“Support for Quantitative Reasoning”), was fully implemented on both the Douglas and Waycross Campuses fall 2015. 

Metrics/Data Elements: 

1. the MATH 0987 (formerly MLCS 0099) course success rate. 
2. the MATH 0989 (formerly MATH 0099) course success rate (for comparison). 
3. the MATH 1001 course success rate of students who came to that course after passing MATH 0987 (formerly MLCS 0099). 

1. The MATH 0987 course success rate baseline is the fall 2012 rate of 29.51% (Table C).
2. The MATH 0989 course success rate baseline is the fall 2012 rate of 34.48% (Table C). 
3. The MATH 1001 course success rate baseline for former MATH 0987 students is the fall 2012 rate of 37.50% (Table D). 

1. The fall 2015 course success rate is 46.94%, an increase of 17.43% over the fall 2012 baseline; the spring 2016 success rate is 62.50%, a 33% increase over the same baseline (Tables C & E). 
2. For comparison, the spring 2016 course success rate for the non-STEM quantitative reasoning Quantway foundations course is 62.5% (Table E), which is a 4.17% higher rate than that for the algebra foundations course (58.33%).  
3. The MATH 1001 success rate for former MATH 0987 students for fall 2015 jumped to 88% (Table F), the high point thus far into the strategy and a 50.5% increase over the baseline rate.  Clearly, the Quantway/Foundations (MATH 0987) course and USG remedial math model are effective for student success.

1. With the new USG Learning Support policy in effect at SGSC fall 2015 the Quantway course is the foundations course for MATH 1001, Quantitative Reasoning, the math path for the majority of non-STEM students.  The curriculum and pedagogy have led to increased student success, as evidenced in the data tracking over the past six years.  SGSC is considering expanding this remedial math college completion strategy to include the entire Learning Support math program, since the new USG Learning Support policy appears to be increasing student success across the entire remedial math program.  For instance, Table G demonstrates that students required to take the co-requisite MATH 0997 course along with MATH 1001 (Quantitative Reasoning) are far more successful in MATH 1001 than are students who were not required to take the co-requisite remedial course (82.46% versus 67.83% for fall 2015; for spring 2016 the gap is even greater—86.96% versus 68.24%).
2. SGSC is aligning support and credit course scheduling beginning spring 2017 to optimize student opportunity to take both courses back-to-back and with the same instructor.

Increase Move on When Ready (MOWR) offerings on area high school and SGSC campuses to help those students graduate in as little time as possible and to develop an SGSC relationship with high schools that will positively affect overall enrollment.

Shorten time to degree completion through programs allowing students to earn college credit while still in high school.

This strategy aims to provide opportunities for academically-qualified high school students to earn college credits while still enrolled in high school, thereby shortening their time to a college degree.  The strategy also positively impacts enrollment at SGSC, both while students are still in high school and as a recruitment strategy/incentive to maintain SGSC enrollment after high school graduation.

Ms. Kelly Gilliard
ACCEL/VA Specialist
Kelly.gilliard@sgsc.edu

Summary of Activities

Move on When Ready (MOWR) has been a great success at SGSC through the recruitment, enrollment, and support efforts of Enrollment Services personnel.  Each semester the Dean of Students visits every MOWR class to speak to students about continuing with SGSC after high school graduation, and the Admissions Office follows up with a letter describing an easy one-step process for transitioning from MOWR to regular student status. 

Metrics/Data Elements: SGSC has been tracking

1. MOWR enrollment figures;
2. MOWR credits awarded;
3. MOWR grade distribution and course success rates (grades of “C” or better); and
4. MOWR course success rates compared to success rates of non-MOWR first-time freshmen enrolled in MOWR-approved courses.

1. The enrollment baseline is 96 students enrolled in fall 2013 (Table I).
2. The credits awarded baseline is 2535 in FY 2014 (Table J & Graph K).
3. The course success rate baseline is 94.03% percent success for fall 2013 (Table L).
4. The MOWR course success rates compared to non-MOWR success rates is 94% (MOWR) versus 73% (non-MOWR) for fall 2013 (Graph M & Table N).

1. The fall 2016 MOWR enrollment of 350 is a 265% increase over the baseline enrollment of 96 in fall 2013 (Table I). 
2. In FY2016 SGSC awarded 4642 MOWR credits, an 83% increase over the baseline credits awarded of 2535 in FY2014 (Table J & Graph K). 
3. The fall 2015 MOWR course success rate of 95.74% is an increase of 1.7% over the baseline rate of 94.03% for fall 2013 (Table L). 
4. The fall 2015 MOWR/non-MOWR course success rate ratio of 96%:73% is essentially the same as the ratio for the baseline semester, as expected at SGSC (Graph M & Table N).  The data for all four measures demonstrates that the Move on When Ready strategy at SGSC has been quite successful.

1. Maintain or exceed a MOWR enrollment of 350 for fall 2017.
2. 5000 MOWR credits awarded for FY2017. 
3. A MOWR course success rate of at least 92% each semester through fall 2017. 
4. A MOWR/non-MOWR course success rate ratio of approximately 92:75 is expected through fall 2017.

1. Area high schools are eager to have their better students participate in Move on When Ready.
2. In order to meet accreditation standards, we must ensure that MOWR students on high school campuses have available the same types and quality of support services available to students on the College campuses.
3. Freeing up full-time faculty and recruiting part-time faculty to teach MOWR courses on high school campuses is a challenge to continued growth in MOWR enrollment.

Increase the persistence and retention of academically at-risk residential students by providing academic support (tutoring, STEM Centers on each campus), a specialized first-year experience orientation course, counseling, and progress monitoring in a comprehensive “Strategies to Emerge, Progress, and Succeed” (STEPS) initiative

Increase the number of undergraduate degrees awarded; shorten time to degree; provide intrusive advising to keep students on track to graduate.

The “Strategies to Emerge, Progress, and Succeed” (STEPS) initiative began in fall 2012 as a collaboration between Academic Affairs, Academic Support Services, and Residential Life as an effort to increase the persistence and retention of residential students.  The student profile of those students who are primarily focused on and monitored is as follows:

First-year residential students enrolled in at least one Learning Support course at SGSC or who had a high school GPA of ≤ 2.5.  These “at risk” students who reside on campus are targeted because of proximity, ease of staff contact, and high percentage of Pell-grant recipients and learning support requirements.

Ms. Amber Wheeler
Academic Support Director
amber.wheeler@sgsc.edu

The STEPS strategy involves numerous activities: student success workshops, Academic Success Center tutoring, STEM Center tutoring, academic coaching provided by faculty and staff members, course grade monitoring throughout the semester, and individual academic, personal, and disability counseling. 

A section of SGSC 1000, the first-year-experience course, was formed for first-year residential students meeting the STEPS student criteria and offered in fall 2014. This course was led by a team of instructors from the Division of Student Success, including the Vice President for Student Success, Director of Campus Life, and the Director of Academic Support.  In addition, the team of instructors served as academic coaches for the course enrollees.  Another cohort of STEPS-eligible students from fall 2013 was selected as a comparator group, since they had participated in non-STEPS sections of the SGSC 1000 first-year experience course, in order to generate data on the apparent effects of the STEPS intervention.  In fall 2015 there were two sections of the SGSC 1000 course for STEPS students, and again there are two STEPS sections in fall 2016.  The STEPS orientation class differs from other sections of the orientation class in that it is a skills-driven class focused on goal setting, time management, reading, writing, mathematics, and “soft” skills.  It also focuses on academic advising, academic standards, grade point average calculation, and other topics related to student success.

Metrics/Data Elements: 

1. fall to spring persistence rate for fall STEPS cohort compared to fall to spring persistence rate for fall non-STEPS first-time freshman residential cohort;
2. fall to fall retention rate for fall STEPS cohort compared to fall to fall retention rate for non-STEPS first-time freshman residential cohort;
3. fall term grade point average for STEPS cohort compared to fall term grade point average for non-STEPS first-time freshman residential cohort;
4. fall term percent of STEPS cohort in good standing at the end of fall term compared to the fall term percent of non-STEPS first-time freshman residential cohort in good standing;
5. course success rates for fall term for the comparator groups;
6. spring term grade point averages for the comparator groups;
7. spring term percent of comparator groups’ students in good standing;
8. spring term course success rates for the comparator groups.

Baseline measures for all eight metric/data elements above come from the performance of the fall 2013 entering cohort of non-STEPS residential students—those students whose academic performance was not affected by the STEPS strategies initiated with the fall 2014 entering cohort.  All baseline data can be found in Table O. The baseline measures are as follows: 

1. fall 2013 to spring 2014 baseline persistence rate:  87.50% persisted;
2. fall 2013 to fall 2014 baseline retention rate: 48.96% were retained;
3. the fall 2013 baseline grade point average is 1.85;
4. a baseline of 78.13% of students were in good standing at the end of fall term 2013;
5. the baseline course success rate for fall term 2013 is 67%;
6. the spring term 2014 baseline grade point average is 1.51;
7. a baseline of 46.43% of students were in good standing at the end of spring term 2014;
8. the baseline course success rate for spring term 2014 is 50.13%.

All progress data can be found in Table O.   

1. The fall to spring persistence rates for the STEPS cohorts are 88.89% (fall 2014) and 87.50% (fall 2015).  These rates are extremely close to those for the non-STEPS baseline cohort, demonstrating that both groups had a good persistence rate from fall to spring.  
2. The fall 2014 to fall 2015 retention rate for the STEPS cohort is 63.04%, a 14% higher rate than that of the non-STEPS baseline cohort.  The fall 2015 STEPS cohort retention rate of 43.75%, a 19% decrease from the fall 2014 cohort rate, is an indicator of the necessity for new leadership and strategy stabilization.
3. The grade point averages for the STEPS cohorts are 2.12 (fall 2014) and 1.99 (fall 2015), both of which are higher than the 1.85 for the non-STEPS baseline group. 
4. STEPS students remained in good standing at rates of 73.33% (fall 2014) and 71.88% (fall 2015), slightly below the rates for the non-STEPS cohort (78.13%); however, as is demonstrated in the data for #7 below, by the end of a full academic year the STEPS cohort far out-performed the non-STEPS baseline cohort in terms of remaining in good standing. 
5. The course success rates for the STEPS cohorts are 67.74% (fall 2014) and 68.42% (fall 2015), rates quite comparable to those for the non-STEPS baseline cohort (67%); however, as is the case with end-of-academic-year good standing rates, #8 below demonstrates that by the end of a full academic year the STEPS cohort far out-performed the non-STEPS baseline cohort in terms of course success rates. 
6. The spring term grade point averages of STEPS students are 2.30 (fall 2014 cohort) and 1.89 (fall 2015 cohort), well above those of the non-STEPS baseline cohort (1.51).  
7. The percent of STEPS students in good standing at the end of a full academic year is 75% for the fall 2014 cohort and 60.71% for the fall 2015 cohort, well above the 46.43% for the non-STEPS baseline cohort. 
8. The course success rates for STEPS students at the end of a full academic year are 72.14% for the fall 2014 cohort and 60.93% for the fall 2015 cohort, well above the 50.13% for the non-STEPS baseline cohort. 

The interim measures of progress demonstrate that, for the most part, the STEPS cohorts have been performing at a level above the baseline performance.  “Success” for each of the eight measures of progress above is defined as follows: 

1. a fall to spring persistence rate of 89% for the fall 2017 STEPS cohort;
2. a fall to fall retention rate of 70% for the fall 2017 STEPS cohort;
3. a fall term grade point average of 2.15 for the fall 2017 STEPS cohort;
4. 79% of the fall 2017 STEPS cohort in good standing at the end of the fall 2017 term;
5. a fall 2017 course success rate of 70% for the fall 2017 STEPS cohort;
6. a spring term 2018 grade point average of 2.30 for the fall 2017 STEPS cohort. 
7. 75% of the fall 2017 STEPS cohort in good standing at the end of spring term 2018;
8. a spring term 2018 course success rate of 70% for the fall 2017 STEPS cohort.

1. This strategy has been standardized and provided consistent leadership to address the downward trend in STEPS cohort course success and retention rates, fall 2014 to fall 2015.  
2. There must be a great deal of coordination and communication among those working on this strategy, both of which appear to be in place for fall 2016 at no additional cost to SGSC.

Use intrusive academic advising as a means of increasing student progression, retention, and graduation—through advisor training, mentoring, use of DegreeWorks, program mapping, a first-year experience course advising module, and ongoing assessment of advising

Provide intrusive advising to keep students on track to graduate; decrease excess credits on the path to getting a degree.

SGSC believes that academic advising is a very significant factor contributing to college completion.  Academic advising has always been a responsibility of the faculty, and the institution’s college completion agenda calls for enhancing faculty responsibility.  It also calls for educating students about academic advising and making use of the DegreeWorks technological tool that can be employed by both faculty advisors and student advisees.  SGSC’s significant at-risk and Pell grant student population needs accurate and helpful course selection advice and needs a solid grasp of the advising process as a learning tool to facilitate academic success.  Although usable student data related to the consolidation of former South Georgia College and former Waycross College has been problematic for students matriculating prior to fall 2013, the further we move from that term the more functional DegreeWorks has become.  Also, prior to the completion initiative the institution had not assessed academic advising in any fashion.  Now there is a very deliberate and ongoing process of both faculty and student training, participating in, and assessing the academic advising process.

Dr. Richard Reiman
Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs
rreiman@sgsc.edu

During spring semester 2014, an academic advising task force under the leadership of the VPAA became involved in a number of activities with consulting support from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).

1. New advising vision and mission statements, as well as guiding values, goals, and outcomes for academic advising, were created.
2. A seven session academic advisement module was completed for the college’s first-year experience course, SGSC 1000, a course in which all first-time, full-time students enroll each semester.  Goals, student learning outcomes, and assessment measures for this module were also created.  One focus of the advisement module is to help students understand their own roles and responsibilities in degree completion.
3. During the major orientation and registration days, academic advising, financial aid processes, and registration take place in one location to keep students from having to trek across campus for various services.
4. All academic program maps have been revised so that students have a ready guide for program completion.  These maps were recognized by the USG Academic Affairs staff for their quality and serve as models for the USG.
5. Advising “tip sheets” have been created for academic programs in specialized areas, such as pre-nursing, STEM pathways, and education; and information sheets on learning support policies and rules are available.
6. “15-to-Finish” is being promoted through a three-pronged approach:  distribution to students and faculty of a bar-coded brochure linked to an information video; the addition of a “15-to-Finish” logo on every course registration form; and the training of faculty advisors to define “15-to-Finish” in terms of program completion rather than course enrollment.
7. Revision of the assignment method for matching students with faculty advisors continues.
8. Development and implementation of assessment tools for advising continues.  A student and faculty advisor survey assessing numerous aspects of the SGSC advising process was administered to both students and faculty beginning fall semester 2014 through fall semester 2016.  The most current survey data available is for fall 2015.
9. A student opinion survey on the academic advising module in the first-year experience orientation course was administered in the fall semesters 2015 and 2016 (data from the latter not yet available).
10. Training and mentoring opportunities in advising for faculty members have been established, including opportunities prior to orientation and registration sessions, as well as throughout the academic year.

Metrics/Data Elements:  The USG CCG metrics most closely aligned with academic advising are the metrics employed, as reflected in the appended data tables.

1. one-year retention rate for first-time full-time freshmen;
2. percentage of students enrolling in 15 or more credit hours;
3. percentage of students successfully completing 15 or more credit hours;
4. three-year graduation rates for first-time full-time associate degree-seeking freshmen;
5. degrees conferred by degrees offered.

1. The baseline one-year retention rate for FTFT freshmen is 48.63% for fall 2013 (Table P). 
2. The baseline percentage of students enrolling in 15 or more credit hours is 21.33% in fall 2013 (Table Q). 
3. The baseline percentage of students successfully completing 15 or more credit hours is 46.99% for fall 2013 (Table R). 
4. The three-year graduation rate baseline is 9.99% for the fall 2011 cohort (Table S). 
5. The baseline for degrees conferred by degrees offered is 266 for FY2014 (Table T).  This baseline year is chosen in order to reflect realistically the newly-consolidated institution, rather than a melding of data for two formerly separate institutions.

1. The one-year retention rate for FTFT freshmen for fall 2014 is 51.65%, a 3% increase over the baseline (Table P).  
2. The percentage of students enrolling in 15 or more credit hours for fall 2016 is 24.14%, a 2.8% increase over the baseline (Table Q). 
3. The percentage of students successfully completing 15 or more credit hours for spring 2016 is 57.21%, a 10% increase over the baseline (Table R). 
4. The three-year graduation rate for the fall 2012 cohort is 11.71%, a 1.7% increase over the baseline (Table S). 
5. The number of degrees conferred by degrees offered is 326 for FY 2016, a 60% increase over the baseline (Table T).  A summary of metrics of success with baseline and actual data can be found in Table V.

1. a one-year retention rate for FTFT freshmen of 55% for fall 2017;
2. 30% of students enrolling in 15 or more credit hours for fall 2017;
3. 60% of students successfully completing 15 or more credit hours for spring 2017;
4. a three-year graduation rate for the fall 2015 cohort of 18%;
5. a number of degrees conferred by degrees offered of 360 for FY 2018

In addition to the USG ADC census, USG Retention Rate Reports, and SGSC Banner data discussed here and to be found in the appended tables, the most current locally-developed student opinion survey on the academic advising module in the first-year experience orientation course, administered in the fall semester 2015, reveals the following additional information:  (a) 86% of students agree or strongly agree that they have declared an academic pathway among the SGSC programs of study; (b) 92% of students agree or strongly agree that they know the course requirements for their degree program; (c) 65% of students agree or strongly agree that they know how to generate a DegreeWorks audit for their entire path to graduation; (d) 95% of students agree or strongly agree that they know the name and location of their academic advisor; (e) 89% of students agree or strongly agree that they know the general education learning outcomes of the SGSC core curriculum; (f) 90% of students agree or strongly agree that they know the differences between the math and science requirements for STEM and non-STEM programs of study; (g) 95% of students agree or strongly agree that they know how to be prepared when meeting with their academic advisor; (h) 85% of students agree or strongly agree that they are competent in using D2L components.

1. Due to the significant number of “at-risk” students the College serves, it may not always be in the best interest of the student to enroll for 15 credit hours each semester.  For the past six semesters an average of only half of all students enrolled in 15 hours successfully completed 15 hours, although success is increasing slightly over time (Table R).  A study of this phenomenon, its implications, and future steps is underway.
2. Average excess credit hours per fiscal year for each SGSC degree program can be determined using data in Table U to assist SGSC in addressing that issue by degree program.
3. Students who are part of a clearly-defined cohort, such as is the case with ASN and BSN students, and who identify themselves as part of a cohort, are undoubtedly more likely to be retained and to graduate than would otherwise be the case.  Consequently, it would be ideal to discover ways to create a community identity for each incoming freshman cohort.
4. Once again the past year’s experience has demonstrated that effective academic advising and student progress monitoring are absolutely essential to student success, particularly for at-risk students.