Supplemental Updates
Beyond the detailed account of the institutional progress in the Momentum Plan for 2023, it is important to highlight that the College’s strength with respect to student success is not centered around this subset of strategies and activities, but it is a cultural commitment to supporting every student, every time, which is a golden thread woven throughout all college operations. In May 2023, this commitment was accentuated through the College-wide Student Success Summit – an event where faculty and staff came together to share ideas, to collaborate with colleagues, and to have strategic conversations on how to promote student success. Coordinated by core members of the Student Success and Completion team, this event resulted in numerous ideas and strategies to pursue, but most importantly, it unified participants around a common strategic purpose.
The Student Success and Completion team continues to meet, now in the form of workgroups with detailed action plans around student success, engagement, and guidance. Other strategies and activities not included in this report continue to be adjusted and revised to maintain a proactive approach to supporting students, and include (among many others):
- Intrusive and proactive success monitoring campaigns:
- Course engagement monitoring during the first week of classes,
- Attendance monitoring during the second week,
- Early alert reports during weeks 3-4,
- Midterm course attendance and engagement evaluation during weeks 7-8,
- Academic risk assessment during weeks 9-10,
- Advising and registration support throughout the term, and
- Weekly “Always Alert” referrals.
- Through various communities of practice and engagements led by the Center for Teaching and Learning, faculty often engage in discussion and activities (like book groups) to promote best practices and identify opportunities to promote student success.
- Administrative processes and procedures are regularly evaluated to ensure that they are not presenting roadblocks to students, and are helping the institution deliver a seamless and supportive student experience.
Observations and Next Steps
Through the work of the Student Success and Completion Team, the College has adjusted numerous processes to improve the transition to college, by reducing barriers, providing guidance, and promoting a sense of belonging through more supportive language in all communications. Additionally, intrusive monitoring campaigns and protocols have been devised and implemented to keep students on track to progress and graduate. However, while all the changes implemented in the last couple of years have been intuitively positive to promote student success, our fall-to-fall retention rate for First-time Full-time Freshman is still at 52.6% (Fall 2022), which is just a marginal improvement from the post-pandemic rate of 52.2% (Fall 2020) and far from the retention rate prior to the pandemic which was at 60.6% (Fall 2019). This is a concern recognized across the institution and faculty and staff have embraced this as a challenge to address collectively and from every interaction, process, and activity.
Institutional displays of commitment to promoting students success, like the creation of the Annual Student Success Summit, the creation of the Student Success and Completion Team, the creation of the ENDEAVOR Center for High Impact Practices, the establishment of First-Year Experience Course (DECK 1000), and the integration of career and academic planning as the Quality Enhancement Plan, are all indicators that the College continues to be a dynamic institution working to address emerging challenges and student needs. From this continuous improvement culture, the College will continue to evaluate processes, procedures, and structural elements of the educational enterprise to ensure that students are challenged in the classroom by the rigor of academics and not impacted by structural or motivational obstacles.
