Supporting student success is the major focus of all the momentum initiatives at MGA. By building efficiencies into our advising processes, offering peer mentoring to our students, and enhancing our academic support resources, the student success teams that include our professional academic advisors, the Student Success Centers staff, and the academic success coaches, continue to work towards this goal. This activity closely aligns with the following MGA’s ASPIRE/POISED goals: 1) To increase the number of qualified applicants for the Pre-licensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) programs, by implementing targeted recruitment, outreach, student support, and retention initiatives, thereby ensuring a robust pool of candidates for admission (POISED/ASPIRE initiative); 2) To improve the retention rates of full-time, first-time (FTFT) residential students by implementing comprehensive support systems and initiatives that facilitate their academic and personal success throughout their college journey (ASPIRE only); 3) To improve the success rates of students in ENGL 1101 by implementing targeted strategies that enhance their comprehension, engagement, and performance in the course (POISED/ASPIRE); 4) To optimize the outcomes of the First-Year Experience (FYE) and Knights Academy programs by implementing targeted strategies to enhance academic progress, facilitate general registration, and promote registration for residential students, thereby fostering their transition to college and ensuring holistic success (POISED/ASPIRE).
Some of the activities executed to address these initiatives include:
- Targeted outreach campaigns for advising, and tutoring provided by the Academic Success Coaches and the advising team: outreach campaigns are executed through emails, texting, phone calls, on-campus pop-up events, yard signs with QR codes, and visits to classrooms and residence halls to promote tutoring. In Fall’24, sending regular messaging through Salesforce has also been adopted to reach out to students on early alert, probation, or for encouraging registration.
- Timely training for new and continuing Advisors and the Academic Success Coaches: Professional development opportunities are provided through online training via D2L, one-on-one sessions, and regular face-to-face workshops. Training has also been offered on new guidelines for Core IMPACTS, and Degree Works Responsive.
- Strengthening collaboration between Advising, Student Success Centers, The Writing Center, Mathematics Academic Resource Center, Center for Career and Leadership Development (CCLD), Financial Aid (FA), the Library, Athletics, Residential Life (RL), academic departments and faculty: By collaborating across divisions, the student success teams work to provide engagement opportunities to students through participation in orientation sessions, Student Success Festivals showcasing academic and non-academic support resources, vision board parties, study halls, workshops, individual appointments, and pop-ups.
- Building success plans for students who are at risk: Individualized Academic success plans are developed for students who are identified as being at high-risk, through regularly scheduled meetings between the success coaches and the students. Students in learning support, those beginning the term on probation, and those identified through faculty feedback early alert system are the focus of this initiative. Discussion is focused on student engagement, student performance in classes, motivation and mindset, resource availability for academic and non-academic support, any other financial or personal concerns that the student may highlight.
- Revising program maps to incorporate Core IMPACTS refresh: With assistance from the department Chairs, the Academic Advisors completed a full review and revision of program maps and plans of study for the 2024-25 academic year. These maps highlight milestones, prerequisites, recommendations to promote student engagement, summer semester availability to get ahead, and career connections. Maps also highlight the skills gained as they fulfill Core IMPACTS requirements that can be included in the students’ resume and LinkedIn profile, as well as reminders to apply for graduation. These program maps have been placed on the MGA website and made available for all students.
- Offering the ‘Emerging Knights Focus Groups’ for residential students on academic probation: this initiative has been modified to provide one-on-one sessions with the success coaches and two workshops for students each semester.
- Offering ‘Roundtable Peer Mentoring’ to all students across all campuses: MGA scaled the peer mentoring pilot into the ‘Roundtable Mentoring’ program that is being offered on all campuses. Peer mentors are offering study sessions in the residence halls and in the Student Success Centers for high-risk students and student athletes. Peer mentors provide academic support, referrals to the success team, orient students to campus and acclimate to college, and model good study skills. Peer mentors enhance campus presence by offering multiple student engagement opportunities, for example, hosting ‘Knights Snack and Succeed’, ‘Plane Talk’, Spring Fling, Friendsgiving fair, hosting student panels e.g. student leadership panel, etc.
- Implementing Salesforce to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of advising and success coaching: Communications through Salesforce have been streamlined, and it allows for effective student contact tracking. Salesforce training has been provided to all advisors and the student success staff that form the success team. These staff members open cases in Salesforce for students who need assistance for various reasons including registration, changing majors, etc. and also use Salesforce to follow through and track students who are at high-risk and need assistance.
- Identification of high-risk students through Early Alert: The Early Alert system has been transitioned over to a Faculty Feedback form implemented through SSB9 allowing faculty to provide feedback on their students on academic (low grades, absenteeism, lack of engagement) as well as non-academic concerns (financial aid, job assistance, homelessness, etc.) throughout the semester. The information flows into Salesforce as an alert that is addressed by the advisors and the success coaches to support students.
KPIs:
- Number of trainings planned and facilitated for the student success team
- Number of projects planned in collaboration with other departments
- Percentage of students beginning the semester on probation and completing the semester in good standing
- Percentage of students on probation who persisted for next semester
- Percentage of students ending the term on probation
- Percentage of students on the early alert list who persisted for next semester
- Percentage of students on the early alert for low grades successful in all coursework
Baseline measure from 2023-24:
- Five training sessions have been provided for the academic advisors in fall’23 and two training sessions have been provided as of Feb 2024.
- Five activities have been completed and another two planned in collaboration with other departments as of Feb 2024.
- 35% of students who started fall’23 on probation ended the semester in good standing
- 41.5% of all students on probation at the end of fall’23 persisted for spring’24.
- Of the total number of students enrolled in fall’23, 9.2% ended the semester on probation
- 69 % of students on the early alert report for fall’23 persisted for spring’24.
- Of the tutored students flagged for low grades on the Early Alert report, 54.2% in fall’23 successfully completed the specific course on the early alert as compared to 41.1% of non-tutored students in fall’23.
Current/most recent data (for each KPI):
- 11 training sessions were provided for the academic advisors in 2023-24
- 22 activities were completed in collaboration with other departments in 2023-24.
- 132 students who started spring’24 on probation ended the semester in good standing, as compared to 120 in fall’23, a 10% increase.
- 191 students on probation at the end of spring’24 persisted for fall’24 as compared to 144 students that persisted from fall’23 to spring’24, an increase of 32.6%.
- Of the total number of undergraduate students enrolled in spring’24, 5.8 % ended the semester on probation, as compared to 6.2% in spring’23, a decrease of 0.4%
- 49.7% of students on the early alert report for spring’24 persisted for fall’24 as compared to 56% that persisted from spring’23 to fall’23.
- Of the tutored students flagged for low grades on the Early Alert report, 67.5% in spring’24 successfully completed the specific course on the early alert as compared to 42.8% in spring’23, an increase of 24.7%.
Goal or targets (for each KPI):
- Provide two training sessions per year for the student success team
- Collaborate with other departments on two events/projects per semester
- Increase the number of students on probation who complete the semester in good academic standing by 2%
- Decrease the number of students who end the semester on probation by 0.5%
- Increase the persistence of students on probation from semester to semester by 2%
- Increase the success rates of students reported for low grades on the early alert report by 2%
Outreach to students:
Targeted outreach efforts to promote student success, retention, and timely registration are being executed in AY 2024-25. The visibility of Academic Advisors and Success Coaches has increased across all the campuses. Success coaches visit the residence halls to share information about academic support services available. Special attention is being given to MGA’s athletes to promote registration and retention. Peer mentors also host study sessions in select residential halls and participate in events hosted by other departments. Through emails, phone calls, and texting, focused communications are sent out to students on academic probation to provide support and referrals as needed for academic success. These include referrals to the Student Success Centers, Mathematics Academic Resource Center (MARC), and The Writing Center (TWC) for tutoring.
Early Alert:
MGA met its goal of supporting high-risk students on the early alert report for low grades to successfully complete the course requirements. Of the tutored students flagged for low grades on the Early Alert report, 67.5% in spring’24 successfully completed the specific course on the early alert as compared to 42.8% in spring’23, an increase of 24.7%. The in-house Early Alert system was administered at week three in the semester during 2023-24. Faculty reported students who were at-risk due to no engagement in class, low grades, or absenteeism. The report generated was shared with the Academic Advisors and the Success Coaches to conduct focused outreach and encourage the students to engage and utilize the resources offered. The Coaches worked with students listed on the Early Alert report to develop success plans and regularly monitored progress. These efforts showed an increase in student engagement with tutoring resources and with the academic advisors. The Early Alert reporting system transitioned to a new process in fall’24 through SSB9, allowing faculty to provide input on any student concern using the Faculty Feedback form at any point in the semester.
Collaboration with other departments (Center for Career and Leadership Development, Financial Aid, and Residential Life):
The student success team is housed under Academic Affairs but works very closely with Financial Aid, The Center for Career and Leadership Development, Residence Life, Athletics and Admissions to plan and offer several engagement and informative events for students to help them overcome barriers and succeed. 22 events were offered in 2023-24 in collaboration with other departments/divisions. These collaborations are continuing and expanding in 2024-25.
Focus on high-risk students:
Any high-risk (Early Alert, Probation, Learning Support):
The ‘Roundtable Mentoring’ program hosted 36 academic and student life events in 2023-24 bringing in 676 attendees. During these events, mentors connected with students, while encouraging students to get more involved in the college experience. 95.6% of the students who received one-to-one mentoring in 2023-24 have been retained for Fall 2024. 93.9% of students receiving one-to-one mentoring were in good academic standing at the end of the semester. There are 20 mentors and 93 mentees in this program in fall’24.
Academic Probation:
- The student success team provides targeted outreach to students on academic probation at the beginning of the semester. This outreach strongly encourages students to utilize tutoring services so they can achieve good academic standing by the end of the term. Students on probation were identified early in the semester (week 2) and received an email sent via Salesforce to their MGA email. While the total number of undergraduate students who ended the spring’24 on probation decreased by 0.4% as compared to spring’23, MGA has seen a 2.2% decrease in the total number of undergraduate students who ended the spring semester on probation or suspension from spring’23 to spring’24.
Emerging Knights Focus Groups were offered to 122 residential students on probation on the Macon and Cochran campus on a weekly basis during 2023-24. Of those that attended, 47% of the Macon students and 54% of the Cochran students improved their semester GPA from the previous fall 23. 32% of the Macon students and 34% of the Cochran students were able to avoid academic suspension in spring’24. Student attendance and engagement with these sessions continued to remain a challenge inspite of multiple outreach efforts. For 2024-25, this initiative has been modified to offer one-on-one conversations between the students and the academic success coaches.
- Continue to expand the ‘Roundtable Peer Mentoring’ initiative
- Provide professional development opportunities for the success team
- Develop student success action plans for those at high-risk
- Plan several student engagement events involving other departments in student-friendly locations around the campuses
- Create an Advising Center in Macon
- Expand the use of Salesforce for communication, tracking, and student engagement
Challenges
- Staff turnover
- Student Engagement
- Communication gaps
- Networking with faculty
Support Needed:
- Sharing of best practices across the USG
