student success: advising interventions that lead...
TRANSCRIPT
Student Success: Advising Interventions that Lead to
Persistence Karen Sullivan-Vance, Ed.M.
Director, Academic Advising and Learning Center
Western Oregon University
Why do some students succeed in graduating from university and other students fail? Theorists from Astin to Tinto have researched this question for decades. Over the years quality academic advising has been listed as having a role in helping students persist towards degrees. This presentation will cover a case study of how one university combined academic advising, technology and educational interventions to help students persist towards academic success.
Abstract
Introductions
Overview of the state of Higher Education
Western Oregon University and Retention/Persistence Issues
Development of the Wolf Connection System
Ongoing Educational Interventions
Challenges, successes and results
Questions
Introductions and Overview
Higher Education
Academic advising is the only structured activity on the campus in which all students have the opportunity for
on-going, one-to-one interaction with a concerned representative of the institution.
Wes Habley
Academic Advising
The view then-Students failed, not institutions.
Now-recognition that there are multiple factors that impact student retention, from what the institution does to what students bring with them when they begin higher education.
Retention
Student Integration Model
Students who socially integrate into the campus increase their commitment, and are more likely to graduate.
Student attrition linked to both formal and informal academic experiences, and social integration.
Degree of success a student has in pursuit of higher education influences the level of commitment to the institution, academic and career goals.
Tinto
Students are in “a period of passage between the old and the new, before the full adoption of new norms and patterns of behavior and after the onset of separation from the old ones”
Vincent Tinto
Student Persistence
4 year public liberal arts
Founded in 1856
6200 students
52% of entering students
are first-generation
Large Latino/a population
Significant Deaf population
Western Oregon University
Shared Model
Mandatory Advising
Developmental
Advisor Training
Proactive (intrusive)
Advising
Academic Advising at WOU
Academically Underprepared
Individual Risk Factors
Familial Risk Factors
Social Risk Factors (Miller and Murray,2005)
Millennial Generation (Keeling, 2003)
Students with Academic Risk
Student Success Specialist
Wolf Connection Systems
RFI’s from staff
Collaboration across campus
to provide wrap around services
and referrals
Student Success Initiative
Wolf Connection System
Early Alert
Academic Advising
Tutoring Commun-ication
Request for Interventions
Student Success Specialist Reaches out to Students
Provides resources, referrals and helps students to make decisions about their academics
Follows-up with students
Early Alert
Academic advising that is targeted to the student is provided
Specific information on dropping courses or retaking courses
Online and in person educational interventions for students at academic risk
On-line advisor notes
Academic Advising
SSS often recommends tutoring for students that are struggling in courses
Free for students
Up to two hours a week, per subject
Tutoring
Ongoing communication with students
Communication with faculty and staff regarding the RFI’s
SSS reaches out to the academic departments and shows them the results
Communication
Students who received interventions had a success rates upwards of 10% higher
Students on Academic Warning dropped 32%
Students on Academic Probations 28%
Students on Academic Suspension dropped 30%
Financial Savings from Interventions
Results
Program expansion across campus
Hire a second Student Success Specialist
Continue assessment to determine which interventions are the most effective
Add short videos to WCS
Next Steps
There are no insignificant conversations.
Dr. Larry Roper
Final Thoughts
Habley, W. R. (1994).Key Concepts in Academic Advising. In Summer Institute on Academic Advising Session Guide(p.10). Available from the National Academic Advising Association,Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.
Keeling, S. (2003). Advising the Millennial Generation. NACADA Journal23
(1&2) pp. 30-36.
Miller, M.A. & Murray, C. (2005).Advising academically underprepared
students. Retrieved from NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources Web Site: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/Academically-un
Tinto, V. (1975). Dropouts from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent literature. A Review of Educational Research, 45, 89-125. Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the first year of college. NACADA Journal, 19(2), 5-9. Tritelli, David. (Winter 2003) From the Editor. Association of American
Colleges and Universities Peer Review. Retrieved fromhttp://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-wi03/pr-wi03editor.cfm
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