An Early Alert Student Success Program

An Early Alert Student Success Program

Presented by:Dr. Sharon Blackman and Angie Gomez

Dallas County Community College District

Innovations 2013Dallas, Texas

March 12, 20132:30-3:30pm

The Journey to Success (JTS) program was created by DCCCD to help

students achieve their academic and career goals by CONNECTING students

with services and information they need to be successful.

• A major contributor to student success is to make students feel personally connected with college.

• JTS is a free service that teams students with a Success Coach.

• Success Coaches are trained to help students identify and overcome obstacles on their path to success.

• JTS is a collaborative approach between faculty and college employees.

• JTS leverages DCCCD’s workforce attributes to help students get connected.

About DCCCD

Dallas Colleges Online – provides distance learning services to all seven colleges!

Seven Separately Accredited CollegesBrookhaven College*Cedar Valley College*Eastfield College*El Centro CollegeMountain View College*North Lake College*Richland College

Community Center and *Community Campuses

Cedar Valley College Center at Cedar HillEastfield College Pleasant Grove CampusEl Centro College Bill J. Priest CampusEl Centro College West Campus

North Lake College North CampusNorth Lake College South CampusNorth Lake College West CampusRichland College Garland Campus

DCCCD Student Profile Fall 2012DISTRICTHead Count……………………..74,984 (100%)Part-Time…………………………..55,462 (74%)Full-Time……………………………19,522 (26.0)Male……………………………….31,962 (42.5%)Female……………………..….…43,122 (57.5%)Average Student Age……………..…………..27

ETHNICITYHispanic…………………………………26,344 (35.1%)Non-Hispanic…………………………44,794 (59.7%)Unknown/Not Reported……..…….3,846 (5.1%)

RACEWhite…………………………….…23,919 (31.9%)African American………….….18,887 (25.2%)Asian/Pacific Islander…………..6,455 (8.6%)American Indian/Alaskan..........655 (0.9%)Unknown/Not Reported….25,065 (33.4%)

Unduplicated Counts

Events That Spurred JTS

• Achieving the Dream

• Board Support and Funding

• District-wide Initiatives

Initial Ahas• Need to EMPOWER all students• Retention is everyone’s responsibility• Need more collaborative efforts• Colleges duplicating efforts• Need ongoing and sustainable processes• Need more IT support• Personal obstacles also affect retention

Development of JTS• July 2009 - Demo of Colleague’s Retention Alert (CRA) module• ENLIGHTENED DCCCD Executive Staff about the tool (CRA) that

could “connect” faculty and other employees.• Requested names from each location to serve on RA team:

1. Faculty2. Enrollment Service Personnel3. Retention Personnel4. IT

• Established Unrealistic Implementation Goal – January 2010

Connecting through collaboration!

Development of JTS (cont.)• Team met weekly beginning September 2009• SHARED current processes at each college• Determined commonalities• Established a workflow• Agreed upon a new workflow for entire district

• Assignment of cases to Success Coaches• RA categories, case types, and closure reasons• Last day to make a referral

Designing the Program• Identified JTS Players:

1.Retention Coordinators2.Contributors3.Success Coaches

• Identified Support Needs:1.Training2.Assessment & Evaluations3.Reporting

Connecting students to college success!

Retention CoordinatorRole

The Retention Alert Coordinator manages the Datatel Retention Alert Pilot Program at the campus level and executes the process from start to finish, including initiating meetings, supervising & mentoring coaches, managing changes, organizing training efforts, and keeping administrators abreast of changes and progress made. The Retention Coordinator oversees the progress of the pilot and will assist in institutionalizing the program.

Responsibilities

• Manage administrative processes at the college level.• Manage changes related the Retention Alert process.• Track successful and unsuccessful processes.• Recruit, select, supervise and train coaches.• Assign security and access levels to system users.• Manage the assigning & reassigning of coaches.

Skills

Leadership ability, working knowledge of Datatel Colleague and Retention Alert, effective organizational & multitasking skills, good interpersonal & communication skills, analytical skills (i.e. ability to understand, interpret, and communicate retention data), strong knowledge of available campus and/or community resources.

ContributorRole

The Faculty determine success factors and initiate academic alerts utilizing Datatel’s Retention Alert module. They open cases and contribute additional case types when needed.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for addressing academic difficulties directly with student first. • Utilizes eConnect’s (WebAdvisor) Retention Alert Menu only when additional support is needed.

RA is not intended to replace initial interventions by faculty.•Consider student’s privacy when entering comments on an early alert referral because comments

are subject to disclosure and are often shared with the student.•Keeping Success Coaches up-to-date with student’s progress in class

Skills

Strong commitment to student success, persistence, and retention. Ability to use eConnect (WebAdvisor). Knowledge of or willingness to learn about campus resources.

Success CoachRoleSuccess Coaches help students effectively navigate the first semesters of their college experience. The coach is responsible for maintaining contact with assigned students, providing resources, and helping them effectively problem-solve by presenting various alternatives and solutions. This is a volunteer role and it is available to all full- and part-time DCCCD employees. Approval from a supervisor may be necessary.

Responsibilities•Using Datatel Retention Alert, respond to electronic “alerts” sent by faculty members.•Contact assigned students via email to address the faculty member’s concerns •Telephone and face-to-face contacts are encouraged as additional forms of contact.•Assess the students’ need for support.•Refer students to support services, as needed.•Document relevant information as it pertains to the students’ case files.•Provide follow up communication with faculty and other staff, if referral assistance is needed.•Under circumstances when a student must be reassigned, use RA to surrender the case.

SkillsDesire to work with students experiencing academic challenges, good interpersonal & communication skills, effective organizational & multitasking skills, working knowledge of the Retention Alert module, strong knowledge of available campus and/or community resources.

Training Design• Establishing needs

• Available training tools

• Designing the training program

• Delivery of the training program

Training Video

Focus groups,Surveys,

Team discussions

Mid-semester pulse check

Assessment and Evaluation

End of semester

evaluation

Set goals for next term

JTS Path 2010Spring – Pilot

• Faculty teaching developmental courses

• Two section in each area of developmental: Reading, Writing and Math

• Assignment on alphabetical sliding scale

• Success Coaches varied by college

JTS Path 2011Fall & Spring – Expansions

• Fall 2011 – Expansion – Expanded courses to high risk college-level

courses– Assignment by each alphabet– Expanded Success Coaches

• Spring 2011 - Expansion– Opened it up for Student Self Referral

• Fall 2011 - Expansion

Expanded courses – determined by college

Allowed one college to pilot course initiated cases verses faculty initiated case openings

Allowed college to close cases at will.

JTS Path 2012Spring & Fall – Expansions

• Spring 2012 - ExpansionOpen to all faculty (including adjunct)Open invitation for Success Coach (excludes part-time)

Allowed colleges to pilot cohort initiated cases Added case type for Self-referrals (reporting purposes)

Changed case assignments for one college – course driven verses alphabet

• Fall 2012Add a few more cohorts

Recruitment Activities

Wow - Week of Welcome

Class Visits

E-mail Blast

JTS E-mail BlastCOURTESY NOTICE FROM THE DALLAS COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT***PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS AUTO-NOTIFICATION MESSAGE*** Dear @XPST.D06.STUDENT.NAME , Attending college is an exciting time in life, but it can also be overwhelming trying to balance your course work, a job, and family responsibilities. As a college student, things don't always go as planned. That is why the DCCCD has many services to support students to identify and overcome obstacles during the pursuit of their academic career. A new program, Journey to Success, is a free service which teams you with a Success Coach who can help you:

**Identify and solve challenges that are keeping you from achieving your dreams. **Connect you with college services you need to be successful, ie.tutoring. **Create plans that effectively balance your schedule. **Strengthen your study and time management skills.

You may be referred by your instructor to Journey to Success or you can request a Success Coach. Visit www.dcccd.edu/JourneyToSuccess for more information and a list of Journey to Success Coordinators at each DCCCD college. (Note: If you are viewing this e-mail through eConnect's "My Messages" feature, please copy and paste the above URL into your browser to access this site.) We are delighted to have you participate in the program and look forward to supporting you on your personal journey to success! Respectfully, The Journey to Success Team

What We Discovered• Success Coaches - Limit assignments to no

more than five cases.• Most students do not respond!• FTF meetings most effective.• Once connection is made, obstacles become

manageable.• Self-Referrals - exceptional option for students.• Great professional development for employees.

Self-ReferralsStudent requests…• “I look forward to working with the program. I will need a

tutor for my COSC 1415 class. I am going to reach out to the tutor for our class. However, I can tell I am going to need plenty of help.”

• “I want a success coach. I am juggling school, work, and chemo. I am working towards an associate degree in nursing.”

 No red flags!

Self-Referrals (cont.)

Significance..

I didn't realize until today after our meeting the significance of having students do self referrals. I would like to share with the team 3 students that were in crisis and had to be referred to Counseling Services. I didn't document what was told to me in Datatel because of FERPA but did inform their coaches that they will need extra attention.

• Student #1- Had a 6 year old daughter to die last fall. Stay-at-home mom whose husband doesn’t want her to return to school. She is attending college to refocus her energy on school and not on her daughter's death. Lately, she had been having thoughts of joining her daughter in heaven. Asked her what she wanted from a JTS coach and she indicated that she wanted someone to be proud of her efforts (she had a 3.4 GPA) and just to encourage her to continue with her educational pursuits.

• Student #2- Older student with one leg amputated due to diabetes. Having transportation issues since he can’t drive himself to school. Was becoming discourage and depressed. Ask what he wanted from a JTS coach and he indicated that he just wanted someone to encourage him not to give up-his GPA was 2.9

• Student #3- Young student that had been out of prison for about a year. Was discouraged with FA; had drug addiction issues; feeling depressed and just didn't feel like they belonged in a college atmosphere. Asked what she wanted from a JTS coach and she indicated that she just wanted someone to say that she belong here and could do it.

What do you want from a JTS Coach?

Professional Development• It was a great experience. I couldn’t provide enough

resources to my student because student had a death in the family and had to situate everything with the family.

• My interaction with the student was very helpful. I found myself learning a lot about other areas that I was not familiar with. The student felt comfortable coming to me to ask for help on a consistent basis, and even though I could not answer every question the student asked. I made sure that I found out the answer for the student, instead of sending student from office to office. I felt almost like a liaison between student and services.

Measurements of EffectivenessMain objective is connecting students to college success…

Quantitative Measures:Fall 2011:

74 % Persisted to Spring 2012

Qualitative Measures

http://vimeo.com/50983365

JTS Stats

Fall 2012

Total cases = 1210

Females = 59%

Males = 41%

9% refused services 8% Withdrew;8% Unable to Locate

JTS Influences – Flows Two Ways

• Texas Completes (Completion By Design)

• New Advising Model – Academic Advising Syllabus, including Advisor and Student expectations

• Competency-Based Learning– Advance to next level after mastery of a concept– Verses advancement after completion of

traditional course

JTS Influences – Flows Two Ways (cont.)

• Completion Agenda– Program of Study (HB 3025)– Clear pathways to completion– Automatic Graduation– Reverse Transfer– Gainful employment

• Faculty Best Practices: From Day One and 16 Week Plan

Future Plans• Expand cohorts and batch opening of cases

– Auto open cases for JTS students enrolled next term on Academic Probation

– Review services required to support student success: tutoring services, outside organizations

• More incentives for Success Coaches– Nominations for Coach of the Year– Request full-time position for Coordinators– Increase opportunities to earn staff development

hours

Future Plans (cont.)• Expand Communications

– Designated JTS areas– JTS socials

• Diagnostic Testing– Non-cognitive behavior testing for FTIC

Questions?

Thank you!For more information, contact:

Dr. Sharon [email protected]

Angie Gomez [email protected]

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