Helping Students on Academic Probation to Persist...
Transcript of Helping Students on Academic Probation to Persist...
Helping Students on Academic
Probation to Persist and Succeed
Robert M. Kurland, Ph.D.
Associate Dean, Office of Academic Services
Instructor / Assistant Research Professor, Department of Psychology
Rutgers University – Newark
Dijha R. Allen, Ed.M.
Academic Advisor/Probation Coordinator
Office of Academic Services
Rutgers University – Newark
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College Student Success
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Overview
• The Office of Academic Services
• At-risk students
• Previous practices
• Recent practices
• Current initiatives
– course development
• Future Directions
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Office of Academic Services
• Staff size and structure (teams)
• Responsibilities include:
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Academic Advisement Academic Integrity
Academic Probation & Dismissal Convocation
First Year Services Graduation Certification
Peer Advisor Program Pre-Professional Programs
Reenrollment Reinstatement
School-to-School Transfers Placement Testing
Transcript Evaluations Transfer Services
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Who we are
• The GAP Team
– Graduation and Academic Progress
• Retention and Attrition
• Probation
• Dismissal
• Graduation Certification
• Academic Progress
• Academic Integrity
• Junior and Senior Initiatives
• Special Programs
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Background
• As the practices in higher education are falling under more
scrutiny, colleges and universities are finding themselves
focusing more of their efforts on measurable variables
including retention and graduation rates.
• Students who end up on probation are less likely to be
retained and graduate as compared to students who remain in
good academic standing (Mathies, Gardner, & Bauer, 2006).
• “Low-hanging fruit”
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Probation students within NCAS and UC-N
Prior to 2010:
• Retention rate of 67% (overall student retention rate was 82.7%)
• 360 students on probation, we potentially lost 120 students
• @ $13,683 per student (per year, in-state tuition), RU-N lost over
$1.6 million dollars
• What could we do with $1.6 million?
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Past Practices
• Students on probation have long been an overlooked
population
• Few efforts and resources were used
– One staff member
• Sent letters
• Students were “required” to attend a “Probation Workshop”
• Not enough flexibility for non-traditional
• What do we do?
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Probation Mission
• The GAP Team strives to provide support and guidance to
students who are on academic probation.
• Our purpose is to make probation students feel like individuals,
address their academic, personal, and social concerns, and equip
them with information that will help them interpret university
regulations and policies and with the resources available to them.
• The GAP Team provides programmatic intervention that will allow
students to develop a sense of academic re-empowerment by
enhancing their abilities to foster communication skills, solve
problems, think critically, build relationships, and manage daily life
tasks.
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Probation Goals (PIE)
1. Prevent students from being on academic probation - Prevention
2. Reduce the number of students on probation - Intervention
3. Prevent students from returning to probation - Education
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Probation Objectives
• Provide students with the proper resources to assist them
with their academic progress.
• Articulate an in-depth understanding of their academic
position as it pertains to their probationary status.
• Identify possible roadblocks that contribute to their
probationary status.
• Develop a concrete action plan to address their probationary
status.
• Hold students accountable for their academic progression.
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What are the current criteria for academic probation ?
1. A cumulative grade-point average (G.P.A.) of less than 2.000
or
2. Two consecutive terms of a grade-point average (G.P.A.) of less than 2.000
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Additions to academic probation criteria
3. failure to successfully complete 60% of attempted credits within 7
years
4. failure to enroll in a composition or mathematics course, as
prescribed by the placement standards at the college and prior
course history, and continue to enroll each and every term until the
requirement is satisfied
5. failure to complete successfully any course after three attempts,
including those for which W grades are received.
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Survey results: Why are students on probation
1. Overcommitted (work, family obligations)
2. Poorly prepared (e.g. study skills, prep work)
3. Poor organization skills (poor time management)
4. Poor motivation
5. Wrong area of study
6. Can’t do the work
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Development of Academic Success course
• Why?
• Theoretical Influences
– Developmental
– Prescriptive
– Proactive (formerly
Intrusive)
– Learning Centered
– Appreciative Inquiry
– Strengths Based
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Development of Academic Success (online)
course
• Why online?
– Scheduling
– Technology
– Groups
• How did we develop an academically sound
pedagogically appropriate online course?
• “Hire” an Instructional Designer
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CONSIDERATIONS:
1. Student
• population
• academic tendencies
• academic behaviors
2. Interaction
• peer-peer
• instructor-student
• student-content
3. Content
• based on research on what
good students already do
• factor in survey responses
• develop learning outcomes
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Retrieve from Flickr by ted_major
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Design
Retrieved from Flickr by Will Scullin
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Course Menu
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MODULE ASSIGNMENTS DUE DATES
(no later than)
Academic
Advisement
Summary and Action Plan (x3) Meeting 1 by September
10, 2014
Meeting 2 if required by
your advisor
*Due date set by advisor
Meeting 3 between
October 27, 2014 and
November 14, 2014
Academic Success Workshop Quiz – To be completed
after the workshop
No later than
September 29, 2014
Rutgers Learning Center Workshop Reflective Journal
– To be completed after the workshop
No later than the week
of November 3, 2014
Course
Expectations
Syllabus Analysis & Course Appropriateness September 19, 2014
Time Management Mapping September 26, 2014
Academic
Support
Centers
Visit Learning Center, Writing Center, and Career
Development Center
October 3, 2014
Learning or Writing Center Utilization Assignment October 10, 2014
Career Exploration Assignment October 17, 2014
Academic
Integrity
Quizzes October 24, 2014
Self-
Assessment
Learning Strategies Reflective Journal October 31, 2014
Emotional Intelligence Reflective Journal November 7, 2014
Critical Thinking Reflective Journal November 14, 2014
Academic
Policies
Road ‘to’ and ‘off’ Probation Assignment November 21, 2014
End of
Course
Course Reflection Journal November 28, 2014
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Quantitative Results (so far…)
• GPA change
• Dismissal
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0.2828
-0.1426
-0.2000
-0.1500
-0.1000
-0.0500
0.0000
0.0500
0.1000
0.1500
0.2000
0.2500
0.3000
0.3500
All Probation non-Probation
Change in term GPA from Fall 2013 to Spring 2014
p = .000
*
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What about our Academic Success course?
Spring 2014
– 324 students on probation
– 118 (35%) enrolled in Academic Success (AS) course • of which 70 (59%) passed
• and 48 (41%) did not
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0.21
0.45
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
AS not enrolled AS enrolled
Probation student term GPA increase from FA13 to SP14
p = .039
*
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54.29%
45.63%
39.58% 40.00% 37.38%
25.00%
5.71%
16.99%
35.42%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
AS pass no AS AS no pass
SP14 probation results by Academic Success (AS) course enrollment and success
good standing %
probation %
dismissal %
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Qualitative Results (so far…)
• Better interaction with students
• More in-depth information
• Advisor meetings are more productive
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Student Assignment: Advisor Meeting
Summary & Plan 1
“I met with my advisor…I explained to her that the reason why I am on
probation is because last semester I was under a lot of stress. I was working
full time along with volunteering at the local hospital and then also trying to do
good in school…After having this meeting with her all of my questions are
now answered and I'm glad she made everything very clear to me and
now i can go on and fix my mistakes i have made last semester….The
reason I was not able to excel was because my work hours were not going well
with my college course hours…I would either not make it to class and if i did
then i wasnt able to concentrate because i would be so tired. Also i do live 45
minutes away from the university so the commuting was difficult as well…i am
working less…now i made my work schedule and college schedule much
easier. I gave myself time to get enough sleep and be able to wake up in the
mornings and make it to my early 8:30 class. Also I only work part time
now…Hopefully things will be different this semester and with this change i can
do much better and get off probation.”
- K.K.
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Student Assignment: Advisor Meeting
Summary & Plan 2
“Today I met with my assigned adviser for my second meeting…I was
well prepared before walking into the office. My three main
concerns were that how I can raise my GPA, questions about the
academic success class online, and about changing my major…She
help me calculate my minimum GPA that I would need for the semester
to raise my GPA and to get off probation. Then she told me about how I
need to do the academic success class… After she finished explaining
to me about the course, she asked me what I thought about the course.
I told her that I really liked the course and that I felt it was
motivating me to do better…Overall my experience with her was
great. I loved talking to her and I loved that she really helped me
out…She motivated me and made me gather faith in myself that I
can do better in the subjects I want.”
- S.K.
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Student Assignment: RU Ready to Succeed?
Workshop Reflective Journal
“The things I learned…are things that I was missing when it
came to my school work. I learned that I need to believe in
myself in order to be successful. My reason for being in school
and wanting a degree should be something that I want, not what
my parents want for me…The one thing that I took from the
workshop is that I have to know what I want regarding my
education. My reasons for being in school have to be my own
personal reasons. I have to be motivated in succeeding so I
don't fail. But if I do fail, then I am motivated to keep
pushing towards to my goal. The overall thing that I learned
is that I have to believe in myself in order to see myself
succeed.”
- D.J.
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Student Assignment: Syllabus
Pre-Calculus 21:640:114:01-05
• “This course is a preparation for students who intend to take
Calculus I as an additional requirement for their intended
major. The course is a mixture of College Algebra along with
new materials that will aid whilst taking Calculus I. Even
though this course is a prerequisite for Calculus, it still should
not be taken lightly as it is a foundation for Calculus as well
as a consideration for real-world situations. From this course,
I expect to learn and spent about six hours a week on
homework. With quizzes every recitation and two exams
and a final throughout the course, I expect this course to
be a very rigorous.
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Student Assignment: Syllabus
Pre-Calculus 21:640:114:01-05
• His grading policies are point based for this course. The
two exams are 100 points each (40%) along with 10 quizzes
which are worth 10 points each in total of 100 (20%).
Homework is worth 10% of our total grade and the final
exam is worth 30%. 500 points (100%) in total with
homeworks, quizzes and exams.
• Assignment due dates for this class are that we have
quizzes every recitation, which is on Fridays. The two exams
are on October 8th and November 12th. The final exam is on
December 17th.
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Student Assignment: Syllabus
Pre-Calculus 21:640:114:01-05
• Communication policies for Professor Keigher is extremely
straightforward with using email as the main form of
communication if seeing in person does not work out. His
office hours are Mondays 1:15pm- 2:15pm and Wednesdays
11:45am-12:45pm or by arrangement.
-S. K.
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Student Assignment: Time Management
Mapping
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• How do we know that the class just isn’t showing
us what we already know?
• Those that will do better, will do better and those
that won’t, won’t!
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0.1996
-0.6699
-0.8000
-0.7000
-0.6000
-0.5000
-0.4000
-0.3000
-0.2000
-0.1000
0.0000
0.1000
0.2000
0.3000
AS non-pass probation non-AS (bottom 1/2)
Term GPA increase between Academic Success (AS) non passing and bottom half of non-AS probation
p = .000
*
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p = .06
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Current probation data
• 13% reduction for students on probation
• 21% reduction in dismissed students (approximately 30
students)
– 30 students x $13,683 (yearly in state tuition) = $410,490
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Next Steps
• Starting Fall 2014 the course is a mandated
requirement for all students on probation.
• Revenue from the increase in student retention could then be used to
increase staff, resources, programs, etc.
• This course (content, design, resources, and modality) can be used by other
colleges and universities.
• Use this model for other purposes (freshman seminar, transfers, senior
seminar)
• Examine other at-risk populations (“high hanging fruit”)
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Academic Success Course Results Matrix
If a student earns a:
and at the end of the semester they are:
In good academic
standing Still on probation Dismissable
then they will be:
↓ ↓ ↓
Pass Congratulated Placed on contract Suspended
No credit Placed on contract Suspended Dismissed
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Note: All students returning from dismissal or suspension will be placed on contract
Thank you
Kenneth Sanders, Ed.D., Dean
Office of Academic Services
Shelley C. Kurland, M.A.T., Instructional Designer
Center for Teaching Excellence, County College of Morris
http://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/academic_success_course
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Questions
48 http://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/academic_success_course