Goals are Dreams With Deadlines
Preparing Students for Successful
Transfer Experiences Through Their
First-Year Experience at the
Community College
Rico R. Reed
Outcomes of this Session
•
Explore how the First-Year Experience in the
community college sets the foundation for a
successful transfer process
•
Highlight the characteristics of community colleges
that support a comprehensive and effective first-year
experience
•
Provide rationale and highlight best practices for
establishing an efficient and effective pipeline for best
supporting students as they strive to execute their
transfer dreams
Fulfilling the Promise of the Community
College: Increasing First-Year Student
Engagement and Success
Transfer Students in Higher Education:
Building Foundations for Policies, Programs
and Services That Foster Student Success
Institute on First-Year Success in the
Community College
November 2011
Life’s Greatest Lessons:
20 Things that Matter
Why are you here?
What are your biggest
challenges?
What do your students
need?
Why hasn’t this been
done in the past?
What resources do you
have?
Who are your champions?
Who are your supporters?
What’s the ultimate payoff?
• Motivation and goals are the greatest source of
human power and the seeds to success.
• All achievements are ignited as goals and fueled
through motivation.
• The goals we set and the depth of our motivation
determines what we make of our lives.
Limitless
Describes the distinctive
characteristics of firstyear student
experiences and
challenges in
community college
based on research and
effective practice.
Community colleges have gone from being the
stepchild to being the golden child…
Dr. Frank Chong, Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Community Colleges
Key to nation’s effort’s to double the number of
college graduates in the next ten years
The first-year, indeed the first few weeks of the
beginning semester, is a pivotal point in students’
academic careers.
Brown, King, & Stanley, 2011
Why Are Goals So Important?
• Success is the progressive accomplishment of
worthy goals.
• Success starts with a mission: a specific goal
accompanied by a strong desire.
• Living without goals is like going on a trip
without a destination!
• “What the mind of man can conceive and
believe, it can achieve.” Napoleon Hill
We Know That …
community colleges will play a central role in improving educational
access for increasing numbers of U.S. college students
• In order for increased access to be meaningful,
students must persist in college, complete their
programs, and where applicable, transfer to
four-year institutions.
• Effective first-year programs turn access into
success by keeping students in college and
helping them overcome barriers that might
otherwise prevent them from reaching their
goals.
Two important themes ….
(a) The first-year, as the springboard for
student success, matters just as much in
two-year institutions as it does in their fouryear counterparts, and
(b) even when considering specific
institutional contexts and cultures,
standards of best practice for institutional
support and success of first-year students in
community colleges are emerging.
Students whose first
experiences are positive …
are more likely to persist toward their goals,
whether that is a certificate, an associate
degree, or transferring to a four-year
institution.
Overarching principles...
The learning college movement: how do you know
what students are learning and achieving
Overarching principles...
The multiple missions of community colleges
make them unique in the nation and world
20
Overarching principles...
Measures of students success differ between
two and four-year colleges due to diversity of
students
The Evolution of Colleges of Opportunity
Community Colleges have evolved to include
workforce and community development,
lifelong learning and developmental
education.
Distinctive Characteristics of Community
Colleges
•Access, to Persistence, and Inclusion
•Community Responsiveness and Innovation
•Small class-size and a focus on teaching
The Learning College Model and the
Success and Completion Agenda now
includes:
Achieving the Dream
Gates Foundation Postsecondary Success Initiative
The Obama Administration Higher Education Agenda
Voluntary Framework of Accountability
Learning from Student Voices
Dr. Kay McClenney, Director of the Center for
Community College Student Engagement, created a
portrait of the new community college student
Asked why they persisted, students typically
referred to a strong early connection to someone at
the college…
Benefits of Setting Goals
• Motivation - Goals are the starting blocks of motivation.
• Independence - Goals help us take charge of our own lives.
• Direction - Goals give us a destination. We’re far more likely
to get someplace when we know where we’re going.
• Meaning - Goals give us a sense of purpose. Life has more
meaning when we’re clear on what we want..
• Enjoyment - Goals are the antidote to the most dreaded of
all social diseases: boredom.
• Fulfillment - Goals, more than anything else, help us reach
our potential. Setting goals helps us see what’s possible
Benchmarks of Effective Practice with
Entering Students
some are
Early connections
Clear academic plan and pathway
Academic & social support network
What needs to be done
Some are:
Build a Culture of Evidence
Commit to the discipline of routine student cohort
tracking
Bring programs to scale
Goals = Greatness
• Each goal completed helps us see more of
what’s possible and leads to more goals and
more success!
Emerging evidence suggests that certain educational
experiences may contribute significantly to the
likelihood of students success. Examples include:
College orientation programs
First-year seminars
Student success courses
Leaning communities
When A Dream Becomes A Goal
• Goals are dreams with deadlines.
• Goals become a blueprint for a very rewarding life.
• Dreams don’t become a reality when they don’t
have enough clarity.
• The human mind won’t move in the direction of a
generality; it will move when it has something
specific to aim at.
At some point it behooves community college
educators to overcome their reluctance to make
mandatory experiences shown to enhance
student learning, persistence, and attainment.
McClenney, 2011
Setting A Goal
1) Understand the difference between a goal and a wish.
2) Write down your goals and make them specific.
3) Categorize and balance your goals.
4) Review and revise your goals regularly.
Recommendations
 Create intentionally-designed comprehensive programs
 Bring programs to scale
 Cultivate support from campus leadership
 Build coalitions on campus
 Develop community partnerships
 Provide campus-wide professional development
opportunities
 Support transfer
 Establish relevant benchmarks for success
 Build a culture of evidence
Create intentionally designed
comprehensive programs
Prioritize student programs and services focused
on the initial adjustment to college
Include academic and learning support programs
Seek innovative and effective interventions
Create intentionally designed
comprehensive programs
Academic advising and career development are
the pillars of a comprehensive program
Empower staff to accomplish the program mission
Group services together
Bring programs to scale
Include a transition plan for movement from:
Boutique service to universal student access
Grant funding to base budget
Link programs to accreditation processes
Remember, students don’t do optional!
Goal: 75% participation rates for FY students
Cultivate support from campus leadership
Include campus leadership in program:
Development
Implementation
Maintenance
Communication is key
Select the right people to coordinate the program
Cultivate support from campus leadership
Connect the program to the mission, vision,
values, and culture of the campus
Have data to
Support program decisions
Document effectiveness
Draw support from leadership across the campus
Build coalitions on campus
Cross-campus collaboration is likely to draw the
attention and support of campus leadership
Draw upon the “horizontal” nature of FYE to build
partnerships
New partnerships contribute to program
evolution & improvement
Develop community partnerships
Enlist political, business, and community leaders
Campus messaging should show campus as a
destination of choice
Include community leaders and members in the
communication plan
Develop community partnerships
Career focused programs create a bridge to the
community
Placement services
Members of advisory board and committees for
career programs
Use career programs as a model for other
community partnerships
Provide campus-wide professional
development opportunities
Professional development is an ongoing
commitment
Opportunities should fit the context:
Community college specific
Fit with the campus mission and student needs
Consider professional development as a
requirement
Provide campus-wide professional
development opportunities
Programs should create a safe space for reflection
and innovation
Focus on cross-training across roles, programs,
disciplines, etc.
Integration into reward, recognition, & promotion
expectations
Support transfer
Successful transfer begins when students enter
the community college
Examine the connections of current programs
with four-year institutions
Efforts and initiatives for transfer must be present
in marketing efforts
Support transfer
Programs at the community college that are
critical to successful preparation and transfer
include:
Academic advising
Career development
Academic support
Initiatives that support STEM students
Establish relevant benchmarks for success
Connect success metrics to your institution’s
mission, goals, and student needs
Create multiple success measures
Develop new metrics for success
Still need to consider completion
Establish relevant benchmarks for success
Establish a realistic timeline to achieve the
benchmarks
If your benchmarks are normative, be sure to
identify appropriate comparison groups
Important to commit to accountability
Build a culture of evidence
Draw upon quantitative and qualitative data
Link assessment data to metrics of success
Critical to use consistent definitions
Establish comprehensive information and tracking
systems
Build a culture of evidence
Employ accountability measures that provide
meaningful data
Model data-driven decision making
Engage in national data collection/research efforts
Make data widely available to campus partners
Summary
• Goals give us direction and purpose.
• Goals add meaning to our lives.
• Goals challenge us.
• Goals make life more interesting.
• Goals make life more rewarding.
• Goals make life better.
SETTING GOALS
What are three
things you can do in
the next MONTH to
advance your plans
for transfer student
success?
February
26
2012
SETTING GOALS
What are three
things you can do in
the next 6 MONTHS
to advance your
plans for transfer
student success?
July
26
2012
SETTING GOALS
What are three
things you can do in
the next YEAR to
advance your plans
for transfer student
success?
January
26
2013
QUESTIONS?
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS?
Goals are Dreams With Deadlines
Rico R. Reed
Assistant Director for Administration and
Resource Development
National Resource Center for The First-Year
Experience and Students in Transition
rico@sc.edu
803.777.6225