An Early Alert
Student Success Program
Presented by:
Dr. Sharon Blackman and Angie Gomez
Dallas County Community College District
Innovations 2013
Dallas, Texas
March 12, 2013
2:30-3:30pm
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
Seven Separately Accredited Colleges
Brookhaven College
*Cedar Valley College
*Eastfield College
*El Centro College
Mountain View College
*North Lake College
*Richland College
Community Center and *Community Campuses
Cedar Valley College Center at Cedar Hill
Eastfield College Pleasant Grove Campus
El Centro College Bill J. Priest Campus
El Centro College West Campus
North Lake College North Campus
North Lake College South Campus
North Lake College West Campus
Richland College Garland Campus
Dallas Colleges Online – provides distance learning services to all seven colleges!
DCCCD Student Profile Fall 2012
DISTRICT
Head 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
ETHNICITY
Hispanic…………………………………26,344 (35.1%)
Non-Hispanic…………………………44,794 (59.7%)
Unknown/Not Reported……..…….3,846 (5.1%)
RACE
White…………………………….…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. Faculty
2. Enrollment Service Personnel
3. Retention Personnel
4. 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 Coordinators
2.Contributors
3.Success Coaches
• Identified Support Needs:
1.Training
2.Assessment & Evaluations
3.Reporting
Connecting students to college
success!
Retention Coordinator
Role
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.
Contributor
Role
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 Coach
Role
Success 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.
Skills
Desire 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
Assessment and Evaluation
Mid-semester
pulse check
Focus groups,
Surveys,
Team
discussions
End of
semester
evaluation
Set goals for next term
JTS Path
2010
Spring – 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
2011
Fall & 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
2012
Spring & Fall – Expansions
•Spring 2012 - Expansion
Open 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 2012
Add a few more cohorts
Recruitment Activities
Wow - Week of Welcome
Class Visits
E-mail Blast
JTS E-mail Blast
COURTESY 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-Referrals
Student 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 Effectiveness
Main objective is connecting students to
college success…
Quantitative Measures:
Fall 2011:
74 % Persisted to Spring 2012
Qualitative Measures
http://vimeo.com/50983365
JTS Stats
Total cases =
1210
Fall
2012
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 Blackman
sblackman@dcccd.edu
Angie Gomez
angieg@dcccd.edu
Please complete the
online evaluation for
this conference. Not
only does it help future
League for Innovation
conference planning,
you will also earn a
chance to win a
complimentary
registration for a
future League
conference!