Name of Program: Student Success Program Name of person(s) preparing document: Tomasia Drummond Dates of meeting(s) to discuss and review document: February 9, 2015 January 26, 2015 January 8, 2015 December 8, 2014 August 7, 2014 May 19, 2014 Names of Participants and Titles: Dr. Kevin Kistler, Dean of Area 2 Tomasia Drummond, Director of Student Success Susan Flatt, English Faculty, Student Success Committee Co-Chair Jennifer McBride, English Faculty Joshua Daughdrill, English Faculty Degrees and Certificates: N/A Basic Skills (49165.NC) Year: 2014/2015 1. Have there been any changes in this program over the last years which have had a significant impact on the program's goals and/or effectiveness? If so, please explain the changes that have occurred and how the changes have impacted the program. The Student Success Committee (SSC) has been discussing the impact of SSSP changes and has increased collaboration with Student Services to assist with the new SSSP requirements. Dr. McCandless, the previous Dean of Area 2, collaborated with the committee to draft bylaws and implement decision-making practices identify a process for the allocation of Basic Skills funds. This process resulted in the college institutionalizing the increase of the Library s Friday hours during fall 2014, hours that were previously funded by Basic Skills. The SSC also created a Prep2Test webpage with English and math resources to assist incoming students with placement test review in order to improve their placement on the assessment test. Data provided by Merced College Information Technology Services, shows that during fall 2014 the Prep2Test webpage ranked #26 in terms of the most visited pages on MCCD.edu and the monthly average showed 513 unique page views. In spring 2015, the Prep2Test webpage ranked #24 in terms of most visited pages and the monthly average showed 687 unique page views, which is an increase of 33.92% from the fall 14 semester. Additionally, an adjunct counselor was hired to provide intrusive counseling in the Tutorial Center. This counselor has been instrumental in ensuring that students complete a comprehensive Educational Plan, as well as, helping students access the academic support services and resources. (During spring 2014 and fall 2014, the counselor met with 272 students in the Tutorial Center and developed 65 new comprehensive Ed Plans. According to data provided by the Office of Grants and Institutional Research for spring 14, the Course Success Rate (CSR) for the students who met with the Tutorial Center counselor was 71.95% and the Course Completion Rate (CCR) was 89.02%. These students had 6.16% higher CCR and 17. 95% higher CSR compared to other students in the District.) Furthermore, the Tutorial Center s counselor collaborated with the Director of Student Success and the Athletic Department on a pilot project to identify athletes who needed to complete an Ed plan, monitor their academic progress, identify at-risk students, and ensure student-athletes were aware of all academic support services. According to data provided by OGIR, for fall 2014, the athletes CSR was 74.19% and the CCR was 91.48%. The athletes, had a 6.09% higher CSR and a 7.44% higher CCR compared with students in the District.
Moreover, the data showed that athletes who completed a comprehensive educational plan, had a 9.24% higher CCR and a 17.09% higher CSR compared to athletes who did not have an Educational Plan. Finally, in November of 2014, Study Central was one of three California community college programs recognized in 2014 by the Chancellor's Office for demonstrating a commitment and significant progress toward Achieving Student Equity and Success for all students. Intrusive Counseling (S14) N % African-American 10 5.49% American Indian/Alaskan Native 1 0.55% Asian 24 13.19% Filipino 1 0.55% Hispanic 88 48.35% Multi-ethnic 2 1.10% Pacific Islander 1 0.55% Unknown 6 3.30% White, Non-Hispanic 49 26.92% 19 33 18.13% 20-24 64 35.16% 25-29 23 12.64% 30-34 16 8.79% 35-39 11 6.04% 40-49 18 9.89% 50 16 8.79% Unknown 1 0.55% Female 115 63.19% Male 65 35.71% Unknown 2 1.10% TOTAL 182 100.00% The above chart shows the Course Completion Rate and Course Success Rate for students who meet with the Tutorial Center Counselor spring 2014.
Course CCR- IC CSR- IC CCR- MCCD CSR- MCCD Diff- CCR Diff- CSR ENGL-83* 100.00% 100.00% 79.57% 48.39% 20.43% 51.61% ENGL-84* 100.00% 80.00% 76.51% 48.37% 23.49% 31.63% ENGL-85 86.96% 73.91% 77.05% 58.94% 9.90% 14.97% MATH-80 92.86% 78.57% 76.58% 51.93% 16.28% 26.64% MATH-81 78.26% 60.87% 81.19% 53.29% -2.93% 7.58% MATH-90* 100.00% 75.00% 83.61% 59.02% 16.39% 15.98% MATH-91* 100.00% 66.67% 73.16% 50.53% 26.84% 16.14% TOTAL 89.02% 71.95% 78.38% 54.00% 10.65% 17.95% Below you will find demographic information for the Athletes that were part of the pilot project during fall 2014. Athletes (F14) N % African-American 56 26.42% American Indian/Alaskan Native 1 0.47% Asian 9 4.25% Filipino 0 0.00% Hispanic 72 33.96% Multi-ethnic 20 9.43% Pacific Islander 5 2.36% Unknown 1 0.47% White, Non-Hispanic 48 22.64% 19 146 68.87% 20-24 65 30.66% 25-29 1 0.47% 30-34 0 0.00% 35-39 0 0.00% 40-49 0 0.00% 50 0 0.00% Unknown 0 0.00% Female 60 28.30% Male 151 71.23% Unknown 1 0.47% TOTAL 212 100.00% Course Completion Rate and Course Success Rate for the Athletes who participated in the pilot project fall 2014.
CCR, CSR By Sport (F14) Sport N of Athletes CCR CSR Baseball 43 97.93% 88.38% Basketball- M 14 91.11% 66.67% Basketball- W 19 90.08% 70.25% Football 77 88.92% 66.20% Softball 13 81.08% 58.11% Track 11 80.49% 63.41% Volleyball 9 92.16% 80.39% Water Polo- M 14 100.00% 93.24% Water Polo- W 12 93.65% 82.54% TOTAL 212 91.49% 74.19% MCCD 84.05% 68.10% Differences 7.44% 6.09% The data below shows that during fall 2014, athletes who had completed an Educational Plan received a higher CCR and CSR compared to athletes who did not have an Ed Plan. N CCR CSR Diff in 165 93.42% 77.78% CCR CSR 47 84.19% 60.68% 9.24% 17.09% 212 91.49% 74.19% Academic Support Centers Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 (F11-S14) N N N N N N TOTAL 660 739 687 719 737 756 ML CCR 82.82% 83.24% 86.64% 84.11% 86.22% 87.55% CSR 59.83% 58.10% 61.64% 58.36% 65.09% 63.68% TOTAL 1,234 1,253 1,246 1,478 1,534 1,591 SC CCR 88.18% 89.57% 91.04% 89.80% 89.62% 90.62% CSR 69.34% 73.44% 74.32% 73.70% 72.26% 73.48% TOTAL 569 675 561 581 574 687 TC CCR 87.21% 84.64% 83.61% 83.85% 88.66% 84.44% CSR 64.51% 65.06% 63.73% 63.54% 69.77% 67.19% A systematic database for tracking students who visit Merced College s academic support centers started in fall 2011.
All three of the academic support centers saw increases in the number of visitors, with Study Central seeing the biggest increase (by 28.93%), from fall 2001 to spring 2014. Additionally, Study Central saw the biggest difference in course success rates (+4.14%). CCR, CSR: ML v. MCCD Differences (F11-S14) Term ML SC TC CCR CSR CCR CSR CCR CSR Fall 2011 4.32% 6.49% 3.33% 1.46% 2.34% -3.51% Spring 2012 6.56% 6.39% 4.90% 5.61% -0.03% -2.77% Fall 2012 8.21% 7.93% 6.92% 6.86% -0.50% -3.73% Spring 2013 8.98% 10.11% 6.90% 6.49% 0.95% -3.67% Fall 2013 5.60% 10.09% 5.66% 4.09% 4.70% 1.60% Spring 2014 7.57% 10.72% 5.92% 4.95% -0.26% -1.34% In the past six semesters, the Math Lab and Study Central have seen higher course completion and success rates, when compared to the District. This is not the case for the Tutorial Center in certain semesters. 2. Please summarize the progress the program has made on Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) assessments at the course and program level since the last review and how the findings of those assessment have been utilized to improve student learning. Faculty administer SLOs in Study Central and the non-credit courses connected with Math Lab and Tutorial Center. 100% of the programs under Academic Support Services have an SLO component that is regularly assessed. The surveys are collected and assessed each semester to help inform and improve academic support services. All tutors are required to enroll and complete the Tutoring seminar course (TUT-35) during their first semester working in the Tutorial Center. TUT-35 is a 1 unit online course designed to provide students with foundational skills to help them become effective tutors. The course provides students with the opportunity to network and dialogue with other students in the course. The course instructor uses quizzes, essays, discussion boards, and an online survey to conduct SLOs assessment. Faculty regularly dialogue regarding the results of the SLO assessments to improve student learning, commensurate with the process outlined in the SLO cycle. 3. Include a plan for assessing the course and program SLOs that have not been assessed at this time. All academic support services were assessed fall 2014 and are up-to-date in regard to the SLO cycle. 4. Please summarize any changes in retention, success, productivity, or other relevant data that have occurred since completion of the last planning document, whether a comprehensive review or annual planning document. Below, are several tables comparing several facets of each of the three Merced College Academic Support Services Centers (Math Lab, Study Central, and Tutorial Center) fall 2011-fall 2014 No of CTRS Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 1 1,427 1,498 1,407 1,515 1,560 1,646 1,743 2 392 433 398 456 479 526 521 3 84 101 97 117 109 112 116 TOTAL (unique ) 1,903 2,032 1,902 2,088 2,148 2,284 2,380 The above table shows how many students visited the three centers in the past five terms, and how many of those centers students visited.
Fall 2014 saw an increase of 4.20% from spring 2014 and a 10.80% increase from fall 2013. Below are comparison demographics for the Math Lab, Study Central, and Tutorial Center during fall 2014. Math Lab Study Central Tutorial Center N % N % N % African-American 42 5.59% 137 7.94% 44 6.72% American Indian/Alaskan 4 0.53% 9 0.52% 3 0.46% Asian 83 11.04% 200 11.59% 82 12.52% Filipino 2 0.27% 17 0.98% 4 0.61% Hispanic 423 56.25% 973 56.37% 378 57.71% Multi-ethnic 24 3.19% 49 2.84% 9 1.37% Pacific Islander 2 0.27% 11 0.64% 4 0.61% Unknown 7 0.93% 18 1.04% 7 1.07% White, Non-Hispanic 165 21.94% 312 18.08% 124 18.93% 19 270 35.90% 599 34.70% 220 33.59% 20-24 254 33.78% 710 41.14% 195 29.77% 25-29 82 10.90% 163 9.44% 73 11.15% 30-34 56 7.45% 97 5.62% 55 8.40% 35-39 30 3.99% 63 3.65% 34 5.19% 40-49 31 4.12% 53 3.07% 41 6.26% 50 29 3.86% 41 2.38% 37 5.65% Unknown 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% Female 377 50.13% 1,026 59.44% 415 63.36% Male 373 49.60% 696 40.32% 238 36.34% Unknown 2 0.27% 4 0.23% 2 0.31% TOTAL 752 100.00% 1,726 100.00% 655 100.00% Differences from Spring 2014 N Diff N Diff N Diff 756-0.53% 1,591 +8.49% 687-4.66% 5. Provide a status update on the 5-year Planning Goals identified in the most recent comprehensive program review. During the first comprehensive program review, completed in 2012, 5-year planning goals were created to better reflect the desired direction of the Student Success Program. These goals are still relevant and represent an ongoing focus for the Student Success Program. Is the program on target to meet the most recent 5 Year Planning Goals? Yes. The initiatives identified in the planning goals are in progress. Academic Support Services anticipates that the five-year goals will be met, but many of the practices will be continually ongoing. For instance, increased communication and advertising in regard to the academic support services being offered is essential to continually provide new students and faculty with appropriate information. Are the program's 5 Year Planning Goals still relevant? Yes Has there been a change in the priority of the program's 5 Year Planning Goals? No. The 5-year planning goals are ongoing and an essential aspect of Academic Support Services. 6. Provide an Update on any Grants, External Reviewers, and Advisory Committees.
The Chancellor s Office has redefined the criteria for how Basic Skills funds are encumbered and changed the time frame for spending funds from 3 years to 2 years. Under the new criteria, colleges must align long-term goals with spending. In addition, each year the identified activities must be tied to both outcomes and long-term goals. Overall, the resource spending list must equate with the yearly allocation. 7. Program SLOs Students will receive effective academic support services and resources to assist them in increasing their success and retention. Students engage in learning experiences that develop learning and study skills. The Student Success Program has developed several processes to evaluate the effectiveness of the program s services, including faculty and student evaluations, student SLOs surveys, and statistical analysis of student success and completion rates. The program collects information through SARS-TRAK and SARS-GRID systems and collaborates with the Office of Grants and Institutional Research to identify student demographics, attendance, and to assess course success and retention rates for students who utilize various academic support services. This data is used to provide continuous recommendations for program improvement. a. Basic Skills (49165.NC) 8. 5-Year Plans Goal 1: Improve and restructure the manner in which the various academic support services are managed. The Student Success Program (SSP) has established a data driven-decision making process for all areas. By implementing the SARS-GRID computer program in the Tutorial Center and SARS-TRAK in Study Central, the Student Success Program has been able to streamline the intake process, run automated reports, track attendance, and improve the process of collecting and sharing data with the Office of Grants and Institutional Research (OGIR). The data is used to assess the success and completion rate of students who received services and the results are used to provide recommendations for program improvement. Based on the usage reports from previous semesters, the program was able to determine that students were not utilizing the Tutorial Center s evening hours as often as the morning hours. This data was used to help better allocate resources to times of heavy student usage. Therefore, the morning and early afternoon hours that were more frequently utilized by students were maintained. In addition, every semester, the Director collaborates with the Office of Grants & Institutional Research (OGIR) to assess the course success and completion rates for students who utilize academic support services. Furthermore, each semester, the program collaborates with faculty from various disciplines to provide a 1-day comprehensive tutor and SI (Supplemental Instruction) Leader training workshop. The training addresses all student employees questions and concerns, while also providing training in areas in need of improvement, ensuring that all tutors and SI Leaders are properly trained to teach students the skills needed to become independent learners. Finally, the Program provides an orientation workshop for all new faculty members, who work in the Tutorial Center, Study Central, and Math Lab. The faculty orientation has effectively clarified the faculty role in each area, while simultaneously promoting all academic support services and ensuring each area is meeting the non-credit SLOs. Goal 2: Promote and increase campus wide and community awareness of all student academic support services. The SSP has created a program logo and designs all promotional material to have a unified look. The feedback from faculty and student surveys has confirmed that this process has been effective and has made it easier for students to identify and locate academic support services, including Student Success Workshops. Moreover, the Student Success webpage, on the Merced College webpage and a Facebook page, has been essential in providing the community and college campus with updated information on all academic support services. Furthermore, under the guidance of the Student Success Committee, a resolution was created and approved by the Academic Senate recommending that faculty include a list of all academic support services in course syllabi. Additionally, all class schedules and course catalogs now include information on all academic support services available to students, while OGIR creates and administers student surveys on several topics including knowledge of academic support services and determining reasons why students drop their classes. The Program reviews all data, shares the information with the Student Success Committee, uses the results to validate the effectiveness of all academic
support services, and provides ongoing recommendations for program improvement. After reviewing student survey responses, it became apparent that some students were not aware of all the academic support services offered on campus and other students were unaware that academic support services were free. Based on this information, promotional changes were made including providing ongoing information to faculty by email and at area meetings, and ensuring that promotional materials informed students that the services were free to Merced College students. The program continues to use various channels to promote services. Among the mechanisms employed to increase student awareness are the developing a new Student Success video, providing on-line resources including workshop videos and in-class presentations. Moreover, SSP proactively sends college-wide email announcements, and posts on Merced College Facebook and Student Success Program Facebook pages, while also advertising on campus TV monitors, and collaborating with local media to highlight the impact of academic support services in student success. Goal 3: Improve communication and collaboration across campus with Instruction and Student Services. The use of campus email and social media has been effective in informing the campus community of various activities, including providing information on academic support services, student success workshops, and professional development opportunities, such as 3CSN workshops and the Student Success Symposiums. In addition, the Director participates in the SSSP Advisory Committee and provides Student Success Program updates at Instruction and Student Services area meetings. The Student Success Committee collaborates with OGIR annually to create and administer a faculty survey to determine the best topic to select for the Student Success Symposium and other professional development activities. In order to provide faculty with strategies that improve effectiveness and success in teaching and learning, full-time and adjunct faculty from all areas are invited to attend the Student Success Symposium. The area Dean and Director continuously make an effort to recruit faculty from Student Services and Instruction to facilitate Student Success Workshops, and supervise the Tutorial Center and Study Central. In addition, each semester, the Director collaborates with faculty from Student Services and Instruction to provide class presentations on academic support services. In spring 2014, the Student Success Committee created a Prep2Test webpage with English and math resources to help students improve their placement on the assessment test. Finally, in the spring 2014, the committee approved hiring an adjunct counselor to provide intrusive counseling in the Tutorial Center. This project has been extremely effective as the counselor has been instrumental in ensuring that students complete a comprehensive Educational Plan, as well as, access all the resources they need to be successful. 9. Yearly Objectives Due to the volatile nature of the funding formula used in Basic Skills, in accord with upcoming programmatic changes in English (reducing the number of basic skills courses in the course sequence) moving the salaries of the Director of Student Success and the Administrative Assistant to the General Fund will ensure adequate Basic Skills funding for new and innovative methods to improve student success. The Director of Student Success and Administrative Assistant positions are integral for the stability of the Student Success Program. Data supports the efficacy of the Student Success Program on student learning and success; hence, it is imperative that the positions are protected from any reductions in the Basic Skills funding formula and are instead integrated into the General Fund budget. The Student Success Program objectives are aligned with the Basic Skills Long-Term Goals and each activity is completed annually. The benchmark for each Student Success goal is aligned with Basic Skills Long-Term goals. The percent of basic skills students receiving academic support services will increase 1% annually 2013-2014 over 2010-2011. Refer to the attached Basic Skills Long-Term Goals document. 10. Evaluation 1: Was the time frame for completion of the Program Review adequate? Yes 2: Was the Review Module Clear and understandable? No. The Program Review templates are not designed to accommodate academic support services. The Student Success Program does not fit the Merced College definition of a Program, making the Program Review process and completing the forms difficult. This will be rectified in the future as the Director of Student Success and the
Program Review Coordinator will collaborate to design a program review template that accommodates the needs of the Student Success Program. 3: Was it easy to use? Yes 4: Were the questions relevant? Yes 5: Did you find the Program Review process to have value? Yes 6: Was the data you reviewed completed and presented in a clear format? Yes 7: Please identify data source(s) used to provide data for this review. Reports from SARS-GRID and SARS-TRACK (Study Central, Tutorial Center, and Math Lab) are given to OGIR each semester to identify student demographics and assess course success and retention rates for students who utilize various academic support services. OGIR uses the reports to generate the data included in program review documents. SLO surveys are also administered to students by faculty and assessed to ensure SLOs are met. In addition, faculty evaluate tutors, peer guides, and SI Leaders performance and provide suggestions for improvement. Tutees also complete a tutor satisfaction survey. Student Success Workshop surveys are used to determine the efficiency of each workshop topic and presenter. OGIR also generates student surveys to assess areas of concern. The results of the surveys are presented to the Student Success Committee and are used to help guide decision-making. 8: Would you like additional data? No 9: Please offer any comment that could improve and/or streamline Program Review. 10. Appendices 11. Other: If there is anything else you would like to be considered in the annual planning document, please describe it here. Personnel: As the Student Success Program continues to evolve reliance on help from the student employees, who work in various areas, has continued to increase. The Director continuously collaborates with the Office of Institutional Research to assess the data from all areas to improve program services. The Student Success Program only has one full-time Administrative Assistant that provides direct support to the Director, the Student Success Office, and all the academic support areas. Based on the increased workload, the breadth of the program, and the need to make data-driven decisions, at this point, there is a need to hire a full-time Program Assistant and a dedicated part-time researcher. The Program Assistant would be available to support day to day activities, including providing the class presentations that increase campus awareness of all academic support services. Furthermore, the dedicated part-time researcher would assist with collection and evaluation of all the data that is currently obtained from the various academic support areas and OGIR. Technology/Equipment: The Tutorial Center has a total of 13 computers. One computer is over 9 years old and four other computers are 6 years old. We are constantly experiencing problems with these computers and have determined that 5 computers need to be replaced. In addition, the 23 computers in Study Central will need upgrading and will eventually need to be replaced. Facilities: Centralize academic support services by having all academic support services located in the same area. The Math Lab, Tutorial Center, and Study Central all are located in different buildings, making it confusing and difficult for students to locate each area. It would be ideal to unify all academic support services in one location. Other: (specify type of resource)
Staff Development: The Program needs to continue providing comprehensive tutor training, orientation for new faculty members who work in the Tutorial Center, Study Central, and Math Lab, and other professional development activities that promote student learning. Tutor training ensures that all tutors are properly trained to teach students the skills needed to become independent learners. The Tutorial Center and Study Central faculty orientation clarifies the faculty role in each area, promotes all academic support services, and ensures each area is meeting the non-credit SLOs. Professional development activities are needed to provide faculty with strategies that improve the effectiveness and success of their teaching and student learning.