College Action Project Worksheet for CAP Projects March 18, 2016 Update CAP: 1.2.5 First Scholars Project Champion: 1. Members (name/department): Chris Sain, Student Success & Retention Travis Steffens, Student Success & Retention Katie Daniels, Curriculum Kathy Mullins, GRCC Foundation Finance Dept Member (TBD) Sarah Dorer, Student Life (Replacement needed due to resignation) Michael Schavey, Experiential Learning Marisol Blanco, College Success Center Institutional Research Member (TBD) Brian Daily, Academic Support & Tutoring Services Rosario Montes-Sutton, Counseling Magdeline Montes-Spruit, TRiO Student Support Services Describe the purpose of this project including a description of the associated activities. (100 words or fewer) Three year graduation rates for full time students attending GRCC as their first college experience have averaged 14% in the past five years and are much below national benchmarks. The goal of this project is to significantly increase the number of this cohort of students who earn a credential through a targeted college-wide campaign including recruitment, marketing, financial incentives, social experiences, and concierge-style academic support systems. Key organizational areas involved will include: Enrollment management and financial aid, Student success and retention, Media relations, Institutional research and planning, College success center, GRCC Foundation, Finance office, and the Provost s office. 2. Describe the goals of this Action Project (in 100 words or fewer) (Wildly important goals) Overall project goal is to increase graduation average for this cohort from current rate of 14% to 17% within project period. This goal cuts in half the current 6% discrepancy that exists between GRCC and public 2 year institutions. For the period 2007-2010, that national average is 20% (National Center for Education Statistics). 3. What measureable criteria will be used to determine this project s success? (Lead measures) Continuation of full time status
Course success rates Timeliness of earned credit milestone attainment (i.e. percentage of cohort students that earn 15, 30, and 45 credits) 4. Please provide the results of your lead measures to date (either tables or charts) (Compelling scoreboard) N/A as no actions yet taken to impact lead measures. 5. What Indicators of Success will this project most likely impact? Please indicate whether the project will directly or indirectly impact the measure. The primary indicator success is the semester to semester retention rate of our FT FTIAC s and this project will directly impact that measure. Some indication of those rates are provided below. Cohort Year Number in Cohort Fall to Winter Fall to Fall Retention Retention Fall 2009 2479 88% 56% Fall 2013 1893 85% 58% Fall 2015 1447 85% n/a 6. What personnel resources will be required to deliver the project successfully? To deliver this project successfully there will be needed time and effort on the part of various departments. In particular, this project will largely utilize the personnel resources of individuals within Student Life and the Office of Student Success & Retention. To a lesser degree the project will use resources within Academic Support & Tutoring Services, Counseling and Retention Services, as well as Experiential Learning. As of March 2015 we are also utilizing personnel resources from IT and Communication. IT is working to identify how we may leverage technological resources to develop a system to monitor the First Scholars Incentive Program. As well, the Communications Team is being utilized to help develop a comprehensive communication plan for both students and employees of the College. 7. What additional resources will be required to develop and/or sustain the project? Category Cost Explanation (one time or recurring) Which budget will cover these costs? Student Engagement $1200 This will be recurring costs that occur at least three times per academic year. (i.e. Social ($400 Incentives) per) Milestone $1000 Recurring cost as milestones will be recurring.
Gifts College Student Inventory (CSI) Mid-Year Student Assessment First Year Experience Conference Scholarship Opportunities $1000 Annual recurrence for each cohort ($8 per student) $1000 Annual recurrence for each cohort ($7.50 per student) $8000 One time conference registration and travel for 3-4 teams members *Attendance to FYE Conference did not occur, but we are exploring visits to institutions with well established FYE programs (i.e. Valencia, CUNY, Cuyahoga). $20,000 A yet to be determined number of awards to those FT FTIAC s retained semester to semester GRCC Foundation ($10k) ($10k) 8. Will this project require any additional budget dollars for the 2015-2016 academic year that have not already been secured? NO _x_ Yes 9. Provide a 12-month work plan for this project: Month Activity Person Responsible July, 2015 Obtain familiarity by examination of First Scholars Program documentation. August, 2015 Officially form team Status September, 2015 Prepare meeting calendar and host first team meeting to establish necessary data points. Will also make assessment of current GRCC services and programs that can impact First Scholars. October, 2015 Data analysis Mtg on Oct. 12 th Data analysis sub team on Oct. 22nd, Travis Steffens, and. Full
November, 2015 Continued data analysis. Mtg on Nov. 2nd December, 2015 Registration Mixer on Dec. 1 st Benchmarked Tuition Rebate incentive. January, 2016 Sub team meeting to identify activities of successful students. These activities are what will be recommended to incentivize. Focus group with retained Fall FTIAC s to obtain thoughts regarding development of advising case management. Established auxiliary team of advisors to design case management strategies. February, 2016 Team meeting with continued drafting of implementation plan and setting timetable to engage Fall 2016 FT FTIAC s Complete list of incentive activities Meeting with Student Employment to explore training and preferential hiring for on campus student employment. Maggie Montes- Spruit, Travis Steffens, Raynard Ross, Chris Sain Jodie Boelens SSR Sub team (Marisol Blanco, Brian Daily, Jodie Boelens, Travis Steffens, Maggie Montes Spruit, Raynard Ross, Chris Sain) Raynard Ross, Katie Daniels, Travis Steffens, Chris Sain SSR Sub Team Travis Steffens and Chris Sain March, 2016 Sent survey to Fall FT FTIAC s Travis
that are PT in Winter. Attempting to guage issues that prompted reduction as well as types of incentives that may have promoted continued FT attendance. CAP Meeting on March 30 Obtained support of GRCC Foundation to supply $10,000 for incentive based scholarship awards Steffens and Members Kathy Mullins April, 2016 Host student focus groups of retained Fall 2015 FT FTIAC s to obtain student perspective of implementation plan and team meeting to review results. May, 2016 Team meeting to finalize implementation plans for Fall 2016 Cohort June, 2016 College Student Inventory Testing Host First Scholars Open House for Fall 16 Cohort Members and s members 10. When will your Team meet? Please provide Team meeting dates for August 2015 to June 2016 (Create a Cadence of Accountability) September 22, 2015 (SSR sub team) October 12, 2015 (Full Team) October 22, 2015 (Data sub Team) November 2, 2015 (Full team) December 18, 2015 (Full team) January 13, 2016 (Full team) January 27, 2016 (SSR sub team) February 4, 2016 (SSR sub team) February 22, 2016 (Full team) March 17, 2016 (scholarship sub team) March 30, 2016 (full team) April 13, 2016 (full team) April 27, 2016 (full team) May 11, 2016 (full team) June 8, 2016 (full team) June 22, 2016 (full team)
11.Please check the response below that best describes this project: This project will be completed by July 31, 2016 and should be closed XXX This project will be continued for the 2016-2017 academic year The current activities for this project will be completed by July 31, 2016, but the CAP will continue for next year with additional initiatives 12.What new CAPs would your CAP team suggest as natural next steps to your current project? A CAP that investigates successful strategies of previous and current CAPS in order to identify methods to integrate these strategies into other areas or populations of the College.