New Mexico Junior College HED College Performance Measures: Report of Activity August 2014 HED Focus Discussion Activities and Outcomes Total Awards Given that the relative size of the school will likely remain unchanged for the foreseeable future, the best opportunity to increase the number of total awards is to increase completion/graduation rates. The college is undertaking a number of initiatives intended to improve student completion and graduation rates: 1. Degree planning. Implementation of degree planning and degree audit activities for all full time students with plans to expand the support to part-time students as well. 2. College Success Center. Development of a new College Success Center including the hiring of professional tutoring support. Atrisk students and those seeking additional assistance will have access to the Center and tutoring support. 3. Transcript review. Active review of student transcripts to identify those students who are close to graduation. This activity will help to increase the number of graduates and, at the same time, support efforts to ensure that students graduate in as timely a manner as possible (thus reducing the number of credits-to-graduation). 4. Tracking student success. Beginning two years ago, NMJC began documenting individual student success course-by-course and reporting results by faculty member. These data are tracked for individual faculty members and for all courses. Data from the reporting are used in annual faculty evaluations and in evaluating course effectiveness. Tracking success rates by course and by faculty are an important component in our efforts to improve overall graduation, student retention, and student persistence. 1 N M J C A u g u s t 2 0 1 4
STEMH Awards At-Risk Awards In the NMJC service area, local businesses and employers have strong needs for students from the T technical, and H health care categories. Consequently, the college priorities have been in those areas and less so on science, engineering, and math per se. According to our understanding of HED definitions, at-risk awards refer to awards (completions) by students who are low SES as identified by eligibility for Pell funding. At NMJC, in a given semester, approximately 30% of our registered students are Pell eligible (45.6% of full time students and 23.5% of part time students). In the technical and health fields, NMJC has: Nursing. Placed heavy emphasis on success of the nursing and allied health programs currently operated the college. The nursing program has enjoyed improved success with regards to student outcomes and efforts are currently underway to expand the capacity of the nursing program to accommodate student and employer demand. New facility and new programs. The college has a new Allied Health building on the planning boards. Completion of this facility will support an increase in the size of the nursing program, expansion into lab tech programs, and introduction of a physician s assistant program. Instrumentation and Controls Curriculum and Labs. As part of the existing TAACCCT grant funding from the Department of Labor, the college is developing new instrumentation and controls labs and training curriculum designed to meet the growing local need to technicians. NMJC s key strategy with regards to this particular objective to increase student engagement. It has been shown that higher levels of student engagement (between faculty and student) lead to increased levels of student commitment. Higher levels of commitment lead to increased student success, persistence, and retention. In support of this objective, NMJC has engaged in a number of activities: 1. Professional development. NMJC is the fourth year of a significant effort to promote greater levels of student engagement through professional development of faculty. In each of the last three years, the college has brought in national experts in student engagement who have worked with individual faculty and academic leaders to identify effective methods of student engagement. NMJC makes use of data derived from CCSSE surveys (administered every three years) and the new SENSE survey (first administered in Fall 2014) to track and support efforts to improve effective student engagement. 2 N M J C A u g u s t 2 0 1 4
Remediation Reform Development studies are an issue of concern for colleges and universities across the country. At NMJC, our approach has not been to view developmental studies (in our case, transitional studies) as a bridge to nowhere. Students in need of developmental support are individuals who, for the most part, have the capacity to increase their workplace performance and their own earning power if they can overcome certain academic deficiencies. At NMJC, developmental studies are an opportunity for an individual to step forward, improve their core academic skills (particularly in math and reading), and improve their personal situation. Regional employers have emphasized the need for staff at all levels who can perform basic mathematical actions, write in a coherent manner, and who behave in a professional manner. For many students who under-performed in high school or simply did not do well in their studies, developmental programs offer that next best step back on track. 2. Evaluating faculty performance. The college has developed new sets of measures for evaluating faculty performance with an emphasis on student success and engagement. This new faculty evaluation system, which includes goal setting by faculty members, went into effect in the 2013/14 academic year. 3. Tracking student success. Student success data (mentioned above in the Total Awards section) is a central element in supporting at-risk students. Data developed in tracking of student success is able to specifically identify at-risk students based on their Pell status. Beginning this Fall (2014), at-risk students will be actively referred to the College Success Center staff. NMJC drafted a plan for improving remediation outcomes in March 2013. Since that time, the college has undertaken a number of initiatives identified in that plan: New Placement Model for Developmental Classes. Beginning with the Fall 2014 semester, NMJC is piloting a new model of placement utilizing multiple measures of student performance and commitment [Attachment 1 - TS Placement Model]. High school GPA coupled with test scores are being used in an informed choice model intended to reduce the number of students who are under-placed in developmental studies. Summer developmental classes. NMJC partnered with the NMJC Foundation to jump-start students by full tuition scholarships for students who take transitional studies in the summer. Enrollment in summer transitional courses increased tenfold in the first year of the program. More important, students who took summer transitional courses retained at a significantly higher percentage than the college average. The NMJC Fall 13- to-spring 14 retention rate was 61.6%. Over 80% of the successful summer developmental students (82.8%) were still enrolled in NMJC classes in the spring 2014 semester [Attachments 2 & 3 TS Enrollment and Persistence]. 3 N M J C A u g u s t 2 0 1 4
Retention Rates NMJC focuses on student persistence (course completion) and student retention (continued enrollment from course-to-course). We feel that the first, best step towards improving student retention is to focus on student persistence. The ability to start and successfully complete a course is central to a student remaining in school. Early College High School began at NMJC in August 2014. Different than traditional dual credit, Early College High School brings high school students from their campus to the college campus and fully integrates those students in with current college students. New course withdrawal process. Beginning in the Spring 2012 semester, NMJC initiated a new process to manage student withdrawals from courses. The results have been substantially positive. The new process was first developed by members of the NMJC Faculty Senate who recognized the central role of faculty in supporting student persistence in courses. The new withdrawal process requires a 48 hour cooling off period before a student can drop a course. During this period, the course faculty member is notified of the student request and the faculty member is responsible for connecting with the student to determine what can be done to help the student successfully complete the course. The student withdrawal rate from courses had been averaging 14.5% since 2008. Beginning in the Fall 2012 semester the rate dropped to 10.9% [Attachment 4 Withdrawal Rate]. Student persistence (defined as completing the course with a grade) has risen from 83.8% in fall 2008 to 90.8% in spring 2014 [Attachment 5 Persisting to End of Course]. During this time, student failing grades have not changed. The average % of F grades has remained static at 12.3% from fall 2008 through spring 2014. Current retention rates and first year programs. NMJC s IPEDS reported retention rates for both fulltime and part-time students have risen in each of the last four years [see attached chart]. NMJC continues to develop new first-year student outreach programs and student engagement as key strategies for retention of students from course-to-course [Attachment 6 IPEDS Comparison]. 4 N M J C A u g u s t 2 0 1 4
Credits to Degree NMJC has long focused on moving students through to graduation with an effort to help students complete as quickly as possible. The current figures as presented by HED show that NMJC is averaging the fewest number of credits-to-graduation (76) of all two year institutions in the state. With regards to credits-to-certificate, NMJC ranks second in the fewest average number of credits (32) required to completion. NMJC has undertaken three major initiatives designed to further reduce the number of credits-to-completion: 1) Reduce credit requirements for degrees. The college academic leaders and faculty have reviewed all academic programs and reduced the number of credits required for graduation to the lowest levels possible while remaining true to the requirements of Academic standards and accreditation. 2) Require degree plans. Entering students, full and soon all part time, are now being evaluated and placed on formal degree/graduation plans as a means of encouraging those students to take only those courses, and no more, required for graduation. 3) Reduce the number of developmental credits. As described earlier, the college has developed a new placement model for developmental studies. A major objective of this model is to avoid under-placing students in developmental courses thus requiring them to take more courses than they might require for successful completion of their program. It is hoped that this new model will help students reduce the number of non-program credits required before graduation. 5 N M J C A u g u s t 2 0 1 4
NMJC Transitional Studies Placement Models: Note: These models are for first time placement in transitional studies. Once a student has begun the sequence, future placements depend on passing courses in sequence or re-testing for higher placement. High school grades, as proposed in the new model, apply only to first time placement. Current Model New Model Credit Bearing Transfer Credit Bearing Transfer Mandatory Placement Cut Scores Test Score & HS GPA Informed Choice Option Mandatory Placement Mandatory Placement Test Score & HS GPA Informed Choice Option Mandatory Placement Mandatory testing for: a) All first time, degree seeking students (FT and PT) b) First time students wanting to take ENG and MTH College Success strongly advised to all who test TS Students may not skip two levels. The model assumes the potential for placement only into the next highest level. General guideline: Math score & HS GPA 3.0+ English score & HS GPA 2.5+ August 6, 2014
1,200 Summer Transitional Studies Enrollment 1,000 800 600 400 Credit Hours Enrolled 200 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Let s talk Persistence Enrolled Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Persisted Total Enrolled 2705 1666 61.6% First Time 671 318 47.4% Summer TS Cohort 140 116 82.8%
18.0% Withdrawl Rate 16.0% 14.0% 12.0% 10.0% 8.0% 6.0% 4.0% 2.0% 0.0%
100.0% Persisting to End of Course 90.0% 80.0% 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Fall 08 Spr 09 Fall 09 Spr 10 Fall 10 Spr 11 Fall 11 Spr 12 Fall 12 Spr 13 Fall 13 Spr 14
70% NMJC Student Retention Rates Compared to IPEDS Cohort 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 2009 2010 2011 2012 10% 0% NMJC FT IPEDS FT NMJC PT IPEDS PT