We have a Dean of Students and Associate Dean of Students.Their Intervention Strategies include the following.
1. Track student attenance.
2. Call student who are missing and on probation. SAP.
3. Help with student issues and monitor the STAR TEAM Progam.
4. Weekly meeting to discuss student concerns.
We have an Academic Specalist/ADA/504 Coordinator. Her Intervention Strategies include.
1. Accommodated testing
2. Leaning Disabilities
3. Mental Issuses
4. Physical Disabilites
5. Work with admissions to see if the student is capable of doing the work.
6. Tracking attendance.
We have a student sucess Coordinator that works with student that are on loan progam.
The instuctors are mentors to the student in class, and instuctors are assigned student the first week called STAR Team. STUDENT, TEACHER, ACHIEVE, RESULTS.
Students that wish to drop out must speak with our school counselor and the Student Services Dept. before filing for a LOA or DOR. A Leave-of-Absence request is carefully tracked and the student must speak with the counselor after returning from their break. Drop-on-Request filings are tracked through Student Services and help or guidance is offered to try and prevent drop-outs for small or temporary issues.
We apply a "Reality Check" survey to all of our new students at the end of their first cycle. We give them an opportunity to respond to several scenarios, ask some questions, and tell us if there is a problem that they are experiencing that they'd like help with. If they respond that there is, we intervene.
Academic stagnation i see having students that have been in school for over a year and they do lose site of their dream .Some things i hear are like SAME OLD STUFF , DIFFERENT DAY , DO WE HAVE TO DO THAT AGAIN. I try to make them get excited with me about what we are going to be learning.
We meet with the student body during orientation on day 1, and we make it a point to stop by the classrooms that first and every week just to say hello and see how the students are doing. With the high risk students, we track their grades, attendance, and loan situations and meet with them weekly. When meeting with each student we try to speak about how they are doing in general before moving on to education and financial issues. This has provided the students with the understanding that we do care not only about their educational situations, but also about them personally. This has proven to be a very effective way to get the students to open up to us and be willing to talk about many issues. Our school has the best retention in the entire company, that consists of 17 schools. We have maintained this level of retention by using the process mentioned above, and also other methods as well. Being active in the students lives outside of school in extracurricular activities has given me the chance to have the student body see me on a different level as well. I am an advisor for our student councle, and am very active with the student body.
At our campus we have a multitude of systems in place, we have a group of instructors that work with students that want to drop a course of study, this program has worked well at retaining students sometimes they lose sight of why they came to school and this group does a great job of listening and helping the students regain their focus. Also we have just started a program for the new students coming in we are having the students write down their goals and after their first course and at various intervals staff will meet with them to make sure that they are still focused and working towards these goals. This should allow us to be much more proactive and help the students before they become so stressed that they may want to withdraw from school.
We have a complete student services organization to respond when an instructor identifies a student that has displayed a problem. This includes counseling, housing, emergency food cards, social services, etc. We attempt to save every student. Of course we can't, but we try.
We use an electronic grade book so that the education managers can look at the grades of all students for the courses they over see. we also gave permission to our student services people so that they can follow up with studnet that they may know are struggling. we also incourged our students to us peer tutors along with instructor tutors at no charge to the studnet. some of our courses are also set up with an on line tutor system that the students can us at the school or at home. I had mention early in the class is that the school will pull so many students each day to see how everything is going and what help we may provide them to be successfull in school.
Great question, James ... and one that doesn't have an easy answer.
One fundamental difference is the age of the students. When a student reaches the age of 18 they are empowered to make confidentiality decisions on their own. Parental consent is required for students attending the local K-12 schools. This protects the student is some odd ways. For example, the college is not free to provide information about attendance and academic performance to parents unless the student has authorized the disclosure - even if Mom and Dad are paying the bill.
Many higher ed institutions include a reference to how personal information will be handled in their enrollment agreement. Institutions approach this differently but it is a topic that you might want to discuss. If students are notified in advance that information about their behavior and performance will be shared - and they sign off on the policy, you may be able to develop new procedures.
There are many different interpretations of the law; decisions should be made with the help of counsel.
I do not have a policy that works but a general question that nags at me in almost every forum.
That is that while the institution I work for is under the Federal requirement about Confidentiality. But when attending a local Teachers forum which included the local public school system, those teachers are provided with a continuing folder/history of all thier students for all types of behavior, learning methods, disruptions etc. What separates the public school system from the higher education system on this? Why are we the instructors at this level denied this tool?
We have advising forms. When you see a student breaking the rules you fill out the form noting their behaviors. You have the student sign the form proving that they are aware of this note that will be on their record. This usually stops the behavior they are displaying and lets them know you mean business.
An intervention practice at our school that addresses Academic Erosion is our retention committee. Through this committee, instructors are encouraged to identify students in need, who may be missing time, or who just present a different affect than previously observed. From here we have a Success Instructor, one individual whose role is to sit down with these identified students and help them identify what is going on and why. This instructor has the industry experience that our students came to school for so he has an advantage at reaching students, he is where they wanted to be when they signed up for school. Thanks for asking.
our school has a team that identifies problems with students before they drop out
at our school we have a team that contacts students on the edge of failure and attempts to reach a solution so the student can be successful
Since we are in tough economic times, the alternative to staying in school has become less attractive. I try to impress upon students that when times are tough, staying in school will better prepare them for when they do graduate and things turn around in the economy. I believe if they have this mind set, they are more likely to stay if the financial opportunities work out.
Academic stagnation is reduced by having potential employers speak to the students about the industry direction as well as their business plans for the future. The student can then see there is a reward for all their hard work.
We use an advising form, if an instructor sees that a student is having academic problems/attendance problems, they talk to the student, have them sign the form and pass it along to the education manager for follow up.
In a "new" effort to increase retention, students are called (phone) if they are not in school. During all uneteractions with students instructors are encouraged to assure the studetns that their success is important to each and every one of us. Basically we try to show them that we CARE about their ambitions, their goals and their welfare.
Yes, they are paid. Sometimes they are in the actual classroom during student activities or in the lab assisting with lab tasks. At this time the instructional staff will listen to the instruction provided by the tutor to make sure it is valid information. Most tutors, if they have questions they cannot answer will ask an instructor and/or refer the student to an instructor for the correct answer. They typically retain their position until they graduate. All the tutors that I personally have had contact with after graduation are having successful careers. Some have even come back to teach and some have progressed into management positions.
The manager review is intriguing. How often do they intervene to direct more support for students?
