Our school has made a clear commitment to student achievement. In addition to a gereralized commitment to serve the needs of the students, we have a department of Student Service Coordinators who are tasked with answering student's concerns.
The students are very proactive, they make suggestions for new activities and events and I usually include the student reps as part of the event planning team when I plan school events. They also make suggestions to the instructors about their teaching style, they communicate to us how the class is doing and feeling about the course material. Student reps usually know what students are doing well and who is suffering through daily class interactions. I've even had a student rep ask me if there was anything he could do to help a struggling classmate. Our courses range between 9 months and 24 months, so our class reps last from the beginning of the program to the end. If a class rep withdraws or is terminated (has not happened) we would probably have the class re-vote for a new class rep.
Does this group of students take a proactive role in suggesting activities or improvements or are they more like the voice of the students who provide feedback to your group? Do the students stay on the panel until they graduate or do they rotate periodically? How do you handle replacements if warranted?
We have class reps for each new class. The class votes for who they want as the class rep and then that person acts as the liaison between faculty and students. These class reps meet monthly with myself, our director of education, our head supervisor, and the school director. It has been very beneficial thus far.
Great environment! I hope your students appreciate it.
We definitely keep track of attendance and our instructors will call students that are missing. During the admissions process we review challenges that may come up; we even write down the solutions together. This process has helped keep attendance high. Students interact among themselves and on their own share phone numbers in the event something happens and they need help with transportation. The entire staff stresses that everyone here has the same goal…to graduate…knowing that similar goals exist brings our students closer together.
Our school also provides easy access to community health and human services, we are very fortunate to live in a community that provides real people, real answers, and real help with the simple dialing of 211. Our school has several staff members that belong to volunteer groups; these groups provide assistances to those in need; when staff members attend these meetings and bring back and post information for our students I consider that service above and beyond…
We have an excellent Student Services that provides follow up that continues throughout their career! When the student graduates they are allowed to continue attending brush up courses until they are hired as long as there are no more than 30 days in between attendance! We can never guarantee employment. During this time of economic stress who wouldn’t want to attend a school that stands behind their students until they are employed!
Each instructor teaches one class and sometimes but very rarely two. Each class is four hours so the instructor has time to call the students. It is a way that the students know that we know they are not here and care about them being in class. Each teacher has a log form that they fill out that shows they called each student.
How do you monitor faculty calls to students who missed class? Do they have to complete some sort of log or form?
It seems that this practice could be very time consuming, particularly now with so many people being absent with flu symptoms? How do the faculty find time to make contact with everyone?
The practices at our intsitution that demonstrate school commitment first starts with the instructor who call students when they are not in class to check on them and inform them of what they missed that day. Then if students miss two to three days the calls then go up to the registrar and the education manager. From there if students continue to miss days letters and emails are sent out. We encourage students to be in class with Perfect attendance certificates and High honors certificates that are given out each term. So the commitment starts in the class room
What a great way to let students know that it's alright to seek help.
We actually do fun, group exercises that get the students interacting. One such exercise is where we have a sheet with all sorts of specifics such as birth month, have a dog or cat, etc. and then they walk around and try to match with the other students. It gets them up moving around and meeting other entering students. The students are given a survey about their experience in the Grad Preview. e.g what other things would they like to see in the Grad Preview, etc.
Sounds very thorough. Do you have activity breaks so students can re-charge and meet other entering students? Do you survey the students about their experience?
How do these SSCs connect with students? Who initiates the action? Are students assigned to a specific SSC for their period of enrollment?
Our school does a New Student Orientation which we call a "Grad Preview". (For obvious reasons!) Each department has their staff individually introduce themselves. Education, Financial Aid, Admissions, Career Services, etc. We go through every aspect of the student starting school. How to order books, when to pick up their schedules, school policies and classroom rules, how to get help, and so on. We spend several hours with them and have multiple sessions each quarter offering day and night and even Saturday. This starts the student out on a very positive note and shows the school's commitment.
Student advisors play a very important role in student retention. They follow-up with all students if they have missed classes, are not doing well academically and assist them with developing a study plan and time management skills to help balance school, work and life issues. As a faculty member I follow-up with my students each week, send reminders about missing assignments and encourage them to contact me with questions. Faculty and staff at our school sign a committment to student success which is a key value of our school. I can't imagine working for a school that does not have service to their learners as a core value.
Our school has a whole team of Student Service Coordinators (SSCs). These SSCs are available to listen to the students and to help them get the answsers that they need to stay on the path to graduation.
GREAT activity Kimberly!
Thanks for sharing! I think that's one lots of us might want to "borrow"!
John
We hold Student Pep Rallys on the second Monday of class and use the opportunity to recognize students for perfect attendance and high GPA's.
Our Campus President does an activity where she fills 3 big black garbage bags with blown up balloons. She talks to the students about how "issues" will come up for them throughout their time on campus and how important it is to not only ask for help, but offer it when you see that it's needed. Then she asks for volunteers and as they stand in front of the group, we hand them balloon after balloon until they literally can't hold all of them and they're dropping them everywhere.
The balloons represent the "issues" we just discussed and it's amazing how they NEVER ask for help from the other students to hold all of their balloons and no one in the audience offers to help.
It makes a really great visual and the students walk out of the rally really 'getting it'.
That's excellent Susan,
Our list seems to gravitate up and down, but for sure, there is a much better understanding of the importance of retention efforts by the faculty!
John
Several quarters ago we began dedicating one full faculty meeting around the 4th week of the quarter to identifying all students we determined were at risk at that particular time of the quarter. We listed on a large whiteboard all names and issues from personal, attendance or genuine academic need. Instructors then partnered to work with the student to remedy the situation. We've seen results from this effort and the instructors have learned to work a bit differently as a team. It has certainly shown our students that there is commitment on the part of the academic team working to ensure success. We feel this has helped the retention effort at our institution as each subsequent quarter our list seems to be have fewer names.
