A great list! Are you actively involved with any of these activities? Which have the most impact on retention?
We have a food pantry to help students, we have a counselor, part time job help, we have car pools and have different activities such as car shows,drag races and bowling leagues.
It's great to hear about a system that works. I hope from time to time you tell your colleagues how much you appreciate them.
ONE of the many services we offer the student body that I depend on as an Instructor is our Student Services department. Help for a student in need, that has a problem or concern, that is beyond my scope of influence is only a phone call away. Reume building, housing, counsuling, tutoring, food pantry, they have never failed me or my students yet. That builds trust and shows we care about thier success.
we offer many different ways to be successful, we handel each case as needed
We Have Tutors(Student,Staff)That Our Students Can Goto For Help If Needed And Also We Have A Online Tutoring Program That Can Be Used At Home Or School Which Ever The Student Choose To Do All They Have To Do Is Goto Our Student Services Dept.& Sign Up We Have Computers For Them To Use If They Have No Access To The Internet At Home
Anthony, please share some information about the mechanics of the student union. How are the students selected? Does your school provide money to them? What issues do they address?
at out school we have a student union where student can voice opinions and concerns. various events.student of course monthly awards these programs keep students
students are given a chance to voice there excuses for lifes little inconviences that occure this will allow them at times and with unique circumstance to get time back or to be able to make up time in a class to help them achieve their goals.which helps retention and the student they dont have to spend extra money and time to get thru a class and the school saves by keeping the student in class a single class not two or three classes to get the same results.
Our institution provides many methods to enable students to better themselves academically. There is an online learning process, a tutoring process, a program known as "Success Thursday" where a student who has missed time may make it up by attending the same class during a different shift, and an overall positive atmosphere provided for the students. There are student counselors available, an employment division, and many extracurricular student activities which often capture their interests. Students here have to try real hard to fail in their endeavors, since being successful is generally far easier. They do, however, earn their certifications.
We have what is called an "Outstanding Attendance Award" program where the class that has the best attendance wins a pizza party and pin. This shows commitment on the students part to come to school and not be absent.
The day to day core values [TRUST,WISDOM,CARING,INNOVATION,COURAGE,FUN]and the teamwork to apply them exhibit a strong commitment to changing students future prospects for the better one day at a time.
At our location we have student union meetings every week to try and let the students speak out about issues or things going on at the campus that they feel need to be addressed...the students really work hard at trying to get all students to participate and the meetings have helped to make some changes at the campus to make everyones experience at the school more pleasant.
We have a STAR Team system that links every student to a faculty 'advisor'. The student is tracked by the advisor for the entire length of the program. Weekly meetings share student information to head off problems as early as possible. Missing consecutive days, sickness, personal problems etc.
Follow up on any evaluation that a student puts their name on.
The instructors and the staff use every source possible to retain any student that might be on the edge. We have an open door policy where the students can come forward with any problem(s) they may have. We are also trained to identify problems as we become aware of them. Once we are aware we try to open communication with the student and if it is a bigger problem then we (the instructors) are able to aide, we then walk the student to someone who can. Retention is the key to the students success as well as ours as instructors and role models. Release of the stress will relieve the strain.
At our school, we have had some training about retention.We have been informed of ways to identify students with troubles and where to send them for help if we cannot help them ourselves.There is also a student success facilitator position, an instructor who helps students with problems.
A while back as instructors we encouraged our students to trade phone numbers so that if they over slept or needed a ride they would have someone to contact or be contacted by. Then if a student was absent we would ask who has Mr./Ms. ____Phone # and ask them to call them and find out why they were not in class. Worked pretty good. Many times a students alarm would not work, or car failed, and the peer to peer involvement gave them ownership. We have evolved that into also asking the students on a voluntary basis to supply the instructor with a phone # and we would call them in their absence. Finally we just started where a department manager will check the roll call on the first day of class and since managers have access to students records will call them to find out why they are missing class. Using all three parts we showed them that we cared and were committed to their success. We are starting to see better attendance. With better attendance you have better grades, and happier more successful students.
Where to start... we have both peer and teacher tutoring programs... housing programs both before a student starts and while here....roomates and carpooling to help save students some money... food pantry in case they run out before the next pay check... taxi services in your car breaks down or if your ride has to leave before the student gets out of class... help filling out f/aid forms and fafsa forms.. this is just what comes to mind truth be told I could use a list to look at when tring to help a student because I cant keep track of all the programs.
Our institution is now calling students who have missed the first hours of the first day of our short three week course cycles. This is designed to get them to class and increase their chances of success. Over half the students that miss the first day of the course cycle fail. This is a fact. If we can decrease the percentage of students that miss the first day we will surely improve our completion and retention. This phone call often evokes expressions of gratitude from students that now see that someone really cares.
