Glad to hear the system is working, Paul. Keep up the good work.
We have a similar approach at our campus. The faculty meets with the academic dean on a daily basis during the first break that our students get. We report any absentees, and a phone call is made to the student. The phone call and any other communication with the student is documented so follow up can be communicated and completed as a team.
We council students that are falling behind in work or attendance. I feel this gives the student the opportunity to discuss any issues they may have.
It is successful more often than not. Although I have not done a compelete analysis of student returns with calls vs student non-return with calls, it is always favorable feedback when the student simply states before hanging up "thanks for checking on me" and you get positive feedback that the relationship is building.
my school conducts daily meetings after the first hour of classes, where we address any missing students or other concerns faculty and staff may have. then we follow up that same day with phone calls and/or emails, just so students know that we care and are concerned about them.
Paul, how successful is the calling program? Are you usually successful connecting with a student who is absent? How often is that sufficient to get them to come in for the rest of the class?
Melanie, what sort of surprises have you gotten from the feedback several days after they have started? Is it consistent, suggesting some corrective action?
We begin before the student's first day, with a phone call from the PD to welcome the student to the specific program. We then follow up as others have mentioned with phone calls of the student is absent from class. We try to make those calls during the first break, which if contacted, will still allow the student enough time to come in for the last several hours of class.
We make personal contact with each of our students in each class. Also if they are missing from class and haven't participated in a while, we follow up with them personally.
Our school makes use of a suggestion box and we do several surveys through out a students "time" here. We also contact the students shortly before they start their "program" and again several days AFTER they have started to see how things are going. Our orientation program is pretty extensive as well.
I truly believe it greatly enhances student success. When a student sees our level of commitment to him as a person, and to his future success, this helps him believe in himself. Believing in self, and in one's dream motivates a person to put forth his best effort and persist even when the going gets tough, which it does.
Melissa, could you please share more information about the process of relieving burdensome assignments? I imagine that a lot of people could benefit from reviewing what they assign and why.
And then what, Yahaira? Does anyone have responsibility for investigating why the student was absent?
Terrell, how often do you get resistance from students about sharing their cell numbers? That is protected information that they don't have to provide to other students?
I believe teaching students to be responsible for their lives is one of the most valuable lessons we can teach - even if means making some accommodations.
Nyssa, sounds like a culture where everyone is involved with the students. How effective has this been in improving student success?
All instructors are involved in making sure the student comes to class. If the student misses 2 days in a row we will call or text them.
Taking a pro-active approach to prevent academic failure. Early intervention to our Success Center and relieving burdensome assignments to more meaningful ones aimed at improving our national board results. Also, keeping in contact with graduates sends a message of care. All of these practices demonstrates our school commitment to student success.
At my campus we have the students exchange cell phone numbers and they call eachother for clarity with assignmet, tell assignments to students that are absent and for study group. we as the instructor encourage this to have more of a school commitment. This helps bring them together for a better experience as a committed student.
This is a real dilemma. On the one hand, as Ralph writes, there's a removal of personal responsibility from the student, which won't be duplicated in the work world. But on the other, if we don't check on them and continue to counsel them, we can easily lose them. And they lose the opportunity of a new career. This is especially true of students who come to us from a background in which not much was expected, nor was the concept of responsibility a focus during their upbringing. So taking personal responsibility isn't part of their experience.
