We work on an internal report of student academic and attendance which we call our "red, yellow, green" program. We use it toidentify students who are in green status - high gpa and attendance, to students who are in red status and not meeting expectations. We meet with our teachers on a weekly basis to discuss these two measures as well as attitudes and anything else that might be a rising concern.
We also use academic advisements to let the students know how they are doing, and to let them know if they are in danger of academically failing.
We review academic progress at the completion of each unit. The students are given a "unit grade report" showing them how well the have done.
If satisfactory academics have not been met, then the instructors counsel the student as to why they think this has occurred, and what they can do to improve. The instructor adds suggestions, study habit skill, tutoring, etc..
The student and instructor agree to this "success plan" and move forward to improve academics. These "success plans" are also used for any other difficulties the student maybe having.
If academics or other issues continue then the student is referred to the program's director.
Jerry, who oversees the early alert system? How are results evaluated?
Sounds like a very proactive approach. Has it improved student satisfaction and persistence? Have the faculty embraced this system?
We have midterm advisory forms that are filled out for students having difficulties. All the students in my class know how they are doing throughout the course as I am available to them on an ongoing basis.
We have academic intervention during the term. Our instructors also offer tutoring. Instructors can initiate tutoring sessions or students can initiate.
I believe the earlier we can identify a problem, the better chance we have at an intervention being successful. If we wait to long the situaion may become to great for the student to handle or become to late for the institution to step in and have positive results.
Students who are having difficulties are advised by their instructors. They will be offered support and advise on how to succeed in class. At Mid Term, students are given a written form on class progress to let them know how they are doing as well as also offering suggestions for success.
We too have academic advisement. We do this at each midpoint of the term. We also have an early alert system that recognizes patterns that could potentially lead to an academic issue. Hopefully this early alert can steer the student in the correct direction to prevent any erosion or stagnation from occurring.
We have instructors rate every student in the class every week on how much difficulty the student is in (academically or otherwise) and we ask the instructor what they have done to resolve the difficulty. If the instructor's resolution does not result in a postive change in the students' situation other resources are called in.
Does the student return the answers to the questions? What is the purpose of the questions?
Is the action plan an effective tool to get students back on track? Do they take ownership of the plan and problem?
We start early building trust between our program directors and the students, providing a base for intervention if necesssary. During their first month the PD and the studen have weekly face to face meetings in either the office or in the common area. When instructors see academic erosion or stagnation they are the first line to engage the student if they can handle the problem they do so but they also send an early alret form to the appropriate program director. The PD will then follow up with the instructor and/or refer the student to the appropraite depart,ent/agency/individual to try to help the student resolve the issue before it beccomes a crisis.
We have a counseling form that instructors can fill out for students to give them an idea of how well they are doing in the class. It includes the teacher's recommendations for improvement and a list of questions for the student to answer (a self-assesment). This form can be used at the mid-term but also any time during the term.
For each class missed by a student, each instructor is asked to call him or her to find the reason for the absence. We maintain a call log for this. Another practice that we have, is if a student is in danger of being dropped because of excessive absences, then we are asked to speak with him or her and develop an action plan, which is documented, for him/her to get caught up in the class.
Each week students are given updates of what their grades are to let them know where they stand whether it be good or bad that way if students are not doing very well, it gives them a chance to implement a plan of what needs to take place in order for them to improve
Our student satisfaction surveys (which can be anonymous) ask how students feel about their current courses and instructors. If a course or instructor gets overall low marks those areas would be addressed looking at curriculum/syllabi and instructor efficacy. Our Student Success Coordinator has an open-door policy for anyone needing to step in and just chat or air out problems. As a new employee of only 8 days I am not yet in a position of full knowledge of this institution's practices but I am learning each day.
The conversations are one on one. We schedule a day for the students to meet with each student, during class time. The conversations can last 2 minutes if they are having no issues or they can be 15 minutes if they have concerns and questions. It's a great way to not "lose" a student that is struggling or afraid to ask for help. If a student is struggling, this is a time to schedule a tutoring session and or counseling session. I don't really see a negative to the conference. Time consuming? Not really. But then of course we have 25 students in the day program. So that really is only and hour and a half of time if everyone took 5 minutes.
When are these pre-counsel forms used? Is there a follow up form that goes into the student's file?
