Retention Calls
I have had a huge increase in retention when I began calling students immediately when they miss class. But, the other part is that once you reach them you have to stay positive about their chances of catching up once they return to class. I offer to email them missed information and assignments so that when they come back they will not be as far behind. Once students realized that I do care how they do in my classes and that I am here to help them be successful they now contact me before they miss class. I have also found that the number of overall absences drops, because I don't have students saying to themselves 'well I already missed two classes so what's another class going to hurt'. I ask them to treat class like their job; you cannot 'no call no show' for a job so they should not start the habit with class. They have really taken the concept to heart and generally my attendance rates have increased and the length of consecutively missed classes has decreased.
Our school started doing this. I think it's important for the student to just know someone cares enough to reach out.
It is a great practice to call or use any means necessary to contact the student when they miss class. I always send an email out right after the class, informing the student of the material they missed and upcoming assignments or exams. I offer my assistance or availability to discuss their attendance issues and always encourage the students to feel free to contact me as soon as they know they are going to be late or absent from class.
Absolutely Important ,It makes a difference to the students when we call if they were absent for the day. A Student will return to class and say to the instructor, how happy they were that the instructor called to inquire of their absence and how special it made them feel, they feel appreciated and special. Sometimes the student was about to quit but the phone call was a means to change their mind.
It is important to contact student through all means possible when he/she misses class (telephone, Email etc..) the longer we wait to contact the student the more we are at risk of losing that student. By contacting them shows that we care.
Travia,
I have used this on occasion...always interesting how they tend to respond better to social media or texts. You do, however, need to keep it as 'private' as possible; utilizing the private inbox as you've indicated.
Susan Backofen
Encouragement and tutoring schedule is a positive reinforcement. Also make the students more active in the program
Susan,
How do you feel about reaching out to students via Social Media? If a student hasnt responded to an email or a phone call, do you think it is appropriate to send a private " Inbox message"?
Teresa,
It never ceases to amaze me how many people will respond to emails and texts versus answering the phone. My children do the same thing! They may not answer my call but will always respond to an email or text. This is probably something we should make better use of in our retention efforts.
Susan Backofen
Our faculty contact students each day they are out from class if we have not heard back. Additionally, once a student realizes that they have opportunity to success, even with a stint of consecutive absences, or poor performance in class, they are always far more motivated to continue to strive for success.
In the age of technology, we have also employed the use of emails that remind students of the strict attendance policy, where they stand within it, an offering of support and community c=resources, and a request for contact. We get a pretty strong response from the emails as well - often from those that we cannot reach via phone.
I agree with you, I have had great success with student retention once we started to call when they miss class. Encouragement and tutoring schedule is a positive reinforcement for the student to still be able to catch up on missed information.
