Attention Equals Retention
What does your school do to unequivocally demonstrate you are paying attention to your students?
we take attendance every day and when a student is absent for a day we follow up the next day with the student about why they where absent
Our school takes attendance daily. Absences are followed up with phone calls/emails that inquire about the absence and instructs on information that was missed that day.
When our students leave to go home, we always try to say something positive to them to make them feel good. Such as, I am proud of you; good job today.
If a student has a bad day/bad quiz, we emphasize on the better days to come.
We have implemented a 1-2-3 program. At the student's first absence, the instructor calls and emails. At the student's second consecutive absence, the instructor and the Program Director call. At the student's third consecutive absence, the instructor, the Program Director, and the Dean reach out to the student.
we are a small campus and regularly see our students coming to and from class. We acknowledge them and say hello when they pass by our offices. They will often stop by to chat and let us know how they are doing and if there is anything going on in their life. If a student is absent we will follow up in student services to see why they missed class.
Brian ,
This is good advice. Being genuine is very important in building effective relationships with students.
Jeffrey Schillinger
We do what we say we are going to do. Be who we say we are. I walk the halls on break times and talk to the students, so they know someone is available to help them at anytime.
John,
The key to the success of a calling program is to make sure the call is delivered with the spirit of assistance.
Jeffrey Schillinger
In the past we asked faculty to call a student when he or she was absent. We still ask the faculty to contact the student, but we recently started a program in which someone from the management team reaches out to an absent student. Still early in the process, but it seems to be working and it sends a message that we care about their attendance and their welfare.
One of the ways our school dose this is getting the support staff into the classrooms before class starts to talk with our students, give them answer to their questions and find out what is going on in their lives.
Debra,
This is a pretty common strategy that really does work.
Jeffrey Schillinger
We share our attendance with the entire staff through email each day. We include consecutive absences and reason of absence. In addition, we have a retention committee that meets once a week. The group consists of the Director of Education, the OLC, the librarian, the registrar, an administration rep, and a representative from each program. We discuss attendance and make contact with students who are struggling and monitor progress.
We do this as well. Once a week we have "one on one's" with our Instructors where we discuss the disposition of the Students a develop plans of action on how we may assist any in need.
We have added twice weekly retention focused meetings to stay on top of student attendance. All of our retention team members work closely with our faculty and staff to communicate directly with students, encourage them and mentor their behaviour to try and keep them engaged and moving forward, John
Thomas,
This is a great system. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Kristie,
This is a great system. Thanks for sharing it.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Our school has the instructors contact the students daily from the first day of an absence. We meet regularly with student who have missed 3 or more consecutive days (after they return). We assign groups of students to each individual department head to contact the students weekly to check on their progress and see how they are doing mentally with school. I am actually the deprtment head of our accounting department, but even I have a group of students each week that I have to contact and check in with them to see how they are doing and to see if I have anything experiences that might help them on their journey.
To demonstrate we are paying attention to our students, we do several things. First, if a student does not show up for class, the Instructor or TA calls to find out if the student is okay and let them know what they missed. They turn those notes in to Student Services and we enter them into the system. If they are absent for a few more days, Student Services will call. We are able to look at the notes and then call and say "I know you have been out becuase so and so (i.e. you have been sick), are you feeling any better? When do you expect to return.
We also do several activities on campus to show we are paying attention. We involve all programs and try to have them all come together.
William,
Thanks for being there for your students.
Jeffrey Schillinger
