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Dr. Josephine Reed-Taylor Chief Academic Officer Technical College System of Georgia 1800 Century Place, NE Atlanta, Georgia 30345-4304 December 2015
Contents Albany Technical College ........................................................................................ 8 Overview ......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Goals................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Student Success and Implementation Team................................................................................................................. 14 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Athens Technical College...................................................................................... 18 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Goals.............................................................................................................................................................................. 18 Student Success Implementation Team........................................................................................................................ 27 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29
Atlanta Technical College...................................................................................... 31 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Goals.............................................................................................................................................................................. 31 Student Success Implementation Team........................................................................................................................ 38 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................................... 39
Augusta Technical College ................................................................................... 41 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Goals.............................................................................................................................................................................. 41 Student Success Implementation Team........................................................................................................................ 44 Conclusion and Next Steps............................................................................................................................................ 45
Central Georgia Technical College ....................................................................... 54 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................... 54 Goals by Performance Metric: ...................................................................................................................................... 54 Student Success Implementation Team........................................................................................................................ 61 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 62 Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63
Chattahoochee Technical College ........................................................................ 66 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................... 66 Goals.............................................................................................................................................................................. 68 Student Success and Implementation Team................................................................................................................. 75 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................... 77 Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................................... 78
Coastal Pines Technical College .......................................................................... 80 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................... 80 Goals.............................................................................................................................................................................. 80 Student Success Implementation Team........................................................................................................................ 86 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 87 Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................................... 87
Columbus Technical College ................................................................................ 91 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................... 91 Goals.............................................................................................................................................................................. 92 Student Success Implementation Team........................................................................................................................ 98 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 98 Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................................... 98
Georgia Piedmont Technical College ................................................................. 101 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 101 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 103 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 108 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 109 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 110
Georgia Northwestern Technical College .......................................................... 113 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 113 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 113 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 120 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 121 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 121
Gwinnett Technical College ................................................................................ 124 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 124 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 124 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 133 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 133 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 134
Lanier Technical College ..................................................................................... 136 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 136 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 136 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 142 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 144 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 144
North Georgia Technical College ........................................................................ 148 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 148 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 148 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 154 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 154 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 155
Oconee Fall Line Technical College ................................................................... 157 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 157 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 158 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 164 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 164 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 165
Ogeechee Technical College ............................................................................... 167 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 167 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 167 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 176 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 176 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 177
Savannah Technical College ............................................................................... 179 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 179 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 179 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 187 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 188 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 188
Southeastern Technical College ......................................................................... 191 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 191 Goals: .......................................................................................................................................................................... 191 Student Success Implementation Team: .................................................................................................................... 197 Conclusion: .................................................................................................................................................................. 197 Next Steps: .................................................................................................................................................................. 199
Southern Crescent Technical College ................................................................ 202 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 202 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 203 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 209 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 210 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 211
South Georgia Technical College ....................................................................... 214 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 214 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 214 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 218 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 218 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 219
Southern Regional Technical College ................................................................ 221 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 221 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 221 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 237 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 238 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 239
West Georgia Technical College ......................................................................... 246 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 246 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 246 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 254 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 254 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 255
Wiregrass Georgia Technical College ................................................................ 258 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 258 Goals............................................................................................................................................................................ 258 Student Success Implementation Team...................................................................................................................... 264 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 265 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................... 266
Albany Technical College
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Albany Technical College Overview According to #DC241, 2015 Report-CCA Report Year 2014, between the years of 2007-2012, Albany Technical College’s (ATC) full time student population grew from 2,012 to 3,889 students, a percentage increase of 93% over the five year span. The population Albany Technical College serves has continued to be largely homogeneous in its racial makeup, with Black (non-Hispanic) being the largest racial group. Black (non-Hispanic) students from 2007-2012, experienced a growth increase of 135% while the White, (non-Hispanic) students only experienced a 3% increase. In 2007, Black (nonHispanic) students represented 67% of the full time population, and in 2012, this population represented 81% of the full time student population. Between the same time span, the college’s male population experienced a percentage increase by 72%, however the data indicated that females still outnumbered the male population. In 2007, the female population represented 58% of the full time student population and in 2012, represented 63% of the total full time students. As an additionally note, the college’s greatest age population between the noted years were those twenty-five and over. This population group experienced a 117% increase from 2007 to 2012, representing 54% of the full time population in 2007 and representing 61% of the full time population in 2012. The data indicated that students who received Pell grants showed a percentage increase of 191% from 2007-2012. ATC recognizes that this data suggests that age, gender and socio-economic status are the largest factors to consider when structuring course delivery and interventions. ATC recognizes that these populations that represent the largest portion of the school’s population present specific needs, and perhaps challenges, that traditional students do not. This includes but is not limited to variation of learning styles, working circumstances and social constraints. While these conditions may not be exclusive to females, low income or nontraditional students, they are much more prominent in them. These factors influence the design and the execution of all of the college’s strategies and interventions created to aid student success. ATC works to ensure that working families and/or nontraditional students have the necessary platform for ideal learning, proper accessibility to courses and materials, and most effective teaching delivery to provide the optimum opportunity for student success.
Goals Albany Technical College continues to strive to not only meet but exceed expectations in the goal areas of retention, remedial education success, and graduation rates. As such, the college has engaged in a number of interventions, strategies, and measurement tools to help increase desired results within these areas. The major strategies include the continued participation with Achieving the Dream (ATD), the continued modification to the Enrollment, Retention, Completion and Placement Program Review and Technical Assistance Process (DREAM Report), and the creation of three (3) internal Lean Six Sigma Teams (LSS) to identify and alleviate systemic issues impacting recruitment, matriculation and graduation rates. Each of these three strategies identified above is briefly addressed herein relative to the performance metric(s) most closely associated with the respective strategy. Increase the number of graduates: Performance Metric(s)- ATC utilizes various KMS (#DC119, #DC241, #DC265, #CR263), CCG(#DC293, #294), and internal data reports to measure the college’s success in increasing the number of graduates. Additionally, the college utilizes a projected graduate report each term to help determine how many graduates the college has. Strategies/Interventions- Achieving the Dream; Six Sigma Teams; Enrollment, Retention, Placement, Graduation ATC aims to increase graduation and placement rates. ATC uses KMS as well as internal data to track the college’s CCG and general graduation progress. Per #DC241, a comparison of degree production between the years 2007-2012 showed an overall percentage increase for students who obtained certificates/diplomas production within one year, less than two years, and less than four years.
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Degree production for certificates/diplomas obtained less than two years gained the largest percentage increase at 123%. The data also indicated that degree production for associate degrees obtained experienced a large percentage increase of 327% between years 2007-2012. Analyzing #DC241, students obtaining a credential within 150% of time, at 33%, there was no percentage change from RY 2014 and RY 2015 between full time students who obtained certificate/diploma credential. However, part-time students showed a 4% graduation rate (certificate/diploma) decrease from RY 2014 (24%) to RY 2015 (20%). The data also indicated that full time associate degree graduation rates within 150% of time showed a 4% increase from RY 2015 (14%) to RY 2015 (18%). Per KMS #CR263, ATC realized a 22% (325) increase for AAS graduates over AY 2014 (267). Additionally based on #DC293 Degree Production Goal Tracker, ATC has continued to surpass our CCA graduate goal with AY2015 exceeding it by 23% for a total of 1,429. Of the 1,427 graduates, 311 received an AAS. To date, ATC is at 71% of its CCG 2020 goal, 77% of its cumulative TCCG graduates goal and has exceeded our CCG cumulative Goals through AY 2015 by 149%. The table below shows a summary of ATC’s Complete College Georgia as well as overall graduate summary. Table 1.1 ATC Graduate Summary Complete College Graduates Percentage of CCG Goal Met Unduplicated Graduates Technical Certificates of Credit Diplomas Associate Degrees Total Awards Placed in Field by Program Total Placement Cumulative CCG Goals through AY 2015 CCG Goal by 2020 Cumulative TCCG Graduates to Date/CCG Goal by 2020= Met to Date
1429 71% 1810 1958 920 325 3203 93% 99% (77%)7119 10,627 13,795 (149%) 10,627
ATC believes, along with quality instruction, the continued participation with Achieving the Dream (ATD), which focuses heavily on data measurement, is one of the contributors that has aided the college in continuing to meet and/or exceed expectations for degree production and completion. Through ATD, ATC identified priority areas and have implemented various interventions that allow the college to measure its effectiveness around student enrollment and navigation, advisement, late registrants, and gateway courses (General Education and Learning Support). An additional strategy employed by the college focuses on Enrollment, Retention, Completion and Placement. ATC continues to modify and utilize the DREAM report, launched Summer 2013, as it has been found to provide meaningful program specific data for faculty and academic affairs leadership on how each program performed from term to term in the areas of in-field placement (80%), program retention (70%), and the attraction of five new students per fulltime faculty per program. Per past DREAM reports, ATC maintained on average a 70% retention rate for AY 2015. However, the reports also indicated that approximately half of the programs do not meet the retention benchmark for each term. Through continued data mining, the college identified that during Summer 2015, 11% of the retained population from Spring 2015 to Summer 2015 were documented as having migrated into different programs of study from one term to the next. This directly affects programs’ retention rates term to term. The college is investigating further to understand reasons behind the program shifts and how the college can help to limit these occurrences. Albany Technical College | 9
Leadership for programs that have consistently met or exceeded the performance benchmarks were recognized with a presidential award for teaching and learning. The recognition during an awards luncheon served as inspiration for other faculty members to work toward meeting or exceeding the benchmarks in future terms. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness holds the responsibility of tracking the performance outcomes for each program and provides an analysis of performance to determine the awards recipients. Performance within all three academic year semesters (summer, fall, spring) were analyzed to determine performance. For AY 2015, a category for General Education instructors was added, as the college found that they played a critical role in not only aiding students through gateway courses but also providing them with the skills needed to be successful within their program areas. Three (3) General Education instructors were chosen based on the overall retention rates of cohort beginning in their class Summer 2014 through Spring 2015. Graduation rates and average GPA of those students were also taken into account in the selection of the instructors. Leadership (administrators & faculty) for programs that did not meet one or more of the benchmark areas within the DREAM report were requested to participate in the program review process that includes written documentation of any noted causes and plan of action to improve the measure/s. The review process is designed to promote dialogue, garner ideas, and ultimately improve enrollment, retention, completion and placement. A consolidated report is drafted with faculty members and deans for the President and members of senior staff. In addition to the DREAM report, the college also monitored students that identified as continuing their education (#DC119) and provided a full report to the President, per semester within AY 2015, on the status of each student. This report was organized by division and program of study and indicated which students have graduated with the highest credential within their respective programs, those that were not retained, those that were still enrolled, and those that were on academic/financial suspension. Students on academic/financial probation were also noted within the report and shared with appropriate personnel to either continue advisement of those students enrolled and/or pursue rerecruitment of those students not retained. In conjunction to the above strategies, Spring 2015, ATC secured a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt consultant to lead three internal multi-disciplinary and intra-departmental Lean Six Sigma teams in identifying opportunities to improve student enrollment, retention and graduation rates. These teams employ the use of Lean Six Sigma methodologies to help the college mitigate loss in relation to process, time, and resources. These teams have begun to investigate root causes of process bottlenecks, duplication of efforts, and other identified non-value added steps that impede students from having the maximum service within the college. Resources Allocated: ATC has been an ATD college since 2012. The contract between ATC and ATD includes visits with data coaches twice a year to help the college move forward with its initiatives. Additionally the college has pulled together an ATD core team, comprised of vice presidents, deans, faculty and staff. The core is coordinated by a full time staff member who utilizes a percentage of her time to coordinate the group, which meets bi-weekly to discuss the interventions and progress. ATD leans heavily on data to measure student success. Thus, all of the college’s initiatives are continuously monitored by its data team. For AY 2015, the data team provided an analysis of the outcomes for each of its initiatives on enrollment and gateway courses. The core team utilized this information to strengthen, modify, or continue efforts around these initiatives Analysis of academic grades and student satisfactory surveys shows evidence that positive changes are occurring throughout the college. ATC believes that these changes will help the college retain and graduate its students at a greater level than previous years. ATC will continue to survey its students and improve on the activities and collaborations as deemed necessary. For the college’s Six Sigma teams a Black Belt consultant has been allocated to help lead three teams: a total of twenty-seven faculty, staff and deans. Obstacles: The Lean Six Sigma teams have experienced challenges with the pace at which the work has been implemented across departmental lines. There have been challenges communicating the work throughout the entire organization while keeping the groups motivated and focused on the endpoints.
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There is some resistance to changing systems and work responsibilities as one would expect in any planned transition. To address these challenges, the teams are developing a communications plan for the entire college. Additionally, the college continues to celebrate successes garnered from the teams. The college plans to keep all parties, especially the customers (students) and the stakeholders abreast of progress made toward realizing the college’s Vision. Transform Remediation: Performance Metrics - ATC utilizes KMS #DC241, Grades First, Early Alert and internal data reports to measure the college’s success in transforming remediation. Strategies/Intervention: The use the Academic Achievement Center, Blended Learning Courses, COLL 1020 course Per #DC 241 Year 2015, ATC experienced a total remedial enrollment decline by 21% (353) from RY 2014 total enrollment (445). Students that took remedial Math only for RY 2015 (70%) experienced a 10% completion decrease from RY 2014 (80%). However, the data indicated that students who took English only experienced a 4% increase from RY 2014 (67%) to RY 2015 (71%). Students that took both Math and English remedial courses for RY 2015 (56%) experienced a 2% decrease for completion from RY 2014 (58%). Overall, the total completion rate for remedial courses taken for RY 2015 (66%) realized 2% lower completion rate over RY 2014’s cohort (68%). ATC’s redesign of Learning Support into blended courses has had a positive impact on student success and retention. The college’s blended courses were designed to provide remedial instruction within college credit courses for students that tested within five points of the entry score. These courses have allowed students to still receive the additional help needed to be successful but within a course for which they can receive college credit. Since the redesign of the remedial courses, the college has monitored the success rate of those students. Table 1.3 provides data for AY 2015 to show how students within the blended courses performed in comparison to the general student population. The data indicates that students in the college’s blended courses have maintained a substantially higher pass rate over the overall population pass rate within the noted courses. The college will continue to monitor all students each term and analyze how the groups are performing in comparison to one another. Table1.3 Courses English (All) English(Blended) Math (All) Math (Blended)
English 1010 and Math 1012- Academic Year 2015 Fall 2014 Spring 2015 Pass % Pass % 49% 47% 61% 55% 57% 55% 66% 63%
Summer 2015 Pass % 56% 70% 59% 63%
As noted in ATC’s RY 2014 Progress Report, ATC is committed to maintaining and measuring the impact of the Academic Achievement Center (ACC) after the expiration of the Title III grant in 2013. One of the services provided by the AAC is targeted remediation in the areas of Math and English. The center also aids students with the COMPASS placement test. For Spring 2015, the college conducted an analysis, using data from three instructors, on usage of the AAC as well as the academic outcomes of students who utilized the center. The findings showed that of the documented students that utilized the Center and maintained an enrollment status with the college, 76% indicated that they were seeking help in the areas of Math, English, or improving COMPASS scores. These students demonstrated a collective hour usage of 1,695 for the Fall 2014 semester. Further analysis was done on these students to show their pass/fail rate within their Math and/or English courses and found an overall 67% pass rate. A complete breakdown of the pass/fail rate can be found in Table 1.2. This data would suggest the students benefitted from the additional reinforcement given within the AAC.
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Table 1.2 Pass/ Fail Rate within English and Math for Students utilizing the AAC. Passing total Fail Total Withdraw Total
76 26 12 114
67% 23% 10% 100%
Along with helping to ensure the success in English and math courses with the AAC, ATC also strives to transform remediation and restructure courses in efforts to assist students to be successful as they become prepared for college credit courses. During AY 2015, ATC tracked its remedial enrollment and redesign of remedial courses. Resources: The college commits the time of three faculty members during set hours to assist students in the above noted areas. The AAC is fully equipped with a complete computer lab, study materials, and an administrative assistant. In addition to the creation of English and Math blended courses, General Education instructors of courses identified as those most frequently failed have worked to improve communication with students and offered after-class assistance. The English faculty collaborated on a series of Friday Writing Workshops the last two semesters on such topics as grammar, essay and resume’ writing, oral presentations, research and communication in the 21st Century, which were well attended. These sessions were recorded, and links for them may be added to online course shells for future viewing. All of the instructors participated in the Early Alerts system, and those with provisional students piloted the Technical College System of Georgia’s new retention system, TEAMS, for identifying and helping at-risk students this spring. Obstacles: The above listed data indicates that the AAC is beneficial to the success rate in English and Math, however the college has experienced a challenge with directly correlating hour usage of the center with pass rate scores. As such, the college will continue to refine how data is captured and analyzed for the AAC. There have been no observed challenges with the implementation of blended courses, however changes to the courses will be made as deemed appropriate. Restructure Delivery: Performance Metric(s) - ATC utilizes KMS #DC302 and internal data reports to measure the college’s restructure delivery progress and success. Strategies/Interventions: COMP 1000 redesign, Guided Pathways, Block Scheduling Focus was placed on improving success rates of COMP 1000. The course was redesigned in Fall 2014, as the college found it to be the highest failed course. The redesign has proven to have a substantial benefit for student success with a pass rate increase from Spring 2014 of 47% to Fall 2014’s pass rate of 60%, a 13% increase that has been maintained for two terms consecutively. As of Spring 2015, the college further retooled the course by designating its requirement to a particular segment of students. Students taking COMP 1000 are those in associate degree programs or diploma level students pursuing careers in which the course content will be essential. For other diploma programs, a new student success course, COLL 1020, is now required instead of COMP 1000. Of those 208 registered for this course Spring 2015, 72% passed, a very encouraging start! ATC continued to collect data on this particular cohort through Summer 2015 and saw that the college retained 62% of this population from Spring 2015 to Summer 2015 and all but one were retained throughout the entire semester. Of those remaining, an analysis was done across all classes taken by this cohort; findings include a 69% pass rate, a 23% fail rate and an 8% withdrawal rate among the students. The average GPA to date of this cohort was 2.3 with males representing 53% and females representing 47%. As noted in ATC’s 2014 CCG Progress Report, the college implemented guided pathways and block scheduling. ATC continues to be committed to this course of action. Both Guided Pathways and block scheduling are tactics applied as a part of all ATC’s strategies. They aid in the shortening of completion time by giving clear direction regarding needed courses to complete a program as well as offering courses at specified times to accommodate working students. Albany Technical College | 12
In AY 2015, Guided Pathways were still offered for Pharmacy and Law Enforcement. Through Guided Pathways, ATC realized an accomplishment. Five high school students graduated with an associate’s degree and high school diploma simultaneously. These students have all been admitted into universities and have a sophomore or higher classification. Their success is just an example of the effectiveness of Guided Pathways. For AY 2015, ATC continued its block scheduling in the following programs: Air Conditioning Technology, Auto Collision, Automotive Technology, Diesel Equipment Technology, Masonry, and Welding & Joining. The college, as a whole, will continue to work towards increasing its enrollment numbers. Below, shows data from # DC 302 in regards to retention and graduation rates to date for the cohort entering Fall 2014. The noted programs above, with the additional programs Accounting, Medical Assisting, and Networking Specialist, are represented in the table below. The data indicated that block scheduling programs during AY 2014 showed an average retention and graduation rate of 37% and 34% while AY 2015 showed an average retention rate of 48% and 35%. The college compared these rates to a sample of non-block programs (Marketing Management Degree, Fire Science Diploma, Culinary Arts Diploma, Business Management Diploma and Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism Management Degree) and found that these programs experienced a 17% retention rate and 17% graduation rate for AY 2014. For AY 2015, non-block programs experienced a 40% retention rate and a 12% graduation rate. This data gives the indication that block scheduling is helping student to both retain and graduate in their respective programs. The college will continue on the course of block scheduling in order to provide the necessary courses for its students. Table 1.4 #DC 302 Albany Technical College Fall 2014 & Fall 2015 Cohort Comparison- Block Scheduling Data
Level Diploma
Major Accounting
Degree
Accounting
Diploma
Air Conditioning Technology
Diploma
Auto Collison
Diploma
Automotive Technology
Diploma Degree Diploma Diploma
Law Enforcement (Criminal Justice) Diesel Equipment Technology Masonry
Diploma
Medical Assisting
Diploma
Networking Specialist
Degree
Networking Specialist
Academic Year 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015
Cohort # 21 13 10 12 25 15 28 25 28 15 110 121 19 19 5 3 4 6 9 8 9 6
Total Retention Total Graduation Retained Rate Graduated Rate 7 33% 7 21% 2 16% 4 31% 6 60% 4 40% 2 17% 3 25% 9 36% 5 20% 7 47% 0 0% 0 0% 20 71% 12 48% 11 44% 2 7% 12 43% 4 27% 7 47% 42 38% 11 10% 52 43% 7 6% 2 11% 10 53% 14 74% 12 63% 3 60% 1 20% 3 100% 1 33% 4 100% 1 25% 4 67% 1 17% 2 22% 3 33% 4 50% 3 38% 7 78% 3 33% 2 33% 4 67%
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#DC 302 Albany Technical College Fall 2014 & Fall 2015 Cohort Comparison- Block Scheduling Data
Level Diploma Degree Diploma
Major Pharmacy Technology Welding & Joining Technology
Total Total Non-Block Scheduled Programs
Academic Year 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015
Cohort # 28 20 40 32 336 295 119 80
Total Retention Total Graduation Retained Rate Graduated Rate 8 29% 5 18% 11 55% 7 35% 4 10% 24 60% 13 41% 17 53% 96 Avg. 37% 106 Avg. 34% 130 Avg. 48% 77 Avg. 35% 26 Avg. 17% 9 Avg. 17% 6 Avg. 40% 4 Avg. 12%
Resources: The General Education Dean as well as assigned general education faculty worked to restructure the remedial classes into the blended courses. This group of dedicated faculty also worked to redesign COMP 1000 and to create COLL 1020. Obstacles: The redesign of COMP 1000 presented the greatest challenge. During the latter part of AY 2014 and into AY 2015, the course experienced three revisions. This made it very challenging to measure the effectiveness of the instruction and how that affected student success. Still, the college persisted with analyzing pass/fail rates of students and continued to share results with the dean of general education. The redesign team utilized this information to determine which elements to keep within the course. The course has since been taught using the same instruction design for three consecutive terms. There were no noted challenges surrounding the implementation of block scheduling. Instructor feedback suggests that the system is beneficial, however the programs have not witnessed an increase in enrollment as of yet.
Student Success and Implementation Team The student success implementation team, which is comprised of the college’s senior staff provides overall leadership and guidance for all of the college’s initiatives, lending support to faculty and staff as interventions are executed. Shared communication between executive leadership and staff throughout the follow through and follow up process is imperative. Findings are shared interdepartmentally with management. During the weekly senior staff team meetings, these results are further discussed, adjusted as deemed necessary and communicated back within the departments. The table below lists the student success implementation team, which is comprised of the college’s senior staff, the admissions director, and the institutional effectiveness department. Dr. Kim Lee, Executive VP and VP for Institutional Effectiveness serves as the team’s point of contact. Full Name
Dr. Anthony O. Parker Dr. Kim Lee Dr. Dorothy Garner Ms. Linda Coston Ms. Angela Davis Dr. Edward Alexander Ms. Wendy Howell Dr. Lisandra De Jesus Ms. Judy Jimmerson
Title/Position
President Executive VP, VP for Institutional Effectiveness Interim VP for Academic Affairs VP for Adult Education Grants Coordinator Director of Admissions Executive Director of Public Relations VP for Student Affairs Associate VP for Career Services
Role (Point of Contact or Member)
Email Address
Overall leadership POC
[email protected] [email protected]
Member
[email protected]
Member Member Member Member
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Member Member
[email protected] [email protected] Albany Technical College | 14
Full Name
Mr. Joe Najjar Ms. Kathy Skates Ms. Sarah Spurlin Mr. Matt Trice Ms. Daa’iyah Salaam
Title/Position
Special Assistant to President VP for Administration Administrative Coordinator for IE VP for Center for Business Solutions Research Analyst
Role (Point of Contact or Member)
Email Address
Member
[email protected]
Member Member
[email protected] [email protected]
Member
[email protected]
Member
[email protected]
Conclusion Through data evidence, ATC has experienced several positive outcomes as it relates to completion time, graduation, and improved services. The college has experienced an increase in its graduation while providing the best quality instruction and services for its population. This has been done through the exceptional instruction and services provided to the students both within and outside of the classroom. The college leads the region in unduplicated graduates, certificates, diplomas, associate degrees, and overall awards. The college is within the top ten of all TCSG colleges within these same measurements. Most Successful: Through the use of data, the college has determined that one of the most successful interventions for student success comes from the college’s instructional redesign of its gateway English and Math courses. Within the Achieving the Dream strategy, the redesign of the college’s remedial courses into blended courses has allowed the college to realize steady trends in pass/fail rates among students taking blended math and English courses. As previously stated, students taking blended learning courses continue to outpace the general population pass rates. The college is pleased with the instruction methodology used within these courses as well as the continued success rates of students. The College is beginning to look at the utilization of specific aspects of the blended learning model to use within the general population courses in efforts to align the success rates of both populations to each other. The college has also experienced a steady increased pass rate for those students taking the retooled COMP 1000 course. The college believes this is a result of the decision to only require students whose careers are directly related to computer application competencies to take COMP 1000 courses. All other diploma and degree students take the newly created COLL 1020 college success course, which provides only the basic skills needed for computer application. This allows COMP 1000 to be tailored specifically for students who will need a higher level of proficiency in all areas of computer applications. COLL 1020 provides a rudimentary overview of computer applications, thus, making COMP 1000 less of a hindrance for those students only needing basic knowledge of computer applications. While more data is needed to determine if COLL 1020 is successful with helping to retain students, the preliminary data does indicate that COLL 1020 has been successful in preparing students for their respective courses, as the Spring 2015 cohort realized a 69% pass rate in their program courses. The Enrollment, Retention, Completion and placement strategy has witnessed the most success around completion and placement. ATC realized a 95% in field placement rate and a 99% overall placement rate for AY 2015. As stated earlier, the college also realized an increase in its diploma and degree graduates. The areas that hold the greatest potential for improvement are enrollment and retention. Least Effective: Along with COLL 1020, the AAC data indicates a positive impact on the students. However, the college has not been able to correlate success rates with time spent within the AAC. As such, the following adjustments are being made: 1) The college will examine the comparison between the preparation level of the student, time spent within the AAC and the success rate of the students, 2) The college will examine the overall performance rates of students that attend the AAC to determine if those students are performing fairly or poorly in all classes.
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This will help to determine intervention focus areas. Depending on the findings, the college will look into mandating a specific amount of time students must dedicate to the AAC. Adjustment to obstacles: The college continues to data mine causes of student drop outs, stop outs and program changes. Along with the creation of the Lean Six Sigma teams, the college recently secured a Retention Coordinator. Both the Student Navigator and Retention Coordinator collaborate efforts with faculty and staff to re-recruit and retain students. Regarding new student attraction, the college has several concurrent efforts launched: 1) a Six Sigma team is dedicated to investigating ways to attract new students, 2) the program referral process of referring five prospect students is currently being streamlined to increase the efficiency of the follow up, and 3) the college is exploring the idea of creating a marketing plan to attract new students.
Next Steps By the end of AY 2015, the Lean Six Sigma Teams presented a list of fourteen recommendations to the President deemed critical to improving the college’s efforts around attraction, matriculation, and retention and graduation of students. Subsequently, the recommendations have been shared with Senior Staff. As an immediate follow up, the teams have begun to execute four LSS projects between now and December 31, 2015. These projects consist of a pilot self-registration of four programs, streamlining electives to tighten the Guided Pathway model, completing the process mapping of internal systems and conducting a comprehensive student assessment and satisfaction survey. To aid these efforts, the college will continue to utilize a Black Belt Consultant to lead the three teams, consisting of staff, faculty and deans. Additionally, the college will utilize the time of key stakeholders within the college to support and accelerate the execution of certain projects. ATC will continue to track and measure progress against the baseline data available. The Department of Institutional Effectiveness will continue ongoing monitoring of students whom have identified themselves as continuing education per #DC119 and communicate findings with both the Student Navigator and the Retention Coordinator. The college will provide the appropriate advising, re-recruitment, and/or encouragement needed for those students to complete their studies through the highest credential possible. The college will also continue to refine its recruitment process to help the enrollment and matriculation of students entering the college. ATC stays committed to refining strategies and interventions, utilizing data as measurement.
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Athens Technical College
Athens Technical College | 17
Athens Technical College Overview An analysis of report #DC241 (2015 Report for Report Year 2014) for Athens Technical College (ATC) reveals the following information concerning student demographics. From fiscal year 2007 to academic year 2012 for all students, there was a 16% decline in full-time enrollment. However, full-time enrollment increased for some subgroups. For example, full-time enrollment increased for Hispanic students (24%), American Indian/Alaskan Native students (100%), students of unknown race (500%), students receiving the Pell Grant at entry (55.7%), and students taking developmental courses at entry (2.9%). For all students, part-time enrollment increased 68.2%. With the exception of students of two or more races (who experienced an 87% decline), most subgroups exhibited significant percentage increases in part-time enrollment, namely Hispanic students (306.8%), Asian students (94%), American Indian/Alaska Natives (1300%), students directly from high school (17-19 years old) (85%), students of unknown race (712%), students receiving a Pell Grant at entry (246%), and students taking developmental courses at entry (111%). For all students, full-time transfer enrollment declined 1.2%. Alternatively, however, within this group, the percentage of full-time transfer students who received the Pell Grant at entry increased (98%), as well as the percentage of those taking developmental courses at entry (34%). Also, among full-time transfers, the percentage of those reporting their race as unknown increased substantially (5200%). For all students, part-time transfer enrollment increased 58%. However, some subgroups exhibited declines in part-time transfer enrollment, namely Asian students (-53%), and students of two or more races (64%). Some subgroups experienced significant increases, such as students of unknown race (1720%), students 20-24 years old (98%), and students who received the Pell Grant at entry (289%).
Goals a. Increase the number of graduates by an additional 79,531 or 4.7% annually over the previous year An analysis of degree production benchmarks and degree completion ratios revealed that ATC has not met this goal during the 2014-2015 academic year. ATC’s 2015 CCG degree production goal was 1,038 graduates. ATC had 900 unduplicated graduates in 2015, 138 graduates (13.3%) short of attaining this goal (Data Source: #DC198). From FY 2011 to AY 2012, ATC’s award completion ratio, (or awards per 100 FTE) declined from 31.3% to 24% (Data Source: #DC241, p. 3). However, an examination of process indicators, such as recent retention, degree production, graduation rates, and time/credits to degree data revealed that ATC is making some positive progress toward accomplishing this goal. Most recently, ATC’s actual retention rate for 2015 was 65.6%, up 1.5% from 64.1% in 2014 (Data Source: #DC198). Degree production rates increased 98.2% from FY 2007 to AY 2012 for certificates and diplomas of less than one year and 39.8% for certificates and diplomas of at least one but less than two years for the same time period (Data Source: #DC241). For full-time, part-time, and transfer students earning a certificate or diploma of at least one but less than two years, the rate of students graduating in 100% time increased. For the Fall 2008 cohort, 12.6% of full-time students graduated in 100% time. For the Fall 2009 cohort, 16.8% of full-time students graduated in 100% time. For part-time students, 9.5% of the 2008 cohort graduated in 100% time, and 13.7% of the 2009 cohort graduated in 100% time. For transfers, 10.5% of the 2008 cohort graduated in 100% time compared to 14.9% of the 2009 cohort (Data Source: #DC241, 2014 and 2015 reports, pp. 26-28). Additionally, for full-time, part-time, and transfer students, slight gains were made within subcategories. For example, students grouped by gender, students directly from high school (17-19 years old), students receiving the Pell Grant at entry, and students taking developmental courses at entry. In the Fall 2008 cohort, 15.2% of full-time Pell Grant recipients graduated in 100% time with a certificate or diploma of at least one but less than two years. For the Fall 2009 cohort, 18.1% of full-time Pell Grant recipients graduated in 100% time with a similar credential (Data Source: #DC241, 2014 and 2015 reports, pp. 26-28). For full-time students seeking an associate degree, the average length of time to degree in years declined from 4.3 years in FY 2011 to 3.2 years in AY 2012 (Data Source: #DC241, 2014 and 2015 reports, p. 36). For full-time and part-time students, the average number of credits to degree in semester credit hours declined from FY 2011 to AY 2012. For full-time students the average dropped from 78.8 to 75.1, and for part-time students the average dropped from 75.5 to 68.7 (Data Source: #DC241, 2014 and 2015 reports, p. 38). Athens Technical College | 18
Data on credit accumulation, course completion, degree production, and historical retention rates point to some declines over time, even in situations where percent increases were occurring. That is to say that most recent percent increases lagged behind percent increases of prior time periods. Using historical retention data, the 2014 DC241 report tracked the Fall 2007 cohort and the 2015 DC241 report tracked the 2008 cohort. In comparing the retention rates reported in these two documents, it was revealed that the CCG one-year retention rate of full-time students enrolled in the next consecutive semester dropped from 71.6% (cited in the 2014 report) to 68.9% (cited in the 2015 report), a decline of 2.7%, and the CCG one-year retention rate of part-time students enrolled in the next consecutive semester dropped from 63.8% (cited in the 2014 report) to 51.6% (cited in the 2015 report), a decline of 12.2%. The course completion rates (percent of semester credit hours completed within the first year) that were reported in the 2014 DC241 document revealed rates for full-time, part-time, and transfer students as 103%, 102.6% and 99.1%, respectively. In the 2015 DC241 report, completion rates for full-time, part-time, and transfer students were 81.7%, 78.9% and 76.2%, respectively. Although degree production increased for certificates/diplomas (less than 1 academic year), as reported by the DC241 report--with a 98.2% increase from FY 2007 to Full Year 2012--it was not as big of a percent increase as was recorded between FY 2006 and FY 2011, which was 109%. Similarly, degree production increased for certificates/diplomas of at least 1 but less than 2 years, with a 39.8% increase from FY 2007 to full year 2012. Yet from FY 2006 to FY2011, the percent increase was 191.8% (See 2014 and 2015 DC241 reports). Unfortunately, associate degree production was down 14.8% from FY 2007 to full year 2012. In the previous time period (FY 2006 to FY 2011) associate degree production showed a 62.5% increase. Interventions being implemented to increase the number of graduates include modifying the college’s process for early alerting students who are at risk of not completing. The reports from Summer 2013 to Fall 2014 showed that 45 percent of the students who were reported as at risk returned the next term, and 80 academic plans were created. In contrast, the most recent report from Summer 2015 to Fall 2015 shows that 75 percent of the students who were submitted as at risk in the summer returned to the college in the fall, and 63 academic plans were created. The college is moving from an in-house system of notification to TEAMS, a system developed by the Technical College System of Georgia. With TEAMS, faculty, advisors, and staff can submit an alert on a student that will be sent directly to the retention coordinator’s office. From there, the alert is analyzed and forwarded to the appropriate person (financial aid, disability services, tutoring, counseling, registration). Students are contacted within 48 hours by phone and e-mail with an offer of assistance. Students on academic or financial aid probation and students who are returning to college after having been on dismissal are offered the opportunity to create an academic plan for success with an academic coach. Additionally, first generation students are monitored and contacted with messages of support, encouragement, and offers of assistance during their first term in an effort to retain them through to graduation. The college employs a director of retention and four academic advising coaches to oversee the early alert process and all faculty are being trained. The only obstacle at this time has been making sure that the college’s sizeable adjunct faculty workforce receives the same notices and training as the full time faculty so that they are easily able to use the TEAMS system. Additional interventions being implemented include the introduction of Degree Works Plans. Each program chair is developing a pathway to graduation for full- and part-time students for each possible entry term (fall, spring, summer). These plans will be loaded into Degree Works and reviewed with students during each semester advising appointments. In addition, the office of registration and records will begin publishing the course schedule a year at a time. Using the published schedule and Degree Works Plans, students and advisors will map out a student’s schedule from first to final semester. The idea is that students will be more likely to continue to enroll and persist to graduation if they have a solid plan with an end in sight. No additional resources are needed to meet this initiative; however, there is a possible obstacle of faculty and advisors having time for training and entering their Degree Works templates and plans.
Athens Technical College | 19
Another intervention that is expected to improve graduation rates is the full-scale implementation of our first semester seminar FSSE 1000. This course, discussed in more detail in section II.b., is required of all students entering the college with 60 or fewer credit hours of college credit. It is designed to introduce first-time college students to the campus resources and academic skills necessary to achieve their educational and career goals. Emphasis is placed on promoting connections between student needs and college resources, and the development of college-level learning and success skills (study skills, career exploration, goal planning, time management, financial planning). Through the use of academic strategies and self-discovery, students will acquire knowledge and skills to help them succeed in college and in life. The resources necessary to complete this initiative are additional adjunct faculty to fill the number of sections of the course required each semester and adequate classroom space to schedule the courses on each campus. This course is not offered in online format. The learning support redesign undertaken by the college in fall of 2012 is continuing with some adjustments being made based on recently received data. A review of associate degree, credit-level math requirements revealed that only six programs required MATH 1111, College Algebra. Our data showed that the success rates in MATH 1111 are very low, compared to MATH 1101. As a result, the decision was made to advise students to take MATH 1101 and begin a redesign of learning support math to better prepare students for MATH 1101. Additional information about the learning support redesign can be found in section II.d. Once the obstacle of successfully completing a college-level math course has been addressed, students should be more likely to persist from semester to semester and reach graduation. Current faculty teaching learning support math are working together to develop these courses. A final effort being made to help improve graduation rates is the development of the success certificate for faculty. Faculty who are better trained are more likely to have the skills needed to help students persist to graduation. As explained in section II.c., due to personnel changes and retirements, we have had to delay the start of this certificate, although much of the design and development work for the certificate is complete. The Dean for the Center for Teaching and Learning has been charged with continuing the process and implementing the plan by Summer 2016. Transfer and articulation (collaboration) During the 2014-2015 academic years, chemistry faculty and the Life Sciences Division dean at Athens Technical College pursued and obtained a transfer agreement with the University of Georgia for general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. For many years ATC students have attempted to transfer to the University of Georgia to continue their education, but the university has required them to re-take chemistry courses to earn credit. The agreement requires students to complete an associate degree, earn a grade point average of 2.0 or higher, and score in the 50th percentile or higher on the American Chemical Society (ACS) national exam. This agreement opens the door for many biotechnology graduates to continue their education past an associate degree. In addition, the college has worked with Valdosta State University to develop articulation pathways for students who complete an associate degree in any major at the college to transfer to VSU as a rising junior to complete bachelor of applied science or bachelor of science degree. This agreement will allow all students at the college to have the opportunity to complete a four-year degree by seamlessly transitioning from the two-year to the four-year institution. On average, 38 percent of the past four cohorts eventually transfer to a four-year institution The introduction of Senate Bill 2 allows high school students to enroll in a technical college if they can meet college entrance exam requirements and have completed freshman- and sophomore-level high school course work. When they complete a degree, diploma, or two-certificate program, their college-level courses satisfy 11th- and 12th-grade requirements and allow them to receive a high school diploma as well as the college credential. Additionally, Senate Bill 132 streamlines the existing dual enrollment opportunities into one program (Move On When Ready) with one funding source. By consolidating the existing programs into a single program, it will be easier for students and parents to navigate and take advantage of the available options to enroll in college courses while still in high school. MOWR also includes provisions to help remove some of the financial barriers that may prevent students from participating in dual enrollment. Athens Technical College employs a high school coordinator and a high school enrollment liaison to make the communication and implementation of these two options a smooth process for students. The college deans and Athens Technical College | 20
executive vice president / chief academic officer have worked over the past several months to make sure that the college’s programs and course offerings align with the high school students’ needs and time restraints. These new high school initiatives are expected to grow rapidly as they become better known and understood by the general public. Improve college readiness and access During the 2014-2015 academic year, Athens Technical College continued making progress toward the implementation of its Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which was designed to improve the first-year experience by providing a foundation for academic and career success. The center of the QEP was a first-semester seminar (FSSE 1000--First). All new students to the college are required to complete FSSE 1000 during their first semester of enrollment unless they are entering a certificate program that is less than 20 semester credit hours in length or they have already completed a minimum of 60 semester credit hours of coursework at other postsecondary institutions. FSSE 1000 is a three-semester credit hour course offered in a hybrid format (a blend of face-to-face and online instruction). In addition, an instructor preparatory course and a Student Success Certificate for faculty and staff were planned. Potential instructors must complete an instructor prep course before they can teach FSSE 1000. The prep course provides participants with information about active and collaborative learning and information about the FSSE 1000 course content. Table 1 shows the plan of work for the implementation of the QEP. We are on schedule with all items except for the Student Success Certificate. Due to personnel changes and retirements, we have had to delay the start of this certificate, although much of the design and development work for the certificate is complete. The Dean for the Center for Teaching and Learning has been charged with continuing the process and implementing the plan by Summer 2016. Full-scale implementation of the First Semester Seminar (FSSE 1000) occurred during Fall 2014. As reported in the document, 2015 Achieving the Dream Annual Reflection and Leader College Application Worksheet, this course was “designed to introduce new students to the academic skills they will need to attain their educational and career goals” (p. 9). Because one of the underlying goals of FSSE was to improve retention rates, a local study comparing the term-toterm persistence rate of FSSE participants to the persistence rate for all ATC students was conducted. It was found that the persistence rate from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015 for the FSSE group was slightly higher than the persistence rate for all ATC students (69.76% versus 67.83%, a difference of 1.93 percentage points) (2015 Achieving the Dream Annual Reflection and Leader College Application Worksheet, p. 10). The resources required for this initiative were significant. As reported in the Achieving the Dream report, “During Fall Semester, 60 sections were taught with a total enrollment of 1111 students…Spring Semester 2015 had 41 sections being taught with a total enrollment of 637 students…It is expected that FSSE enrollment will exceed the first year projection by approximately 6.1%, serving 2,123 students in 126 class sections” (p. 10). Additionally, FSSE 1000 instructors must undergo required training by taking a FSSE Instructor Preparation course. “To date, 45 individuals qualified to teach FSSE…instructors comprise ATC full-time instructors, ATC full-time staff, and adjuncts” (p. 10). Few obstacles have been identified in the implementation of FSSE; however, program chairs have requested that the possibility of having FSSE courses set up by academic discipline be investigated. As a result, the core and data teams are planning focus groups to find out if this method of delivery would be helpful to students and if other faculty are receptive to the idea.
Athens Technical College | 21
Table 1
Summer
Fall
Spring
Summer
Fall
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■ ■
■
■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■
■
■ ■
Summer
Spring
■
Spring
Fall
Year 5 2017-2018
Summer
Year 4 2016-2017
Spring
Implementation Timeline First Semester Seminar ■ Finalize course development ■ Pilot FSSE ■ Offer FSSE to provisional students Offer FSSE for all new students to the college (except where exempted) Student Success Professional Development Program Finalize FSSE instructor preparation ■ course development Develop Students Success certificate ■ program ■ Pilot FSSE instructor preparation course ■ ■ Offer FSSE instructor preparation course ■ Pilot Student Success certificate program ■ Offer Student Success program Assessment CCSSE and CFSSE surveys ■ Student Satisfaction Survey Survey of Entering Student Engagement Student Focus Groups ■ FSSE Course Evaluations ■ ■ FSSE Instructor Preparation Course Evaluations ■ Student Success Certificate Evaluations ■ Annual QEP Program Review Fifth-Year QEP Program Review
Year 3 2015-2016
Fall
Year 2 2014-2015 Summer
Spring
Fall
Implementation and Assessment Timeline Year 1 2013-2014
■
■
■ ■
■ ■ ■
■
■ ■
■
■ ■
■ ■ ■
■
■ ■
■
■ ■
■ ■ ■
■
■
■
■ ■
Transform remediation When comparing the Fall 2009 and Fall 2010 cohorts, demand for developmental education rose slightly. Namely, mathonly enrollment increased from 24.4% to 25.5%; English-only enrollment increased from 9.2% to 10.1%, and both math and English enrollment increased from 21.3% to 21.9%. Demand overall for developmental education increased from 54% to 57.8% (Data Source: #DC241, 2014 and 2015 reports, p. 4). Unfortunately, the success rates of students completing developmental courses within their first two academic years declined when comparing the Fall 2009 and Fall 2010 cohorts. Success in math-only dropped from 67.3% to 61.7%. In English-only, success dropped from 75.8% to 66.1%, and for both math and English, success dipped from 60% to 49.2%. Athens Technical College | 22
Overall, developmental completion dropped from 65.9% to 57.7% (Data Source: #DC241, 2014 and 2015 reports, p. 5). However, when investigating the rates of students completing a college-level course in the same subject within their first two academic years, the outlook is slightly better. When comparing the Fall 2009 to the Fall 2010 cohort, success in math-only college-level courses rose from 34.6% to 39.7%. Success in English-only college-level courses rose from 41.4% to 44.6%, and for both math and English, success in relevant college-level courses rose from 19.1% to 22.7%. Overall success in courses completed at the college level rose from 29.7% to 34.1%. The core team is in the process of reviewing the data and analyzing potential strategies for intervention. The delivery of developmental coursework was redesigned in the fall of 2012. The decline in success seems to coincide with the redesign. As a result, the data team is developing questions for student focus groups to determine what they think the causes might be. Students who were not successful in the redesigned courses will be asked to identify reasons for their withdrawals or poor performance. These responses will be reviewed by the core team in the hopes of additional changes being implemented. Restructure delivery (includes block scheduling) Athens Technical College will pilot a guided pathways scheduling intervention in January of 2016 with a plan to implement the plan college-wide Fall 2016. The guided pathways project uses the plans function of the Degree Works Student Advising System to set up academic plans for all students. Plans will be created for fall, spring, and summer start terms for students attending full time or part time in any degree or diploma program. Program chairs are currently working on their plans, and training is being offered by the offices of registration and records and retention. The guided pathways plans will allow students and advisors to begin with the end in mind, scheduling every semester until graduation at the first advising appointment. Plans can be adjusted as changes occur for students, but the end will always be visible. Reports from Degree Works plans can be pulled for faculty to determine scheduling needs from semester to semester, and for retention and advising coaches to see who is getting off track so that they may intervene early. Performance Indicators of Specific Block-Scheduled Programs Identified for CCG Overview. For the most part, block-scheduled programs appear to have performed at least as well as other programs at ATC, and sometimes they performed better. A review of comparative performance indicators such as starting enrollment counts, number of awards conferred, placement rates, and attrition rates revealed that globally, blockscheduled programs were performing within or above the middle 50% of all programs on enrollment counts. When considering all the block programs together, for about 72% of the time the number of awards conferred by blockscheduled programs fell within the midrange (Q1 to Q3) of the distributions, and for about 28% of the time the number of awards exceeded the midrange. When compared to TCSG’s cautionary placement threshold of less than 90%, it was found that two-thirds of the block-scheduled programs had placement rates above 90% for all years. However, two of the six block-scheduled programs reported placement rates below the cautionary threshold for some but not all years. Finally, attrition rates for block-scheduled programs generally fell within the midrange (Q1 to Q3) and below average attrition rates. For specifics, see the following discussion and tables. Starting Enrollment Counts. From AY 2012 to AY 2015, univariate statistics and distributions of starting enrollments were examined to determine how each block-scheduled program performed relative to other programs at ATC. Generally, starting enrollments in block-scheduled programs fell within or above the midrange (Q1 to Q3) of the distributions; the programs that fell within the midrange exceeded the median. During this time frame, starting enrollments in block-scheduled programs were just as likely to fall below the average for all programs as above it. However it should be noted that the averages were influenced by extreme values in the upper ends of the distributions. Four out of six block-scheduled programs (viz., AC13, NS14, NS13, and MA22) exhibited upward movement in the percentile rankings from AY 2012 to AY 2015. So although starting enrollments in these programs generally declined over time, their relative positions within the distributions of program enrollments improved.
Athens Technical College | 23
Unfortunately, however, because enrollments were down for the institution overall, there was little or no benefit gained from such upward mobility in relative standing. [Data Source: KMS LB178; KMS LB177; 2015 Internal ATC Study of Attrition in Courses and Programs]. [See Tables 2a and 2b for details.] Number of Awards Conferred. From AY 2013 to AY 2015, univariate statistics and distributions of the number of awards conferred were examined to determine how each block-scheduled program performed relative to other programs at ATC. Considering all the block programs together, 72% of the time the number of awards conferred by block-scheduled programs fell within the midrange (Q1 to Q3) of the distributions, and for about 28% of the time the number of awards exceeded the midrange. In two of the six programs, the number of awards conferred annually was consistently below average (viz., AC12 and NS14). One program (i.e., AC13) conferred awards in excess of the average each year, while the other programs vacillated annually, conferring numbers that exceeded, fell below, or equaled the mean. It should be acknowledged that the averages were influenced by extreme values in the upper ends of the distributions. [Data Source: KMS Report DC109] [See Tables 3a and 3b for details.] Placement Rates. From AY 2013 to AY 2015, placement rates of block-scheduled programs were compared to the cautionary benchmark as provided in TCSG’s KMS Report DC 112, which highlights programs in red that have placement rates below 90%. The comparison revealed that two-thirds of the block-scheduled programs had placement rates above 90% for all years. Alternatively, two of the six block-scheduled programs reported placement rates below the cautionary threshold for some but not all years. These programs were AC13 in AY 2014 and NS14 in AY 2013 and AY 2015. Generally, only a small percentage of ATC’s programs had placement rates below 90%: the percentage of all program majors with placement rates below 90% was about 3% in AY 2013, 7% in AY 2014, and 3% in AY 2015 [Data Source: KMS Report DC112]. [See Table 4a for details.] Attrition Rates. From AY 2012 to AY 2015, univariate statistics and distributions of attrition rates were examined to determine how each block-scheduled program performed relative to other programs at ATC. For the most part, attrition rates for block-scheduled programs fell within the midrange (Q1 to Q3) and below average attrition rates. Two blockscheduled programs (i.e., NS14 and MA22) had attrition rates that fell within the midrange (Q1 to Q3) of the distributions every year, and excepting AY 2012 for NS14, their attrition rates were at or below the medians. Only one block-scheduled program during one year (viz., MA22 in AY 2013) reported zero attrition. [Data Source: KMS LB178; KMS LB177; 2015 Internal ATC Study of Attrition in Courses and Programs]. [See Tables 5a and 5b for details.] Table 2a. Starting Enrollment Counts in Block-Scheduled Programs by AY
Table 2b. Starting Enrollment Counts Statistics for All Programs at ATC by AY
MIN
Q1 25th %-ile
Q2 Median
Q3 75th %-ile
MAX
AVG
N
63
1
12
39
86
2048
87
90
101
47
1
12
37
91
2035
83
89
38
96
43
1
3
23
69
1914
64
107
48
84
58
1
3
21.5
58
1742
56
114
AC12 DIP
AC13 AAS
ACT2 DIP
NS14 DIP
NS13 AAS
MA22 DIP
2012
85
120
176
45
80
2013
67
125
164
47
2014
58
116
133
2015
46
101
91
AY
Athens Technical College | 24
Table 3a. Number of Credentials Awarded in Block-Scheduled Programs by AY
Table 3b. Number of Credentials Awarded Statistics for All Programs at ATC by AY
MIN
Q1 25th %-ile
Q2 Median
Q3 75th %-ile
MAX
AVG
N
13
1
3
8
17
72
13
165
17
10
1
5
10.5
20
85
15
150
16
14
1
4
8
15
56
10
135
AC12 DIP
AC13 AAS
ACT2 DIP
NS14 DIP
NS13 AAS
MA22 DIP
2013
12
19
20
10
8
2014
12
20
26
8
2015
7
18
8
4
AY
Table 4a. Placement Rates in Block-Scheduled Programs by AY AY
AC12 DIP
AC13 AAS
ACT2 DIP
NS14 DIP
NS13 AAS
MA22 DIP
2013
100%
94.7
100%
88%*
100%
100%
2014
100%
89.5*
100%
100%
100%
100%
2015
100%
100%
100%
83%*
100%
100%†
TCSG's cautionary benchmark placement rate is less than 90%. Programs below this rate are marked with an asterisk (*). (†Note: MA22 in 2015 had a 100% placement rate for graduates at the Athens Campus; graduates at the Elbert Campus were classified with Unknown Placement (or N/A) status. Table 5a. Attrition Rates in Block-Scheduled Programs by AY
Table 5b. Attrition Rates Statistics for All Programs at ATC by AY
AY
AC12 DIP
AC13 AAS
ACT2 DIP
NS14 DIP
NS13 AAS
MA22 DIP
MIN
Q1 25th %-ile
Q2 Median
Q3 75th %-ile
MAX
AVG
N
2012
5.9%
1.7%
0.6%
4.4%
1.2%
1.6%
0
0
2.9%
5.7%
100%
4.8%
90
2013
7.5%
1.6%
3.6%
2.1%
7.9%
0
0
0
3.4%
6.2%
100%
5.3%
89
2014
3.4%
1.7%
9.0%
2.6%
2.1%
4.6%
0
0
2.9%
6.4%
100%
8.7%
107
2015
2.2%
7.9%
1.1%
2.1%
2.4%
1.7%
0
0
2.1%
6.0%
100%
5.8%
114
Automotive Technology AT14 (diploma). A review of KMS report LB177 revealed that there were no starting enrollment figures for academic years 2012–2015. A review of KMS report DC109 revealed that no awards were conferred for AT14 from AY2012 to AY2015. The college has offered the UT02 Automotive Fundamentals diploma for the past several years; however, beginning Fall 2015, the college will offer the Automotive Technology diploma and degree in block scheduling format for its day students. The possibility of ATC offering an associate of applied science in Automotive Technology has generated a lot of interest from current and former students. Students currently in the diploma program have expressed a desire to get the degree in addition to their diploma in order to maximize their future economic, employment, and educational opportunities. Employment opportunities for automotive fundamentals students will increase with the change to automotive technology, giving them the option to apply for lead, supervisor, or management positions as their careers progress within the automotive industry. Athens Technical College | 25
The diploma program is completely embedded in the degree program, making the transition from diploma to degree a smooth and financially efficient option. The program will follow the existing state standards and meet State Board and general program standard requirements for programs at its award level. As we currently offer all of the courses in the programs, there are no first year costs associated with the program’s implementation. The program should begin with 15 students in the first year and enrollment is projected to be close to 50 by year three. Shorten time to degree Athens Technical College recognizes that individuals can develop mastery of course competencies through nontraditional educational environments such as employment, training, professional certifications, non-credit courses, and other life experiences. The term prior learning is used to describe these methods of learning. In an effort to shorten time to degree for many of these students, the college awards credit for prior learning when the equivalency is validated by academically sound and rigorous assessment. Credit will be awarded only for demonstrable college-level learning, not for experience. Students must demonstrate mastery of course competencies through testing or appropriate documentation such as portfolios or certifications received from professional organizations. Students who believe they have the appropriate prior learning to request credit should make an appointment to speak with the dean responsible for the courses students are seeking prior learning credit. Among the programs in which students earn credit for professional certifications are fire science, automotive technology, automotive collision repair, criminal justice, and paramedicine. In addition, students doing equivalent coursework in high school courses may submit a portfolio of their work to the appropriate program chairs for evaluation. If the work demonstrates the necessary skills and level of knowledge, the program chair can approve credit for an introductory course. This method of earning credit has been piloted in the welding program. The agricultural science program will be the next program to offer students this opportunity. The plan is for all programs in which students select a high school pathway to offer a college portfolio option by Fall 2016. Athens Technical College also awards credit for courses completed at military service schools. The awarding of credit is based American Council of Education (ACE) recommendations as listed in A Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services. For full-time students seeking an associate degree, the average length of time to degree in years declined, from 4.3 years in FY 2011 to 3.2 years in AY 2012 (Data Source: #DC241, 2014 and 2015 reports, p. 36). For full-time and parttime students, the average number of credits to degree in semester credit hours declined from FY 2011 to AY 2012. For full-time students the average dropped from 78.8 to 75.1, and for part-time students the average dropped from 75.5 to 68.7 (Data Source: #DC241, 2014 and 2015 reports, p. 38).
Athens Technical College | 26
Student Success Implementation Team The college’s core and data teams work together to track, share and use student data. The core team meets weekly to discuss progress and plans. The core team then submits data requests to the data team using a recently created data request form. The data team collects the data and provides it to the core team as requested. In addition, the college is in the process of redesigning its website. A part of this redesign includes an Achieving the Dream and Complete College Georgia information site. On this site, the college community will be able to access the minutes of core and data team meetings, data reports, and intervention strategies that are proposed or implemented as a result of the data analysis. Full Name Dr. Gail Thaxton Dr. Andrea Daniel Caroline Angelo Core Team Members Sherry Abrams Jennifer Benson
Dianne Campbell
Thomas Heard
Dr. Alysen Heil Glenn Henry Dr. Tawana Mattox Lenzy Reid
Stuart Rolf
Howard Sokol Carol Stanley
Title/Position Interim President Executive Vice President Executive Director of Academic Affairs
Role Facilitator Core Team Leader (Point of Contact) Data Team Leader (Point of Contact)
Email address
[email protected] [email protected]
Director of Public Relations Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Dean of Business, Education, and Humanities Director of Recruitment and Retention Mathematics Instructor Dean of Life Sciences FSSE Coordinator Executive Director, Walton County Campus Program Chair for Machine Tool Technology Paralegal Studies Program Chair
Core Team Member
[email protected]
Core Team Member
[email protected]
Core Team Member
[email protected]
Core Team Member
[email protected]
Core Team CoChair/Member Core Team Member Core Team Member Core Team Member
[email protected]
Core Team Member
[email protected]
Core Team Member
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Core Team Member
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Full Name ata Team Members Geoff Barrow Virginia Bramblett Sibley Bryan Dr. Mary Clare DiGiacomo
Dr. Bobbi Johnstone Dustin McDaniel Dr. Margaret Morgan
Vidya Nahar Dr. Crystal Robinson
Title/Position
Role
Email address
Webmaster Accounting Program Chair Director, Greene County Campus Dean of Center for Teaching and Learning Data Analyst
Data Team Member Data Team Member
[email protected] [email protected]
Data Team Member
[email protected]
Data Team Member
[email protected]
Data Team CoChair/Member Data Team Member
[email protected]
Data Team Member
[email protected]
Data Team Member
[email protected]
Data Team Member
[email protected]
Assistant Director of Financial Aid Dean of Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Mathematics Instructor Anatomy and Physiology Instructor
[email protected]
Conclusion As the information in the Goals section of this report indicates, Athens Technical College is moving forward with its Complete College Georgia plans and seeing success with several initiatives. Plans for college-wide implementation of the TEAMS Early Alert system to help improve retention and increase the number of graduates, new articulation agreements with four-year colleges and Move On When Ready programs for high school students, more faculty training for the first semester seminar, a re-evaluation of our developmental education offerings, guided pathways to keep students on track to graduation, and credits for prior learning to shorten time to degree work together to increase retention and graduation rates at the college. Among the most successful strategies to-date have been the increased number of faculty reporting Early Alerts and the success of the academic plans. The students who have completed FSSE 1000 have a 2.74 percent increase in retention as compared to the students who did not take FSSE, which we consider a success for our first full-year of implementation. The time-to-degree has shortened for full and part-time students which can be credited to the more student-friendly prior learning and military credit policies the college has implemented. Our most significant success, however, is the reinvigoration of our Achieving the Dream/Complete College Georgia core and data teams. Athens Technical College has experienced a year of changes. Form the retirement of the president, vice president for academic affairs, and dean of technical and industrial programs to the resignation of the vice president for student affairs and the re-organization of academic divisions and departments, the college has let the Achieving the Dream/Complete College Georgia initiatives stagnate. However, the interim president and the executive vice president /chief academic officer have re-formed the two teams. The core team now meets once a week to review progress toward our goals, and the data team has developed a smoother system for anyone at the college to request data. This next year should see significant improvement in communication, accountability, and student success.
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Next Steps The college will focus on a number of initiatives in the upcoming year. First, the college will work on the initiatives identified in the Goals section of this document. The resources necessary to implement these initiatives consist primarily of faculty time and effort. Second, the college plans to develop a mechanism to recognize programs that significantly improve retention and graduation rates. While this idea is still in its infancy, one possible resource needed would be funds for an engraved plaque or award certificate for the honored area. Reports generated by the institutional effectiveness data analyst will be used to determine the programs that are making positive progress. A third initiative is to create guided pathways for students using Degree Works plans to encourage full time students to complete their credential in two years. No additional resources are needed to complete this task; however, time and effort of faculty, advisors, and staff building the plans will need to be considered. The college will need to provide extensive advisor and student training sessions to roll out guided pathways plans in Degree Works. Another initiative is to complete work on and implement the student success certificate for all full-time faculty and staff. Again, the primary resource needed for this initiative is faculty and staff time and effort; however, possible funds for conferences or off-site training institutes such as Patrick Henry Community College’s SCALE may be needed. The college is also investigating adding a collegewide attendance policy and repeat coursework policy. The Faculty Council has subcommittees working on these proposals. Implementation of these policies may require resources such as Banner training for faculty and staff and software to track attendance. The college also hopes to create additional associate of science degrees to provide students the opportunity to seamlessly transfer to the University System of Georgia colleges. Articulation of these degrees takes time and effort on the part of the administration, faculty, and staff. Finally, the college plans to track applicants to competitive selection programs to determine whether they enroll in the associate of applied science degree in Health Sciences with specializations in personal fitness, emergency preparedness, and gerontology that were developed during 2014 academic year. Resources necessary for this data collection include the time and effort of a data analyst and the office of institutional effectiveness personnel.
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Atlanta Technical College
Atlanta Technical College | 30
Atlanta Technical College Overview Atlanta Technical College (ATC) enrolled 7,453 students in Complete College Georgia (CCG) programs in Report Year 2014. The CCG Report Year (RY) 2014 programs include Certificates of less than one academic year, Certificates/Diplomas of at least one year but less than two, Certificates/Diplomas of at least two years but less than four, and Associate Degree programs. Total unduplicated enrollment increased by 4% from 2011 to 2012 in CCG programs. Of the 7,453 students enrolled in 2012, 2,278 (32%) were full-time and 5,080 (68%) were part-time. Full-time enrollment decreased by 20 percentage points from the prior year. Part-time enrollment increased by 20 percentage points from 2011 to 2012. Approximately 8% of the student population took remedial courses in Report Year 2014 compared to 9% in the previous year. There were approximately 42% males and 58% females enrolled in 2012. ATC students enrolled in CCG programs in 2012 were mostly age 25 and over which represents 63% of the total enrollment. Students that received the Pell grant represented 73% of the total enrollment in 2012. Based on the above information, in 2012, the majority of ATC students were low income Black females age 25 and over.
Goals Atlanta Technical College implemented the overall goal of increasing the number of graduates in 2015 by 5% or 796 graduates. In addition, Atlanta Technical College 2015 goals include transforming remediation and restructuring delivery. Strategies and interventions to address each goal and performance metrics to measure goal attainment are discussed. Atlanta Technical College utilizes various data sources to assess the effectiveness of the strategies and interventions in achieving the goals as stated above. The Student Success Implementation Team reviewed:
Complete College Georgia All Metrics Summary report Achieving the Dream metric reports Knowledge Management System (KMS) reports Survey reports Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2015 Complete College Georgia (CCG) Progress Summary
Metric Degree Production
Goal To produce 796 CCG graduates in 2015.
Graduation Rate
To increase the graduation rate by 2% in CCG Report Year 2014.
Success in Remedial Education
To increase the number of students successfully completing remedial education requirements and collegelevel courses in the same subject as remedial education by 3% in CCG Report Year 2014.
Actual Result ATC produced 1,301 CCG graduates in 2015. The 100% graduation rate increased by 10%, 150% increased by 2%, and 200% decreased by 1%. The number of students successfully completing remedial education requirements increased by 2% and students successfully completing college-level courses in the same subject increased by 3%.
Goal 1: Increase the number of graduates by an additional 79,531 or 4.7% annually over the previous year. Performance Metric: Complete College America (CCA) Outcome Metric 1: Degree Production Strategies/Interventions: Atlanta Technical College exceeded the CCG degree production goal for the seventh consecutive year. Atlanta Technical College increased the number of CCG graduates by 6% in 2015. There were 1,301 total CCG graduates in 2015. The college awarded 26% more certificates less than 1 year in length, 1% more certificates/diplomas of at least 1 year but less than 2 years, and 3% more associate degrees than the prior year. Atlanta Technical College | 31
There was a 22% decline of certificates/diplomas of at least 2 years but less than 4 years in length awarded since 2014. Similar results are found when reviewing the KMS CR363 Grads and Awards Conferred report (Table 1.1). KMS CR363 reports all awards including non-CCG programs at Atlanta Technical College. Table 1.1 shows an overall 4% increase in credentials awarded in 2015. The number of certificates awarded increased over prior year by 7%. The increases in certificates awarded are a result of continuing to focus on increasing the number of embedded TCCs in diploma and associate degree programs. Table 1.1 Awards Conferred Year
Certificates
Diplomas
Degrees
Total Awards
2010
1,058
476
95
1,629
2011
1,243
745
176
2,164
2012
1,641
583
160
2,384
2013
1,057
602
147
1,806
2014
1,883
613
253
2,749
2015
2,015
600
260
2,875
% of Increase/Decrease 32.84%
9.23% -32.00% 34.30% 4.38%
Staffing, workload, and time constraints posed obstacles in reviewing each program for potential embedded TCCs. To alleviate these obstacles, ATC utilized human resources to include the curriculum coordinator and academic deans from each division. In 2015, the curriculum coordinator and the deans of academic programs worked to identify new certificate programs to embed in existing diploma and degree programs. Embedded technical certificates of credit (TCC) offer students the opportunity to obtain one or more credential(s) while matriculating through a diploma or degree. This strategy to increase the number of graduates proved to be effective by yielding 26% more TCC credentialed students in 2015 than in 2014. There was an overall 164% increase in TCC graduates from 2013 to 2015 (Chart 1.2).
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Chart 1.2 Complete College Georgia Graduates
1400 1200
# of CCG Graduates
1000 800 600 400 200 0
Goal
2013 727
2014 761
2015 796
Total CCG Graduates
908
1,222
1,301
Advisement sheets have been modified to illustrate at which point the student has earned an embedded TCC included in a higher credential. Throughout this past year, the curriculum coordinator in conjunction with the deans, programs chairs and other key stakeholders at ATC have identified, developed and/or implemented 10 new embedded TCCs which has had a direct impact on the graduation rate. The curriculum coordinator will continue to collaborate with the deans and program chairs to identify additional programs eligible for fast-tracking in 2016. Goal 2: Transform Remediation Performance Metric: CCA Progress Metric 2a: Success in Remedial Education Strategies/Interventions: In 2015, Atlanta Technical College aimed to increase the number of students successfully completing learning support (LS) requirements and college-level courses in the same subject as remedial education by 3% in CCG Report Year 2014. Atlanta Technical College enrolled 895 students in remedial education in fall 2010 (CCG RY 2014). Of the 895 students, 486 or 54% successfully completed remedial education courses within their first two academic years of enrollment. Table 2.1 shows there was a 2% increase in the success rate of the fall 2010 cohort over the fall 2009 cohort. The college did not meet the goal for students’ successful completion of remedial education requirements. Although ATC did not meet the 2015 goal of 3% increase in success, students in the fall 2010 cohort that were required to take both Math and English learning support courses were 13% more successful in completing than the prior year cohort. The success rate of students enrolled in Math only or English only learning support courses declined this year by 2% and 8% respectively. Table 2.1 Success in Remedial Education Student Success in Remedial Education Total Remedial Math Only English Only Both Math and English
Fall 2007 Cohort 48.2% 64.1% 46.9% 41.6%
Fall 2008 Cohort 47.2% 46.9% 44.9% 50.3%
% change -2.1% -26.8% -4.3% 20.9%
Fall 2009 Cohort 53.3% 61.0% 55.1% 47.4%
% change 12.9% 30.1% 22.7% -5.8%
Fall 2010 Cohort 54.3% 60.0% 50.8% 53.5%
% change 1.9% -1.6% -7.8% 12.9%
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The most current remedial education data available in CCG Report Year 2014 is information on the fall 2010 cohort. Atlanta Technical College implemented the Learning Support Redesign in 2012. The first cohort of students to matriculate under the Learning Support Redesign was in the fall 2011 cohort. CCG report data is not yet available to assess the Success in Remedial Education metric. As an alternative, ATC analyzed the data shown in the Achieving the Dream Outcome 1 report of students successfully completing developmental course requirements in 2 years. The ATD data is shown in Table 2.2 and Chart 2.2. Table 2.2 Successful Completion of Remedial Education Requirements in 2 years Successful Completion of Developmental Courses in 2 years Math English
2011 (Includes fall 2010) 51.4% 37.4%
2012 (Includes fall 2011) 23.8% 42.3%
% change
2013 (Includes fall 2012)
% change
-53.7% 13.1%
19.6% 42.5%
-17.6% 0.5%
Table 2.2 shows the first cohorts to matriculate under the Learning Support Redesign. The fall 2011 cohort (first LSR cohort) students enrolled in learning support Math were 54% less successful than the prior year cohort. The fall 2011 cohort of students enrolled in learning support English were 13% more successful than the prior year cohort. There was a 17% decline in the success of developmental Math students in the fall 2012 cohort than the fall 2011 cohort. Again, developmental English students in the fall 2012 cohort were 1% more successful than the previous year cohort. Chart 2.2 provides a three-year comparison of the success of Math and English developmental education students. Chart 2.2 Successful Completion of Remedial Education Requirements in 2 years 60.0% 50.0% 40.0%
51.4% 42.3%
42.5%
37.4%
30.0% 23.8%
20.0%
19.6%
10.0% 0.0% 2011 (Includes fall 2010)
2012 (Includes fall 2011) Math
2013 (Includes fall 2012)
English
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To address the Learning Support Redesign (LSR) intervention, a Learning Support Task Force was developed. The task force identified a cross-section of faculty and staff to serve as human resources to address issues of the Learning Support Redesign. The learning support task force identified obstacles in the success of the LSR to include poor success in LS Math and the lack of faculty engagement in the redesign process. To address the poor success in LS Math and the lack of faculty engagement in the process, members of the task force met with LS faculty to collaboratively revise the LS policy manual. The LS policy manual revisions specifically addressed the 2015 CCG plan regarding the success of students matriculating through the LSR and the non-completers in developmental education. The Learning Support Task Force piloted a Co-Requisite Math Course to address the declining success rates in developmental Math. In fall 2014, the College ran a pilot Co-Requisite Math course to provide an opportunity for students to complete their LS Math course and their General Education Math course in one semester. The first 7 weeks of the semester, students took the LS Math course. If the students passed the LS portion of the Co-Req., they sat for the College Algebra (MATH 1111) portion of the course the last 7 weeks. Students with COMPASS scores 26-36 qualified for the Co-Req. The college also ran a second pilot in spring 2015 but the results are pending. There was a 100% completion rate in the LS Math portion of the Math Co-Requisite course in fall 2014. There was also a 20% attrition rate, which represents our average attrition rate in Arts and Sciences division of the college. There was a 90% completion rate in the General Education Math portion of the Math Co-Requisite course in fall 2014. The attrition rate was approximately 8%. Because of the success of the Math Co-Requisite, the college will create four additional Math Co-Requisite courses in fall 2015 in order to further examine the model, collect, and analyze the student data. If this model shows similar success rates, the college will use the model to transform Math Learning Support across the division. The Student Success Implementation Team and the Learning Support Task Force will monitor the effectiveness of the Co-Requisite model in 2016. Goal 3: Restructure Delivery Performance Metric: CCA Outcome Metric 2: Graduation Rates Strategies/Interventions: The Report Year 2014 CCG Outcome Metric 2 tracks the fall 2009 cohort for CCG certificate and diploma programs and the fall 2008 cohort for associate degree programs. Table 3.1 shows the CCG Report Year 2014 graduation rates for 100%, 150%, and 200% time to graduation. Table 3.1 CCG Outcome Metric 2 Graduation Rates All Award Levels 100% Time 150% Time 200% Time
RY 2013 16% 22% 24%
RY 2014 18% 23% 23%
% change 10.4% 2.0% -1.4%
Atlanta Technical College’s 2015 goal was to increase the graduation rate by 2%. The goal was met for 100% time to graduation and 150% time to graduation. The goal was not met for 200% time to graduation. The data indicates the cohorts graduated in less time than the prior report year cohorts. The decline in 200% time to graduation could be an indication of an increase in students that leave and do not complete their degree. More recent data was available from IPEDS. The IPEDS graduation rates are shown in Table 3.2. Table 3.2 IPEDS Graduation Rates 100% of normal time 150% of normal time 200% of normal time
2009 Cohort 17% 23% 34%
2010 Cohort 11% 24% 35%
% change -35.3% 4.3% 2.9%
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The IPEDS graduation rates indicate a 35% decline in 100% time to graduation in the 2010 cohort from the prior year cohort. The 150% time to graduation rate increased 4% and the 200% time to graduation rate increased 3% for the 2010 cohort versus the 2009 cohort. The IPEDS graduation rates indicate students are taking longer to graduate in more recent years. Prior to 2015, an early alert program and mandatory advising were put in place to address on-time graduation. In 2015, the lack of a centralized advising process became an obstacle to implementing these strategies. To alleviate the obstacles, the Student Success Center became the physical resource to house first-year student advising and management of the early alert program. The human resources needed to manage the early alert program included fulltime advisors and the cooperation of faculty to communicate and track student success through the early alert system. Implementation of the Early Alert program has helped to address those students needing intervention prior to failing courses and consequently not completing course requirements for their program. The Early Alert System was streamlined and integrated with the Technical College System of Georgia’s electronic system (TEAMS). The electronic system allows faculty and staff to track their referrals and offer progress updates to advisors. After students are submitted via the electronic process, Student Success Advisors provide one-on-one coaching, advising, and/or referring. These interventions are in place to address the issue of students taking courses out of sequence due to the inability to pass a "difficult" course. Students are strongly encouraged to utilize both internal and external resources. Some of the resources include, but not limited to; the Student Success Center, the Learning Support Lab, the Reading Oasis reading and writing lab, and Seedco. Over 70% of ATC students received Pell grant funds in 2012. Students that continue to perform poorly are at risk of being placed on academic warning and/or probation which can lead to losing their financial aid funding. The Student Success Center successfully piloted and has fully implemented the Student Completion Plan program in collaboration with the Financial Aid office. Atlanta Technical College’s 2015 CCG plan outlined an intervention to address retention and program completion. The goal of the Student Completion Plan is to help students regain good academic standing in the college. Some students experienced difficulty balancing school, work, and other personal commitments. These students may take longer to complete their program and has a direct impact on ATC’s graduation rate. The Student Success Center works with these students to devise a Student Completion Plan that considers the normal program time to completion as well as the student’s academic and personal capacity. Academic plans are derived based upon students’ academic history, potential risk factors which may impede academic success, and the student’s overall academic/career goals. After being awarded a Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) appeal from the Office of Financial Aid, students complete a needs assessment packet and meet individually with an advisor to plan how to successfully get back to good academic standing. Qualitative data from student surveys revealed the obstacle of the availability of courses needed to graduate. According to the 2015 CCG plan, ATC continued block scheduling of 5 programs to provide students with availability of courses needed to graduate in the appropriate sequence and at the appropriate time. The college provides block scheduling of the Accounting, Air Conditioning Technology, Automotive Technology, Medical Assisting, and Networking Specialist programs. Table 3.3 and Table 3.4 provide the retention and graduation rates in the blocked scheduled programs and compare the rates to all programs combined.
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Table 3.3 Block Scheduled Program Retention
Level Diploma Degree Diploma Diploma Diploma Degree Diploma All
Block Scheduled Fall to Fall Retention Fall Fall 2013 Fall 2013 Fall 2013 Retention 2014 Cohort Retained Rate Cohort 19 9 47% 12 27 14 52% 16
Fall 2014 Retained 5 6
Fall 2014 Retention Rate 42% 38%
% change -12% -28%
41 47 51 7 6 180 1626
15 1 18 0 1 46 531
37% 2% 35% 0% 17% 26% 33%
-37% -97% 59% -100% -44% -50% -32%
Blocked Scheduled Program Graduation Rates Fall Fall 2013 Fall 2013 Fall 2013 Grad 2014 Major Description Cohort Grads Rate Cohort Accounting 19 0 0% 12 Accounting 27 1 4% 16 Air Conditioning Technology 74 9 12% 41 Automotive Technology 63 37 59% 47 Medical Assisting 36 1 3% 51 Networking Specialist 16 2 13% 7 Networking Specialist 20 4 20% 6 All Block Scheduled 255 54 21% 180 All Programs 1,768 214 12% 1,626
Fall 2014 Grads 1 4 10 32 7 6 0 60 316
Major Description Accounting Accounting Air Conditioning Technology Automotive Technology Medical Assisting Networking Specialist Networking Specialist All Block Scheduled All Programs
74 63 36 16 20 255 1768
43 40 8 10 6 130 855
58% 63% 22% 63% 30% 51% 48%
Table 3.4 Block Scheduled Program Graduation
Level Diploma Degree Diploma Diploma Diploma Degree Diploma All
Fall 2014 Grad Rate 8% 25% 24% 68% 14% 86% 0% 33% 19%
% change 8% 575% 101% 16% 394% 586% -100% 57% 61%
The retention rate of the fall 2014 cohort blocked scheduled programs was 26% compared to 33% for all programs. The blocked scheduled programs retention rate fell 50% from the prior year cohort. Since the retention rate decreased by 32% for all programs, the cause of the decline is likely not solely due to block scheduling but the decline is an indication of an issue that affects all programs. Although the fall to fall retention rates declined, there were significant increases in the blocked schedule program graduation rates. The fall 2014 cohort blocked schedule graduation rate increased by 57% over the prior year cohort. Several blocked scheduled programs more than doubled their graduation rate over the prior year including Accounting (Degree), Air Conditioning Technology (Diploma), Medical Assisting (Diploma), and Networking Specialist (Degree). Based on the above analysis, the current blocked schedule programs will remain in place in 2016. The Student Success Implementation Team will be the human resources needed to review the effectiveness of the blocked schedule programs as a part of the annual program review process. The team will continue to explore other opportunities to block schedule programs.
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Student Success Implementation Team Name Dr. Alvetta Thomas Dr. Murray Williams Dr. Rushton Johnson Dr. Kimberly Frazier Ms. Debra Saunders Mrs. Sonya McCoy-Wilson Ms. Jocelyn Peterson Ms. Donna Boisseau Ms. Elaina Chance Ms. Juli Gilyard Mr. Ronald Laws Mrs. Lauren Lopez
Title President Vice President of Academic Affairs (Point of Contact) Vice President of Student Affairs Associate Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness Associate Vice President of Adult Education Dean of Arts and Sciences Director of Intuitional Research Curriculum Coordinator Interim Student Success Coordinator High School Coordinator Faculty, Learning Support Department Chair Faculty, Math Department Chair
The leadership, faculty, and staff of Atlanta Technical College are transforming its campus into an evidence-based culture. The college has many ways of collecting data for evaluation and assessment, from an academic program review level of assessment to college-wide assessment of progress toward student success goals. The institutional effectiveness process requires all academic and student support service programs to develop program and student learning outcomes; use multiple methods to assess them; and use the assessment results to improve the programs. The Student Success Implementation Team extends this practice to student success interventions by developing outcomes and assessment plans for each major intervention. Expected outcomes are used to measure the effectiveness of the student success interventions in achieving college level goals that link directly to competencies required to ensure successful student retention, graduation and employment within the student's field of study. The institutional research office disseminates data through a monthly “Let’s Talk Data” newsletter, campus-wide presentations at Fall Convocation, and Faculty and Staff meetings where the results are available for use in individual department planning, as well as annual review of the campus strategic planning and budgeting process. Atlanta Technical College also engages students, faculty, staff and community members in sharing of results and continuous improvement through various teams such as the Student Success Implementation Team and the Learning Support Task Force. Additionally, the college’s Institutional Effectiveness Quality Team serves in an advisory capacity regarding the collection and dissemination of data to institutional stakeholders, therefore enhancing the institution’s decision-making capacity and improving its overall effectiveness.
Conclusion Atlanta Technical College’s 2015 CCG metrics increased in the areas of Degree Production, Graduation Rate, and Success in Remedial Education. The current year interventions continued from 2014 include the Learning Support Redesign, Embedded TCC programs, Early Alert Program, and Blocked Scheduling. The Learning Support Redesign was enhanced by convening the Learning Support Task Force to finalize a policy for the LSR. The college identified 10 new TCC programs to embed in existing programs. The Early Alert Program added the TEAMS system. There were no changes to the Blocked Scheduling intervention in 2015.These strategies/interventions were effective and will be continued in 2016. Parts of the Learning Support Redesign were ineffective with respect to success in LS Math. Based on this finding, adjustments were made to LS Math courses in the form of a Co-Requisite Model. The college implemented two new strategies/interventions in 2015, the Student Completion Plan and the Co-Requisite Model. The Student Completion Plan was implemented in fall 2014; therefore sufficient data to assess the success of the intervention is not yet available. As shown in Chart 2.2, there is a large gap in the success of LS Math students versus LS English students. During 2015, the Learning Support Task Force looked more closely into ways to increase success in LS Atlanta Technical College | 38
Math courses. The Co-Requisite Model is an intervention to address the success rate in LS Math. The Co-Requisite Model is in the early stages and while positive success was achieved with the pilot cohorts, more time is needed to monitor long term success of the intervention. The Student Success Implementation Team will discuss assessment plans and develop reporting tools to further analyze the effectiveness of the Student Completion Plan and the Co-Requisite Model. As a result of the successes and opportunities for improvement in 2015, Atlanta Technical College will continue the committees and sub-committees that contribute to the college’s overall student success plan. There are no new planned committees for 2016. The college has developed a shared definition of student success that is specific to the mission of Atlanta Technical College. “Student Success means that our students persist, grow and develop, complete their educational goals and programs of study, and continue on to work or further study. In other words, Atlanta Technical College students start strong, stay strong, and finish strong.”
Next Steps Table 4 2016 Planned Strategies/Interventions Strategy/Intervention
Description of Strategy/Intervention Enhance tutoring and early alert wrap-around services. Develop and implement an assessment plan for the Learning Support Redesign current phase of the LSR.
Early Alert Program Embedded Technical Certificates of Credit
Student Completion Plan Co-Requisite Model
Blocked Scheduling
Mandatory Advising
Develop a plan to assess the effectiveness of the Early Alert Program. Monitor course sequences to embed new TCC programs into Diploma and Associate Degree programs. Identify additional programs eligible for fast-tracking Maintain a process to assess student need for services. Based on the needs assessment, create instructional resources to meet the students’ individualized needs. Emphasize the Co-Requisite Model for Math. Explore the possibility for a Co-Requisite English Model. Maintain currently block scheduled programs offered at Atlanta Technical College. Monitor graduation rates by program and perform analysis to determine programs that can benefit from block scheduling. Provide mandatory one-on-one, face-to-face faculty advisement for students. Utilize the alternate PIN as a means of preventing students from self-advisement. Encourage students to speak with their advisor to register for courses and advisement.
Resources Learning Support Task Force General Education Institutional Research Student Success Center Faculty Advisors Institutional Research Curriculum Coordinator Academic Deans
Student Success Center Learning Support Task Force General Education
Academic Deans Curriculum Coordinator
Student Success Center Faculty Advisors
Atlanta Technical College | 39
Augusta Technical College
Augusta Technical College | 40
Augusta Technical College Overview Augusta Technical College continues to implement, assess, and refine strategic approaches that promote improvement in college completion and student success rates; i.e. successful completion of a remedial education course and earning a grade of “C” or better in a college-level general education course, increase retention and placement rates, and reduce time to completion to name a few. As the nation and various industries to include higher education continue to experience paradigm shifts in methodologies , demographic changes have occurred at the College that have prompted a need to modify current approaches and consider new strategies. Over the past decade, the College’s annual enrollment steadily increased for the first seven years and has struggled with the national trend of declining annual enrollment for the latter (See Figure 1). At present, enrollment for the Fall term of AY 2016 increased by 4.6% in comparison to Fall term of AY 2015. Should this trend continue, it is anticipated that the College will report an increase in annual enrollment for the 2016 CCG progress report. In reviewing the student demographic data provided in KMS Report #DC241, a significant change in annual fulltime/part-time enrollment is noted, especially during Academic Year 2012 (AY 2012), the initial year of the quarter to semester conversion. Data analyses show significant changes in full-time and part-time enrollment status for both students with and without student type “transfer” (See Figures 2 and 3 – Note students with student type “high school” are not included). Analyses also show that transfer student total enrollment has continued to decline since AY 2012 (See Figure 3). Prior to the conversion to semester terms, the student population was majority full-time; however, since the conversion, the student population is majority part-time. While this trend is starting to decline, the part-time enrollment was approximately three times greater than full-time enrollment in AY 2012. [FT = 1491; PT = 4365] Estimates for AY 2015 show the gap has decreased with part-time enrollment at about 1.35 times greater than full-time enrollment. [FT = 2417; PT = 3413] One possible cause for this shift in enrollment status is improvement in the economy (See Figure 4). During the recession, persons partnered with our unified mission statements and enrolled in the technical colleges to train or retrain in areas that would afford employment opportunities. As the economy continues to stabilize and demonstrate signs of growth, some persons are maintaining employment while continuing or pursuing their education. Another notable shift in demographics includes a decline in female student enrollment for FY 2011 – AY 2014, with the largest being a three-percent decline between AY 2013 (n=3677) and AY 2014 (3423). Estimates for AY 2015 show a 0.7% increase however (See Figure 5). The College continues to serve a student population where the majority of its students are African American (See Figure 6). Additionally, greater than 50% of the student population is age 25 and over (See Figure 7).
Goals Various strategic efforts continue to positively impact the TCSG-CCG goals of Transform Remediation, Restructure Delivery, and Shorten Time to Degree; however, Augusta Technical College is continuing to refine efforts that will show significant improvements in meeting the mandatory objective of increasing the number of graduates to meet the prescribed goal. A summary of the outcomes for major strategies and the performance metrics used to measure success follows. Increase the Number of Graduates by 4.7% Annually Over the Previous Year Degree production has increased over the past two years for the college (See Figure 8). However, the cumulative degree production degree production total through AY 2015 is 3091 below the Complete College America Goal. College strategies to improve degree production include New Student Orientation (NSO), Early Alert, and Advisement Services.
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Participation in the NSO sessions continues to improve as evidenced by the 23.3% increase for AY 2015 (n=2,067) over AY 2014 (n=1,586.) An adequate amount of human resources have been dedicated to this strategy to make it an informative and effective bridge to the college experience. For AY 2015, the Student Navigator was tasked with the overall planning and implementation of the NSO experience. Additionally, an online reservation process using Survey Monkey® was implemented. The goal of mandatory NSO continues to be an obstacle for the College. The challenges include no consequences for persons that do not attend, and no scheduled sessions for late applicants and/or ongoing admission after the start of the term. To resolve the latter, earlier acceptance and notification of NSO dates has been implemented. Efforts to improve the College’s Early Alert Program as a means to improve retention and increase the number of graduates have evolved through two (2) system-wide training phases. The Academic Counselor and Student Navigator were part of the initial November training and they now coordinate TEAMS training for the College. Phase I of the TCSG Early Alert Management System (TEAMS) went live on January 2015 with full-time learning support faculty working as the pilot group. Two trainings were offered in Atlanta to faculty and staff who would be using TEAMS, in addition to two sessions offered on the Augusta campus. Trained faculty began using TEAMS beginning Spring Term 2015. Phase II was introduced at the TCSG Enterprise Technology Summit in March 2015. For Summer Term 2015 all full-time Arts & Sciences & Learning Support instructors trained in TEAMS. Prior to the start of Fall Term 2015, Industrial Technology and Information Engineering Technology faculty were offered TEAMS training. Known challenges include faculty participation in TEAMS training and overall faculty usage of TEAMS. In an effort to increase training participation and TEAMS usage, the Student Navigator will continue to promote usage of TEAMS by offering training opportunities and requesting support of the Academic and Operations Deans, along with the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Also, the Academic Counselor continues to use a manual early alert process until TEAMS training is complete at the end of Spring Term 2016. Guided Pathways for each program of study were developed and implemented during the Fall Semester 2014 to enhance academic advisement services. The pathways are available on the College’s website. However, communication of curriculum changes is not consistently received in order to update the Guided Pathways simultaneously with catalog updates; therefore, a process has been implemented through the Academic Affairs Division to eradicate this obstacle. The pathways; along with a degree audit from Degree Works are essential tools utilized by the academic advisement team. The academic advisement team is comprised of the Academic Counselor, Career Services Director, the state funded Student Navigator, and three (3) grant-funded academic advisors/navigators (Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) Competitive and Formula). Each individual within the unit is tasked with individual advisement of constituent groups, as well as overall current student advisement and registration. Accutrack Software is used to monitor service activity for the advisement team. Tracking reports show that the total number of visitors decreased from AY 2014 (3051) to AY 2015 (3412). However, the frequency of visits increased by 12.9% [AY 2014 (10457); AY 2015 (12003)] as well as time spent which increased by 34.1% [AY 2014 (4383 hours); AY 2015 (6650 hours)]. This increase in positive advisement interactions may have contributed to the increase in the number of CCG graduates. Restructure Delivery (includes block scheduling) Online course demand continues to grow at Augusta Technical College. Online course offerings provide flexible scheduling options for students, particularly for those where the traditional classroom experience is not feasible. As the major focus of the College’s SACSCOC approved Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), the Distance Education unit has exerted much effort in coordinating the scheduling of online courses in addition to assisting with the promotion, tracking, and evaluation of the goals of the QEP.
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The QEP focus statement is: To improve student learning in distance education through course design enhancements focusing on required orientations and the use of innovative resources and advanced multimedia. Currently, the QEP is in the implementation phase. Students, who plan to register for an online course for the Spring 2016 term, must complete and pass “Badge” training, a required online orientation. The Badge Training was piloted during the Summer and Fall 2015 terms. This pilot required students registering for two identified courses to complete the training prior to registering for the online courses. 100% of the summer and 94.3% of the fall semester pilot course students completed the training. In addition to Badge Training, the first four QEP pilot courses are currently being developed and will go live in Spring 2016. The added strategies and media combined with the required Badge training should assist with the success and retention of our online students. Beginning Fall Semester 2015, the Distance Education Coordinator half-time position was expanded to full-time. By growing this position, there has been more opportunity to implement strategies and gather data for continuous improvement, such as Badge registration, surveys, and the development of quality distance education courses. The Badge Training will be a resource to provide the students with the opportunity to learn more about Distance Education courses, and to find out if that type of modality will be a good fit. Using the Badge Training as guidance, it is anticipated that students who are able to successfully pass should have a higher rate of online retention. For those unable to pass, this is a good indicator that online learning may not be in their best interest right now. Online course growth is exciting for the College; however, the demand for more course offerings has proven to be a challenge. Since the online courses continue to fill rapidly during the first few weeks of the registration periods, the Distance Education unit has implemented a proactive approach to offer more sections of the high-demand courses at the genesis of the registration periods rather than waiting for the courses to fill and determine additional section needs. This approach affords instructors the opportunity to prepare sooner. Also, this approach eliminates the need for last minute schedule changes and the loss of students who do not have an opportunity to enroll in online sections. Another strategy utilized by Augusta Technical College to restructure delivery is block scheduling. The block scheduling model for the College is an option for most on-track degree and diploma seeking students; i.e., students are able to register for courses by choosing a day or evening “block”. For the 2014 CCG report, it was determined that the annual attrition rate for the TCSG mandated block scheduling programs of study would not exceed 40%. Moreover, annual evaluations would demonstrate a two-percent decrease in attrition for each program area. Results for the Fall 2013 CCG retention cohort are illustrated in Figure 9. The goal of not exceeding a 40% attrition rate was met by the Automotive Technology and Medical Assisting Diploma programs of study; however, the attrition rate did not decrease for either program. In review of the 2014 baseline date illustrated in Figure 10, it is noted that there is no significant change in raw data performance. In some instances, the success rates are greater than the Fall 2013 cohort data; however, this is due to a smaller cohort size. It is also noted that the average retention rate for the Fall 2014 CCG cohort enrolled in any degree or diploma program of study offered by the College is 54%. (See Figure 13) A major obstacle for this strategy is that successful tracking and evaluation requires extended knowledge of the many variables that impact the success results. Therefore, a block scheduling committee was formed in October 2014 as a result of the creation of a position to coordinate the College’s initiatives. Transform Remediation Augusta Technical College continues to refine the Learning Support (LS) Redesign initiative implemented during the Fall Semester 2012. As illustrated in Figure 11, the need to transform remedial course delivery was great. Various changes focused on placement and exit testing scores improved course success rates; however the CCG data shows that less than 50% of those enrolled in the pre-redesign LS cohorts for Fall 2007 – Fall 2011 successfully completed the college-level gateway course (with the exception of English in Fall 2011). Post re-design analysis has prompted the College to modify its two-fold learning support redesign initiative in order to increase student success/completion rate of both learning support courses and identified critical gateway courses. The modifications are being planned to continue the efforts of improving student success rates for the CCG metric “Success In Remedial Education”. Augusta Technical College | 43
During AY 2015, the Learning Support English courses were modified to provide a broader scope of writing and a more robust experience to equip students for more rigorous writing exercises assigned in the college-level gateway courses, while modifications to the degree track Learning Support Mathematics course included restructuring the content of three (3) modules for better alignment with the student learning outcomes for both the learning support course and for students transitioning to the college-level gateway Mathematics course. Moreover, a new software platform was piloted during Fall Semester 2014 with evening students to determine which platform bests meets the content for mastery of the identified student learning outcomes. Data Analyses for all students enrolled in a college-level gateway course for AY 2015 show an improvement in success rates post-redesign. For the college-level Mathematics course at the diploma level, success rates of those who earned a grade of “C” of higher for learning support students [Fall 2014 = 73%; Spring 2015 = 63.7%] and non-learning support students [Fall 2014 = 66%; Spring 2015 = 57.1%] are greater than fifty-percent. Rates for the college-level Mathematics course at the degree level are also greater than fifty-percent. [LS Students: Fall 2014 = 57.4%; Spring 2015 = 63.8%; NonLS students: Fall 2014 = 66.7%; Spring 2015 =69.6%] The same is true for the college-level English courses (See Figure 12). While success rates have increased, the LS team continues to discuss ways to decrease the amount of time it takes a student to complete a LS course. Proposed refinements are discussed in the conclusion. Shorten Time to Degree “Time is the Enemy” is what Complete College America emphasizes in its many publications. In addition to publishing the Guided Pathways, Augusta Technical College promotes the Fast to the Finish campaign on the homepage of the website. The College is committed to expanding and enhancing advisement services as the primary strategy to shorten the time to degree completion. Challenges include staffing reduction and shifts due to grant transitions. It was further determined that unit cross training on advising tools is of immediate need. As mentioned in the overview, with a student population that is majority part-time, other advisement strategies must be considered. Those planned for AY 2016will be discussed in the conclusion and next steps sections.
Student Success Implementation Team The table below is a listing of the college’s student success implementation team members. Role (Point of Contact or Member) Member
Full Name Evett Davis
Title High School Coordinator
Dr. Melissa Frank-Alston
Member
Shanan Glenn
SVP – Institutional Effectiveness and Research Student Navigator
Dr. Charles R. Hall, Sr.
SVP – Academic Affairs
Member
Dr. Nichole Kennedy
VP – Student Affairs
Member
Amy Laughter
Academic Counselor
Member
Johnica Mitchell
AVP – Strategic Initiatives
Point of Contact
Member
CCG Strategy Assignment or Responsibility Promote the college as an option to the “directly from high school (ages 1719)” population Tracking, Evaluation, and Reporting Advisement Services, Early Alert, and New Student Orientation Capacity Building and Block Scheduling Advisement Services, Early Alert, and New Student Orientation Advisement Services, Early Alert, and New Student Orientation Capacity Building, Block Augusta Technical College | 44
Associate Dean of Distance Education Institutional Research Analyst Dean, Arts and Sciences, Learning Support, and Personal Services Director, Career Services, Academic Advising, Navigation
Member
CCG Strategy Assignment or Responsibility Scheduling, Distance Education
Member Member
Tracking and Evaluation Learning Support Redesign
Member
Student Success Coordinator
Member
Advisement Services, Early Alert, and New Student Orientation Share retention strategies with the college community
Full Name Tammy O’Brien Randall Peek John Richardson
Donna Wendt
Crystal Willis
Title
Role (Point of Contact or Member)
Each member is responsible for the coordination, tracking, and evaluation of one or more strategies as identified in the table. Presently, the majority of student data analyses is performed by the Institutional Research Analyst and is shared with the college community in various ways. The Institutional Research Analyst performs analyses upon request and department specific data is shared with each academic division upon “closing the loop” of annual IE assessment plans. TCSG benchmark performance data for the college is provided on the Institutional Effectiveness and Research page of the college’s website. Complete College Georgia and Achieving the Dream data is shared through annual progress reports via email, in faculty and local board meetings, and through the college’s annual report and fact book. Other ways to share data consistently in a real-time manner (e.g. via a college dashboard) have been discussed and are being planned.
Conclusion and Next Steps To conclude, Augusta Technical College will continue to research and determine best practices that promote College completion. Moreover, present strategies will continue to be modified to meet the needs of the students in their quest to be successful. For example, the NSO planning team has been tasked to research the online orientation programs of other TCSG colleges to assist in the development of an effective program that will target persons unable to attend the face-to-face orientation. With the recent hiring (August 2015) of a Director of Community Engagement and Public Affairs, meetings have been held to determine a course of action to promote Distance Education. Faculty workloads have been adjusted to allow for more flexibility in online course scheduling and a plan to hire adjunct faculty for online instruction is being reviewed. Increase the Number of Graduates by 4.7% Annually Over the Previous Year To help improve the tracking and evaluation efforts of the advisement strategy, the maintenance of the guided pathways will transition to Academic Affairs for consistency eradicating the obstacles mentioned and cross unit training is planned to begin prior to the start of Spring Semester 2016. Additionally, the block scheduling committee plans to improve communication and data sharing with the Academic Affairs leadership team. The committee plans to recommend standardized training of the admission assistants, student navigators, and program chairs on methods to intrusive advising. It is also planned that the committee will generate cohort numbers earlier in the academic year so that program advisors may perform a cohort pulse check to coincide with census reporting dates: 7-day, 21-day, and 60%. Training on the usage of TEAMS will be expanded to adjunct faculty of the Division of Arts and Sciences, Leaning Support, and Personal Services, in conjunction with the Division of Allied Health Sciences and Nursing, and the Division of Business, Public Safety, and Early Childhood Care and Education. We anticipate college-wide TEAMS participation by all in Spring Term 2016. Through its Predominately Black Institutions Competitive and Formula Grants, Augusta Augusta Technical College | 45
Technical College will continue to provide three academic advisor positions to meet its students’ needs: Learning Support, Allied Health and Nursing, and Business and Computer and Information Systems. Transform Remediation The LS faculty will continue to monitor the success rates of the LS redesign initiative. Refinements to be considered for English include: continue using the same methodology for helping students complete certain modules at a more rapid pace and revise the generic evaluation rubric (analytical) for learning support and gateway course descriptors. For Mathematics, complete the new platform adoption by Spring 2016; evaluate the benefits of co-enrollment; and discuss re-implementation of exit testing. Additionally, with the funds granted to Augusta Technical College through the Department of Education’s Predominately Black Institutions (PBI) Competitive Program (2015-2019), the College plans to continue the progress accomplished in the first grant (2011-2015), and expand programs and services which include: (1) intrusive academic advising through a Learning Support Academic Advisor position, (2) utilization of TEAMS to track student progress and facilitate interventions at the first sign of at-risk indicators, (3) provide ten (10) part-time Instructional Support Specialists to provide tutorial services at all college locations, (4) provide through the Student Success Center, workshops on time management, goal setting, study skills, test taking, etc.., and (5) provide funding for learning support math instructors (one each year for life of grant) to obtain national certification at the Kellogg Institute for Certification of Adult and Developmental Educators. Restructure Delivery (includes block scheduling) Through the use of the Predominately Black Institutions Competitive Grant, Augusta Technical College will provide funding for professional development training for support services of online courses. Because interpersonal interaction between students and instructors is critical, professional development training will focus on (1) how instructors should provide adequate guidance to students in terms of the requirements of online courses, and (2) how to improve interpersonal interaction between student and instructors. In addition, the College will provide (1) online tutoring software (Smarthinking) to all online students; (2) in-person tutoring services provided to all online students through the Instructional Support Specialists housed in Student Success Center; 3) targeted intervention by course instructors for content; and 4) designated support staff who will utilize TEAMS to track student progress and facilitate interventions at the first sign of at-risk indicators. Shorten Time To Degree As a result of its participation in Achieving the Dream and Complete College Georgia, Augusta Technical College has become increasingly aware of the impact of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) credits on reducing time to completion. PLA credits are especially appropriate for non-traditional students, including veterans. With a military base in its service area and a significant veteran population, Augusta Technical College is well-positioned to utilize PLAs to reduce time to completion for a wide range of students; however, the College does not currently have the capacity, policies, procedures or trained personnel to implement Prior Learning Assessments. With the newly granted Predominately Black Institutions Competitive Grant (2015-2019), the College will establish policies, procedures and training to support a formal Prior Learning Assessment process. Activities will include but not be limited to: 1) hiring a PLA Coordinator; 2) establishing a PLA taskforce to ensure institutional buy-in and sustainability; 3) completion of PLA certification through the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL); and 4) communicating to its service area the opportunity to reduce time to completion via the PLAs.
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Supporting Figures Figure 1: Annual Enrollment (FY 2005 - AY 2015) Source: KMS Reports #DC241 and #DC 131 for AY 2015 Note: AY 2015 Enrollment may include students enrolled non-CCG recognized certificate programs of study
6003
6009
6035
6249
7246
7036
6515
6707
6156
6041
5830
FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 AY 2012 AY 2013 AY 2014 AY 2015
Total Enrollment
4365
Figure 2: CCG Full-Time and Part-Time Enrollment (FY 2005 - AY 2014) - Non-Transfer Source: KMS Reports #DC241 and #DC131 for AY 2015 Note: AY 2015 Enrollment may include students enrolled non-CCG recognized certificate programs of study
2310
3119
3321 1871
2000
1721
3293 3032
3158 3137
2986 2871
3006 2674
1491
2500
2939 2412
3000
2821 2564
3500
2805 2614
4000
3516
4500
1500 1000 500 0 FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 AY 2012 AY 2013 AY 2014 AY 2015 FT
PT
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Figure 3: CCG Full-Time and Part-Time Enrollment (FY 2005 - AY 2015) - Transfer Source: KMS Reports #DC241 and #DC131 for AY 2015 Note: AY 2015 Enrollment may include students enrolled non-CCG recognized certificate programs of study
599
613
700
502
294
347
238
320
346
395
347
311
295
335
323
349
274
300
298
286
400
301
500
456
465
600
107
200 100 0
FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 AY 2012 AY 2013 AY 2014 AY 2015
FT Transfer
PT Transfer
Figure 4:
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Figure 5: Annual Enrollment Percentage by Gender Source: KMS Reports #DC241 and #DC131 for AY 2015 Note: AY 2015 Enrollment may include students enrolled non-CCG recognized certificate programs of study
AY 2015 AY 2014 AY 2013 AY 2012 FY 2011 FY 2010 FY 2009 FY 2008 FY 2007 FY 2006 FY 2005
57.4%
42.6%
56.7%
43.3%
59.7%
40.3%
61.2%
38.8%
62.1%
37.9%
61.3%
38.7%
63.1%
36.9%
62.4%
37.6%
63.3%
36.7%
61.6%
38.4%
59.0%
41.0%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0% Female
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
Male
FIGURE 6: ANNUAL ENROLLMENT PERCENTAGE BY RACE (FY 2005 - AY 2014) SOURCE: KMS REPORTS #DC241
70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% FY 2005
FY 2006
FY 2007
Hispanic
FY 2008
FY 2009
Black, non-Hispanic
FY 2010
FY 2011 AY 2012 AY 2013
White, non-Hispanic
AY 2014
Asian
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FIGURE 7: ANNUAL ENROLLMENT PERCENTAGE BY AGE (FY 2005 - AY 2014) SOURCE: KMS REPORTS #DC241
FY 2010
53.9% 32.2%
14.0%
31.4%
53.6% 30.3%
14.6%
14.8%
16.1%
29.8%
30.2%
13.9%
14.7% FY 2009
55.4%
54.2% 31.1%
FY 2008
54.0%
25 and Over
55.9%
20-24
54.9% 29.8%
54.6% FY 2007
15.3%
12.6%
30.4%
FY 2006
15.0%
29.5%
FY 2005
14.4%
29.6%
56.1%
57.8%
17-19
FY 2011 AY 2012 AY 2013 AY 2014
Figure 8: CCA Graduates Actual (FY 2009 - AY 2015) Source: KMS Report #DC293
1600 1424
1401
1400
1353
1200
1187
1197
AY 2014
AY 2015
1090 984
1000 800 600 400 200 0 FY 2009
FY 2010
FY 2011
AY 2012
AY 2013
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Figure 9: CCG Block Scheduling Tracking – Fall 2013 Cohort (Source: KMS Report #DC302)
Level
Major
Cohort Total (A)
Attrition Rate (100% - Retention Rate)
Total Total Graduated Retention Rate Matriculating (B) (C) (A+B)/C Fall 2014
Fall 2015
Fall 2014
Fall 2015
Fall 2014 Fall 2015 Fall 2014 Fall 2015
Diploma
Accounting
10
3
0
0
0
30%
0%
70%
100%
Degree
Accounting
21
14
5
0
4
66.7%
42.9%
33.3%
57.1%
Diploma
Air Conditioning Technology
40
10
0
10
20
50%
50%
50%
50%
Diploma
Automotive Technology
43
5
0
24
28
67.4%
65.1%
32.6%
34.9%
Diploma
Medical Assisting
16
9
5
1
5
62.5%
62.5%
37.5%
37.5%
Diploma
Networking Specialist
2
1
0
0
1
50%
50%
50%
50%
Degree
Networking Specialist
25
5
0
6
8
44%
32%
56%
68%
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Figure 10: CCG Block Schedule Tracking Preliminary Baseline Data (Source: KMS Report #DC302)
Fall 2014 Cohort
Total Matriculating (A)
Total Graduated (B)
Total Retained (A+B)
Still Enrolled Fall 2015(201612)
Graduate as of Fall 2015 (201612)
Retained as of Fall 2015 (201612)
Matriculation Rate
Graduation Rate as of Fall 2015 (201612)
Retention Rate
Attrition Rate (100%Retention Rate)
Level
Major
Diploma
Accounting
7
5
71%
0
0
5
71%
29%
Degree
Accounting
14
5
36%
0
0
5
36%
64%
Diploma
Air Conditioning Technology
26
11
42%
9
34.6%
20
77%
23%
Diploma
Automotive Technology
30
3
10%
15
50%
18
60%
40%
Diploma
Medical Assisting
20
7
35%
0
0
7
35%
65%
Diploma
Networking Specialist
22
4
18.2%
6
27.3%
10
45%
55%
Degree
Networking Specialist
7
3
42.9%
0
0
3
43%
57%
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Central Georgia Technical College
Central Georgia Technical College | 53
Central Georgia Technical College Overview Central Georgia Technical College had a number of activities over AY2015 in support of completion efforts. The performance target was for CGTC to have a 4.7% increase in graduates over the prior year. The AY2014 CCG graduate report indicated 1,713 graduates and AY2015 reported 2,037 graduates, an 8.9% increase in CCG graduates for Degree Production. In AY2015 CGTC serviced 11,715 unduplicated students of which 77% (8,984 of 11,715) received some form of financial aid. Enrollment was composed of 63% female and 37% male. 52% of students were African American and 42% were White with 6% from all other IPEDS reporting categories for race/ethnicity. CGTC met its benchmarks for retention rate (60%) and graduation rate (55%). End of Year data (AY2015) indicated a retention rate of 68.4% and a graduation rate of 67% which were great improvements from the previous year (KMS Report #DC198 as of 9/21/15). Although there were no significant demographic changes from prior years further review of DC#241 is provided in this report under section header “Performance Metrics.”
Goals by Performance Metric: In an effort to meet or exceed established benchmarks outlined in the College’s CCG plan under each metric, CGTC improvement goals strategies included the need to: Improve success of students enrolled in remedial courses (Success in remedial) Ensure enrollment in the required general education courses which correspond to needed Learning Support courses (Success in remedial) Provide block scheduling in targeted programs as well as design guided pathways (Improve Grad Rate) Support and expand the Accelerating Opportunities (AO) and REACH programs (Improve Grad Rate) Provide resources to assist students to persist from term to term (Improve Grad Rate; Shorten Time to Degree) Provide resources to help students earn a certificate, diploma, or technical certificate of industry value/certification (Improve Grad Rate; Shorten Time to Degree) Provide professional development opportunities and resources for faculty and staff (All Metrics) Goal 1. Transform Remediation. Learning Support (Success in Remedial) improvement is measured by the number of successful grades and the number of subsequent enrollments in the next course in the sequence of courses for that particular subject. The goal performance target for the success in remedial metric was to increase the number of successful students in remedial education by 10%. The College results reflect an increase from 563 successful remedial students in FY2014 to 610 in FY2015, an increase of 47 or 8.34% (KMS #DC241). There was an improvement in student success rates from FY2014 to FY 2015 in every learning support course but one. Table CGTC-1 below shows the success rates for these courses from FY2015 and FY2014. Table CGTC-1. Gateway Course Completion Rates AY2015 (Success in Remedial) Total AY2015
FY2014 Total Enrollment Successful (A,B,C,S) % successful
FY2015 % Successful
All Learning Support Courses
2,880
1614
52%
56%
ENGL MATH READ
506 1,868 506
313 982 319
54% 51% 55%
62% 53% 63%
ENGL0090 ENGL0098 MATH0090
287 219 286
167 146 133
48% 60% 44%
58% 67% 47%
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Total AY2015 MATH0098 MATH0099 READ0090 READ0098
Total Enrollment 827 755 323 183
Successful (A,B,C,S) 426 423 190 129
FY2014 % successful 48% 57% 53% 58%
FY2015 % Successful 52% 56% 59% 71%
Redesign Courses:
896
490
48%
55%
1,157
698
58%
60%
(ENGL0090, MATH0090, READ0090)
COMPASS Gatekeeper Courses:
(ENGL0098, MATH0099, READ0098) % Successful = Successful Grades / Total Enrollment
Activities – Goal 1 (1) R.E.A.C.H. (Raising Expectations of Achievement) Organization – an organization which mentors and develops the academically disadvantaged student, in the College’s underperforming population, for success. Academically disadvantaged status is determined by the student’s enrollment in at least one learning support course. (Success in remedial)
Progress, Obstacles, and Steps Taken Progress was made with 50 participants for FY2015. Participants were paired with one of ten mentors who would work with them throughout their college experience. Students attended seminars and group outings. Obstacles include gaining buy-in of students, recruitment and scheduling of mentors. Steps Taken: A marketing plan has been developed. Current REACH students are being used to recruit new eligible students. The pool of mentors has expanded to ten to aid in scheduling.
(2) Learning Support Redesign – restructured learning support courses (MATH 0090, ENGL 0090, and READ 0090) to include a webenhanced format that uses the Pearson MyLab products (Success in remedial)
Progress shows an improvement from AY2014 success, shown in Table CGTC-1 below. Obstacles: computer access available at sites, compass placement transition to Accuplacer, Pearson is a costly product for students. Steps Taken: exploration of Pearson alternatives, ongoing scheduling alternatives, and training on utilization and comparisons among COMPASS and Accuplacer.
(3) Co-requisites - Classes are held in a lab environment with selfpaced modules of lab work,
Progress: In 201512, CGTC implemented the first pilot of the co-requisite model allowing students to enroll in both MATH0099 and MATH1111 concurrently. In
Resource Allocations and Funding -Initiative is grant supported: funded by PBI & FITW grants, and foundation scholarships. Resource Needs: -funding for increased marketing efforts -funding for expansion to campuses As a result, the volume of students participating will increase, as will retention. Resource Needs: -Funding needed to remove financial burden from students for MyMathLab -Additional computer labs to support instruction and testing As a result, more students will move on to occupational courses and graduate. -Faculty used are inplace MATH faculty As a result, more
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Activities – Goal 1 traditional lecture, one on one small group tutoring. Simultaneous enrollments in LS and the next credit course in the sequence, e.g. MATH 0099 and MATH 1111 as co-requisites. This strategy is coupled with intentional/intrusive advising (Success in remedial) (4) Academic Success Center expansion to other sites – Expanded tutoring and academic support services to the Putnam County Center and Warner Robins campus thereby providing on-site academic support services in four locations as an extension of online services. (Success in remedial)
Progress, Obstacles, and Steps Taken 201514, then a second pilot of the co-requisite model allowing students to enroll in both MATH0099 and MATH1111 concurrently. As an attempt to improve consistent and contextual instruction, both MATH0099 and MATH1111 were taught by the same instructor. Success rates improved with the latter pilot. Obstacles: recruitment of students into this model. Steps taken: purposeful advisement process that includes a review of this program with eligible students. Progress: ASC services expanded to include a renovation on the Warner Robins campus beginning Fall 2014 as well as increased the number of student and professional tutors by occupation. Obstacles include Peer Tutor Turnover. Steps taken: Continuous recruitment of peer tutors to increase pool.
Resource Allocations and Funding students will move on to occupational courses and graduate.
-Funding is a challenge as grant funding ends As a result, more students will be engaged with the College, develop greater study skills, which leads to more graduates.
Goal 2. Increase the number of Graduates. Performance Metric 1: The CGTC target for the degree production metric was to experience an increase by 4.7% or 385 awards over the prior year. CGTC data for FY2014 results indicated an annual enrollment of 12,165 students with 3,346 unduplicated graduates and 4,935 awards. Even though AY2015 data indicates 3,194 unduplicated graduates, a 4.5% (n=152) decrease over AY2014, there were 4,997 awards, a 1.2% (n=62) increase. The CCG goal performance target for AY2015 was 1,874 graduates and the College experienced an increase of 163 total graduates to 2,037, or an 8.6% increase (CGTC Scorecard DC #198).
Activities – Goal 2 (1) Guided Pathways – a means of defaulting students into one degree plan. (Degree Production)
Progress, Obstacles, and Steps Taken Progress was made as CGTC works to standardize the competitive selection handbooks. A pilot was deployed in the Surgical Technology program. Obstacles are personnel changes. Steps taken: Ongoing faculty recruitment.
(2) Purposeful Advising: Student Success Coach for Health programs – position works to ensure that students in health programs are guided toward the path of course, certificate, diploma, or degree completion by developing and implementing individual and small group intervention and prevention strategies in an effort to provide for goal establishment and increase persistence in learning; (Improve Grad Rate; Shorten Time
Progress was made with the implementation of the Health Science Success Coach position; a part time, grant funded position with the task of visiting all BlendFlex courses to provide updates and information about the services provided to students in the BlendFlex courses. The Coach is able to advise and register students for BlendFlex and non-BlendFlex courses to assist them when primary advisors are unavailable. Obstacles expanded technology and infrastructure to replicate BlendFlex across all programs, a system of accountability for the monitoring/advising of students not selected into the Health programs. Steps taken: Leveraging of First in the World grant funding for additional equipment, purposeful
Resource Allocations and Funding -Continued faculty recruitment As a result, personnel changes will be decreased -The Health Science Success Coach is funded through TAACCCT grant Resource Needs: -Additional funding needed to employ two additional full time Health Success Coach positions at other locations. As a result, student engagement will increase and
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Activities – Goal 2 to Degree)
Progress, Obstacles, and Steps Taken advisement process that includes reporting of unadvised students, and addition of Health Sciences Success Coach.
(3) Faculty Development Academy – a structured series of professional development seminars for faculty and staff to improve student learning through engagement, active learning and teaching strategies; (all metrics)
Progress includes the development of The CGTC Success Initiative, a series of four training sessions that address: 1. Understanding our Students, 2. Understanding Ourselves, 3. The Classroom session discusses using techniques reviewed in the previous sessions in the classroom, and 4. The Office uses those techniques when interacting with students in the office. Developed Teaching Tune-Up as a review of teaching techniques for veteran teachers which include an understanding of our students. Developed Titan Teaching Collaborative to introduce a data-driven approach to instruction. Performed needs assessment analysis for teachers of under-prepared, under-served students. Obstacles include faculty scheduling/availability. Steps taken: multiple delivery methods and times to include secured online training and morning sessions.
Resource Allocations and Funding subsequently, retention, which leads to greater degree production. Resource Needs: -Funding issues with faculty scheduling. (faculty must get someone else to cover classes to attend) As a result, more faculty will participate which leads to improved instruction.
Goal 2. Increase the number of Graduates. Performance Metric 2: The CGTC performance target for the increase grad rate metric was to experience an increase of 5% annually. The prior year FY2014 grad rate was 61.5%. The College results indicated a graduation rate of 67%; an increase of 5.4%. Complete College Georgia cohort data indicated that the majority of students enrolled in Associate Degree programs full-time graduated at 200% of time at a rate of 21.5% and 100% of time at a rate of 16.3%. Part-time graduates in the same credential area graduated in 200% of time, at a rate of 8.7% and 100% of time, a rate of 4.2% (KMS Report #DC241).
Activities – Goal 2 (1) Blended Learning – offering course instruction to students anytime, anywhere; students have the opportunity to get their instruction by sitting in class or from a remote location via electronic device (Improve Grad Rate; Shorten Time to Degree)
Progress, Obstacles, and Steps Taken Progress included an expansion of the BlendFlex course offerings to including degree level courses in ENGL and MATH which brings BlendFlex course offerings to 14 with an additional 6 courses planned to be added Summer 2016 and Fall 2016. In addition, CGTC has been nominated for a 2015 Excalibur Award from the Technical Association of Georgia (TAG) for our success with the BlendFlex strategy. Obstacles include technology infrastructure not available to expand to other disciplines, space allocations at satellite locations, student access to success coaches. Steps Taken: Leveraging of First in the World grant funding for equipment, addition of Health Sciences Success Coach.
Resource Allocations and Funding - TAACCCT grant funds utilized in AY2015 Resource needs: more physical classroom space to accommodate additional crosslinked TelePresence sessions, and more digital space to accommodate storing more recorded lectures. As a result, more students will be served and retention will improve, leading to greater degree
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Activities – Goal 2
Progress, Obstacles, and Steps Taken
(2) Purposeful Advising: Student Success Coach for Health programs – position works to ensure that students in health programs are guided toward the path of course, certificate, diploma, or degree completion by developing and implementing individual and small group intervention and prevention strategies in an effort to provide for goal establishment and increase persistence in learning; (Improve Grad Rate; Shorten Time to Degree)
Progress was made with the implementation of the Health Science Success Coach position; a part time, grant funded position with the task of visiting all BlendFlex courses to provide updates and information about the services provided to students in the BlendFlex courses. The Coach is able to advise and register students for BlendFlex and non-BlendFlex courses to assist them when primary advisors are unavailable. Obstacles expanded technology and infrastructure to replicate BlendFlex across all programs, a system of accountability for the monitoring/advising of students not selected into the Health programs. Steps taken: Leveraging of First in the World grant funding for additional equipment, purposeful advisement process that includes reporting of unadvised students, and addition of Health Sciences Success Coach.
(3) Accelerating Opportunities (AO) – providing dual credit opportunities for students working towards a GED credential. Student is enrolled in GED basic skills and in a certificate of credit (Improve Grad Rate; Shorten Time to Degree)
Progress: During FY2015, 71 GED students were enrolled in college credit programs. 24 students earned TCC awards (33.8% completion rate). With IT updates, AO students were able to complete homework assignments, AO has expanded to the Milledgeville campus (12 students enrolled this term), Signing Day events will be ongoing; students are pictured with signing documentation indicating their wish to become college credit students.
(4) Resources to improve retention and graduation: Contributing efforts by the following: Special Populations, Financial Aid Initiatives, TEAMS Early Alert System, QEP: purposeful advising focus, etc. (Improve Grad Rate; Shorten Time to Degree)
Obstacles include computer lab access for testing. Steps taken: creative scheduling with classrooms. Various resources and strategies are being implemented to improve retention and graduation efforts. Obstacles were determined and discussed: Obstacles with graduation notification: Devising enrollment management task force to revamp system. Will include purposeful advisement that will help with the expired courses issue. Review of policy causing barriers. Obstacles within TEAMS Early Alert system: Manpower, perception of success coaches role, adjustments needed with the process, improvements to the follow-up flow to become streamlined and less cumbersome, challenges with implementing system external issues. Improvements are underway. Obstacles with Special Populations: The name “special pops” can be an obstacle. Need proper marketing and re-branding. Steps taken: college-wide training on special populations and services.
Resource Allocations and Funding production. -The Health Science Success Coach is funded through TAACCCT grant Resource Needs: -Additional funding needed to employ two additional full time Health Success Coach positions at other locations. As a result, student engagement will increase and subsequently, retention, which leads to greater degree production. -various grant funding is being used for AO expansion As a result, more students will transition to credit instruction, leading to a greater number of graduates Resource Needs: -funding for marketing efforts -funding for additional TEAMS support staff As a result, more students receive valuable supports and are more likely to complete their programs of study and graduate.
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Goal 3: Restructure Delivery - Block Scheduling Progress was made during FY15, CGTC continued to offer courses in multiple blocks, locations, and through an increasing variety of delivery options. Obstacles include faculty recruitment, challenges with scheduling times and locations, the inability to expand BlendFlex course offerings to other programs due to grant restrictions. Steps Taken: Expansion of TelePresence offerings to programs likely to use future full BlendFlex options. Expansion of the recently opened Peach County Workforce Development Center for various courses. Resource Needs: -Increased operational budget in remote locations to add to the course schedule Funding for faculty recruitment for additional sections of courses Outcomes : As a result, more sections of courses will be offered making access greater and subsequently, degree completion. CGTC implemented and expanded block scheduling to the following programs: Accounting diploma and degree; Air Conditioning diploma; Networking Specialist diploma and degree; Medical Assisting diploma; and Automotive diploma (TCSG CCG Plan Implementation Report 2011). During FY2015, CGTC continued to offer courses in multiple blocks, locations, and through a variety of delivery options. Courses are offered through flexible scheduling in day, afternoon and evening blocks for many of its programs. Flexible block scheduling is illustrated through the representative sample programs listed below:
Program Accounting
Air Conditioning
Day Campuses Macon, Milledgeville, Putnam, Hawkinsville, Warner Robins Macon, Milledgeville, Warner Robins, Putnam, Department of Corrections
Networking Specialist
Macon, Milledgeville, Warner Robins
Medical Assisting
Macon, Milledgeville, Warner Robins Macon, Milledgeville, Warner Robins, Department of Corrections
Automotive
Night Campus Macon, Warner Robins
Online Yes
Macon, Warner Robins Macon, Milledgeville, Warner Robins
TelePresence Milledgeville, Putnam, Hawkinsville
Dual Enrollment
Putnam High School Yes Yes
Warner Robins
Houston County Career Academy
Student performance is measured by grads and placements as identified in Table CGTC-2 and successful course completions as shown in Table CGTC-3.
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Table CGTC-2: Block Program Graduates and Placement Rates AY2015 (Degree Production) Program Accounting Diploma Accounting Degree Networking Specialist Diploma Networking Specialist Degree Medical Assisting Diploma Automotive Diploma Air Conditioning Diploma
# of graduates 10 19 11 7 36 10 41
AY 2014 Placement Rate 100% 94% 100% 100% 98% 100% 100%
AY 2015 Placement Rate 100% 95% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table CGTC-3. AY2015 Block Program Course Completion Data (Degree Production)
Course Program Enrollment Accounting (Diploma / Degree) 1,216 Networking Specialist (Diploma / Degree) 1,467 Medical Assisting (Diploma) 670 Automotive (Diploma) 736 Air Conditioning (Diploma) 691
# Successful Grades 825 996 570 593 525
# Unsuccessful Grades 391 471 100 143 166
AY2014 Course Completion Rate 67% 64% 86% 80% 80%
AY2015 Course Completion Rate 68% 68% 85% 81% 76%
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Student Success Implementation Team The College structure includes a broad-based CCG Implementation Team which corresponds and meets regularly on student data analyses and to share results of progress and student success initiatives. Valuable input is shared and gathered to determine accomplishments and/or obstacles towards student success strategies. New departmental staff will be added to the team as seen fit to benefit all sectors of the College.
Full Name
Title/Position
Role (Member)
Email Address
Deborah Burks
VP for IE
Management, Assessment,
[email protected] and Planning - IE
Sabrina Coneway
Special Populations Director, North
Special Pops tracking and
[email protected] reporting – Student Affairs
Donna Dutcher
Special Populations Director, South
Special Pops tracking and
[email protected] reporting – Student Affairs
Dr. Amy Holloway
VP for Academic Affairs
Assessment and Planning – Academics
[email protected]
Pat Ivey
Career Services Executive Director
Placement performance/ tracking – Student Affairs
[email protected]
Craig Jackson
VP for Student Affairs
Assessment and
[email protected] Planning – Student Affairs
Bonnie Quinn
Director for Institutional Effectiveness
Assessment and Planning –
[email protected] Data tracking and reporting - IE
Sam Lester
Director for Professional Development
Faculty/ Staff Training - IE (Point of Contact)
Julia Nell Shaw
Assistant VP for Student Affairs Assessment and
[email protected] Planning – Student Affairs
Rolandria Tolbert
Program Specialist for Institutional Effectiveness
[email protected]
Planning, Data tracking and
[email protected] reporting – IE
Data Analysis and Dissemination. Members of the Institutional Effectiveness staff receive data from a number of sources related to CCG. These sources include the composition of data reports from the current student data repository system, front-line faculty and staff in the form of reporting of course results, and from external agencies such as reporting made by TCSG. The data is analyzed and discussed among the IE staff using a variety of statistical analytics and institutional knowledge. The results are disseminated through a series of staff and faculty meetings, online reporting to faculty and staff in the form of secured informational slideshows, simply attaching pertinent reports to staff via email, or training sessions. Analysis, guidance, and advice is given by IE staff in many occasions as appropriate and based upon current research and best practices. The Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness reports pertinent data analysis at weekly CGTC Leadership meetings.
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Resource Allocations and Funding
Activities – Data Analysis
Progress, Obstacles, and Steps Taken
(1) Tracking Outcomes – A) Gateway Courses: a comprehensive review of term to term outcomes in gateway courses as compared to an institutional success rate; longitudinal study of a gateway course with high failure rates; B) Tracking Enrollments, graduates, placements, special populations, etc.; C) Tracking Cohorts of students specifically those in the underperforming population. (Data Analysis)
Progress: Tracking of Gateway Course performance led to detailed course completion data by term and CRN provided for the following courses: COMP 1000, ALHS 1011, BIOL 2113, and ENGL 1101. These results were used to identify best practices and course-level revisions. Tracking enrollments and outcomes for various student populations led to the identification of three at-risk groups at CGTC 1) first time at CGTC, 2) first generation college student, and 3) students enrolled in learning support courses. These three groups are being targeted for on-going interventions through the QEP, etc. Obstacles: scheduling time, many are still unsuccessful in COLL1500 taught with 0090. Steps taken: restructuring of COLL 1500 faculty to include new Program Chair designation to improve similarity among sections Progress; provided High Enrollment Course Completion reports, including both student success and course attrition rates and detailed Course Completion Data on courses targeted for improvement, including COMP 1000, ALHS 1011, BIOL 2113, and ENGL 1101. Provided report showing the impact of enrollment in student success course (COLL 1500) on performance in 0090 Learning Support courses. Provided three professional development workshops on accessing program-, major-, and division-level data using iNet reports.
(12) Conduct course and activity level data reviews (Data Analysis)
Resources: Working with Academic Affairs to identify regular data needs for Deans and Program Chairs and then to work with Knowledge Management to establish relevant iNet Reports. As a result, College stakeholders guided to make better-informed decisions.
Resources: Working with Academic Affairs to identify regular data needs for Deans and Program Chairs and then to work with Knowledge Management to establish relevant iNet Reports. As a result, College stakeholders guided to make better-informed decisions.
Conclusion The strategies and interventions discussed above are means of producing solutions to increase graduates over the previous year in order to meet our mandatory goals. Several initiatives will be expanded to increase these success efforts and are identified within the College’s next steps. The Accelerated Opportunities program offers a great opportunity to allow Adult Education students the ability to participate in college credit courses with the supports in place to facilitate their success. There is early success with the program in terms of GED success as well as credit credential attainment. Expansion of this program can only bear more fruit. Similarly, the REACH program learning community and mentorship model suggests success for a critical and somewhat fragile population of students. BlendFlex is the future of instructional design and is being successful and very well received by not only our Millennial populations one might assume, but the older students as well since technology has progressed and been embraced by all students in the form of smartphones and on-demand entertainment. Scheduling of BlendFlex courses with the brick-and-mortar courses was a challenge in the early stages and continues to Central Georgia Technical College | 62
be. Using a class type code that reflects the multiple instructional delivery options for students would be an incredible benefit for accurate classroom utilization. Although early in its implementation, Purposeful Advisement opens the door for remarkable improvement in the appropriate advisement of students, not just for academics but to remove other barriers to their success and greatly improving the engagement of students with their advisor and subsequently, their College. The volume of use in the recently expanded Academic Success Center can only benefit students as they embrace this valuable support. Although the Learning Support Redesign and the Co-Requisite Math Course (Learning Support and Algebra) implementations had mixed beginnings, a thorough analysis and investigation into results have led to early positive returns in the most recent semester. The Co-Requisite Math Courses were initially taught by separate instructors; now each are taught by the same teacher and results are improving. BlendFlex was not without initial growing pains as well; strategies and techniques for instruction were in many cases developed ‘’on the fly’ as teachers explored their own preferences and new techniques.
Next Steps CGTC will continue to deploy activities under each of the aforementioned metrics in an effort to gain insight in the long term which will prove to inform future decisions concerning deploying strategies for success. Many activities will be ongoing as a result of meeting our benchmarks. Effective strategies for success at CGTC will include: 1) Purposeful Advisement– the College’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) will improve the academic counseling/advisement process by Addressing the ALFAA Bs: Identifying Barriers and Setting Benchmarks through purposeful advisement. Implemented strategies are designed to improve student performance of at-risk students by providing them with all the tools necessary to devise a thorough academic plan which will promote program completion. This correlates with the metric of improving degree production and graduation rates. A detailed structure has been established through broad-based formed committees of faculty, staff, and students who have gathered and analyzed data to lead the decisions and actions towards student success. Resources needed will include adequate funding, marketing, and ongoing faculty and staff training to support the initiative. 2) R.E.A.C.H. organization expansion - in an effort to meet the needs of more applicable men of color, the following changes will be implemented: the age requirement criteria will be raised from age 24 to age 28; the College will continue tracking student performance and compare participants within the REACH organization with eligible opted-out students; and expand the Brother to Brother organization. The REACH program is expanding to the Milledgeville and Warner Robins campuses in an attempt to increase success in remedial metrics across College locations. Resources needed will include further mentor recruitment efforts and mentor incentives as well as continued marketing efforts towards student awareness. 3) BlendFlex course expansions – the addition of several flexible course offerings including diploma and degree level ENGL and MATH courses. The plan will increase BlendFlex by 20 courses through Fall of 2016. The initiative has provided greater flexibility and expanded educational opportunities via technology enhancements for health care students while maintaining student success rates that are better or comparable to other sections of the same course. This has a positive impact to the degree production and graduation rate metrics. A major obstacle is not having the technology and infrastructure to afford the model across all program disciplines. Future resources needed would include more faculty professional development training, more physical classroom space and more digital space for more recorded lectures. 4) Titans Teaching Collaborative – a ten-month professional developmental program designed to provide faculty a cohort experience while focusing on teaching and learning. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to develop data-curious teachers by developing a data-based Action Research Project that addresses a data-supported need for improvement in their courses. The initiative will be measured through poster sessions that will discuss results of skills learned. This activity will impact all metrics. Resources needed will include technology development components to measure success. Central Georgia Technical College | 63
5) Ongoing iNet training – a means of helping faculty/staff to find relevant data for decision making. Additional sessions on using iNet reports will be conducted with the intent to become regular workshop offerings on the professional development schedule. Workshops will be offered at various campus locations. Faced obstacles may include faculty scheduling. Resources needed will include marketing and effective scheduling of workshops for maximum participation. 6) Resources to improve retention and graduation - Various resources and strategies are being implemented to improve retention and graduation efforts.
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Chattahoochee Technical College
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Chattahoochee Technical College Overview Demographic Changes at Chattahoochee Technical College In the years since Fiscal Year 2007, data indicate shifts in Chattahoochee Technical College’s demographic population. Between 2007 and 2012, CTC experience dramatic growth in the student population from 10,314 students over the course of the year, to 17,985 students, an increase of 74.37%. According to the data provided by CCG, the College does show movement among certain subpopulations in growth and decline. The Hispanic student populations for full time and part time students exhibit the greatest jump by any Racial/Ethnic group in growth by 100.9% and 269.8% respectively. White, non-Hispanic full time students (-7.3%), multiracial full (-49.2%) and part-time (-16.7%) students and non-resident alien full (-76.7%) and part-time (-18.5%) students showed the only decrease in population of all race/ethnicity groups. The socioeconomic level of students attending CTC did indicate a shift from 2007 to 2012 as full time students showed an increase by 126% and part time students an increase of 365% in those students receiving the Pell Grant. These increases in student population seem to indicate an increase in student diversity, however, when compared with the increasing enrollment as a whole, most populations had less than a 5% change in the overall population of the college. The college’s demographic saw little shift with the exception of a slight decrease in White/non-Hispanic students (-5%) in the overall college make up. Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native students saw no change in their overall percentage of the college population. Hispanic students and black students saw a slight increase in their percentage of the college population with increases of 3% and 4%. Age and Gender additionally saw little change with shifts of 2%. However, the percentage of students who received Pell, indicative of socioeconomic demographics, saw a large increase in the student population between 2007 and 2012. In 2007 approximately 27% of students received Pell, in 2012, that increased to 56% of students. Full analysis of DC241 report Review of the DC241 reports for 2015 and 2014 provide information on shifts in the overall success of students between the Fall 09 and Fall 10. First-time entry students for Fall 2010 (201102) showed an increase in the enrollment as compared with Fall 2009, however, there was also an increase in the percentage of students requiring remedial work and increase to 63% of the new student population from the previous 56%. Ethnic/racial groups saw little change in their percentage of those needing remedial work, but students older than age 25 did have greater representation among those students needing remedial work upon admissions. For those students enrolled in remedial education, a greater percentage of the students from the Fall 10 (201102) cohort successfully completed their courses from 39.1% of those enrolled from cohort Fall 09 in remedial work to the 44.4% enrolled for cohort Fall 10. Gains specifically appeared for Hispanic students in Math only (31.6% to 65.2%) and for those taking both Math and English (14.3% to 36.6%) and an overall complete rate growth (32.3% to 52.6%). All age groups indicted large increases in success for English remediation (50% to 70% - directly from HS, 26.8% to 47.5% - over 25, and 25% to 42.9% for 20-24) but only age 25 and over showed larger increases for Math (from 46.8% to 61.0%) while the others remained relatively stable. Shockingly, Pell students saw a decreasing rate of success in remedial courses in all areas. For these students enrolling in remedial work, data indicates an increase the in completion of the college level courses for almost all demographic groups except Hispanics in English only (decrease from 53.3% to 50.0%) and again for Pell students in all areas with an overall decrease from 22.3% to 18.9%.
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For all students, success in gateway courses remains crucial to college progression and success. For students entering Fall 10, data indicates a small increase (from 28.6% to 29%) of students completing at least one entry, college-level course in Math or English. Hispanic and Asian students indicate the largest growth in success rates as well as the highest rates of completing one gateway English or Math course at 37.2% and 40.9% respectively. Whites and Blacks saw little change from Fall 09 to Fall 10. Overall, little significant change occurred between Fall 09 and Fall 10 numbers for students successfully completing their gateway courses in English and Math. In order to progress towards completion and graduation, students must remain on target to complete the required credit hours. Between Fall 09 and Fall 10, Chattahoochee Technical College saw a dramatic shift in the number of credit hours completed by students. Specifically, each demographic breakdown as well as the total student population indicated a drop in the number of students reaching the 24 semester hour (full time students) or the 12 semester hour (part time students) check point for the end of their first year. Over all, the percentage of full time students reaching at least 24 credit hours within their first year dropped from 25.5% in cohort Fall 09 to 20.6% for cohort Fall 10 and a drop for part time students to reach 12 credit hours from 32.8% (Fall 09) to 23.5% (Fall 10). Overall, retention rates for Chattahoochee Technical College students registering for the following term increased as compared to the previous year. Most significantly was the increasing retention of black students from 58.7% to 69.5% and the increasing retention of students over the age of 25 from 58.4% to 67.7%. The data indicates that most other demographic groups had minimal increases and decreases of retention. Unlike the previous measures Pell students experience an increase in this measure from 65.8% to 68.1%. Measures of the two year retention rate indicate a drop in retention of full time students who began Fall 08 as compared to full time students who began Fall 2007. The total full time student retention from Fall 08 to the following fall term measured only 37.3% as compared to the Fall 2007 51.7% retention rate. Additionally, the retention rate continues to fall for the Fall 08 entries as the data accounts for one additional term of Spring 2010 (falls from 44.8% for Fall 2007 cohort to 2nd Spring to 37.1% for Fall 2008). However, the three year retention rate did increase to 40.1% for the Fall 2008 full time student population and again with the four year retention rate to 42.5%. This compares to the four year retention rate of the previous full time cohort positively as the Fall 2007 cohort maintained only a 27.5% rate much less than the improved rate for the Fall 2008 full time cohort. Part time students indicate different measures for retention. These data indicate a slight drop in retention of part time students who began Fall 08 as compared to part time students who began Fall 2007. The total part time student retention from Fall 08 to the following fall term was 51.7% as compared to the Fall 2007 52.5% retention rate. Additionally, the retention rate continues to fall for the Fall 08 entries as the data accounts for one additional term of Spring 2010 (falls from 33.1% for Fall 2007 cohort to 2nd Spring to 27.7% for Fall 2008). However, the three year retention rate did increase to 27.8% for the Fall 2008 part time student population and again with the four year retention rate to 29.2%. This compares to the four year retention rate of the previous full time cohort positively as the Fall 2007 cohort maintained only a 18.8% rate much less than the improved rate for the Fall 2008 full time cohort. The transfer student retention rate mimics both the full time and part time student pattern of decreasing retention for the first and second year as compared to the previous cohorts but indicated an increase in retention for the third and fourth years resulting in a 49.6% retention rate for transfer students, up from the 44.3% rate for cohort Fall 2007. The final set of performance metrics for review are the course completion numbers. Between the 2014 report and 2015 report difference are found in the number of semester hours attempted, those completed and the percentage completed. Completion rates ran very high for this cohort at 100.1% (Full-time students), 98.7% (Part-time students), and 98.4% (transfer students). However for the students enrolled in the Fall 2011 cohort these numbers are dramatically different completion rates within one year of 76% (Full-time), 75.6% (part-time), and 73.8% (transfer). However, these numbers may be skewed due to the transition in 2010 from the quarter system to the semester system and the inclusion of an additional summer for the academic year.
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The outcomes of interventions and activities of the college may be reflected in the data gathered to evaluate degree production, graduation rates, the transfer out rates, and the time and credits to degree. When reviewing the degree productions from FY 2007 and comparing that to FY 2012 data indicates an overall increase in the certificates of less than one year production, an increase for certificates greater than one year but less than 2, a decrease in certificate/diplomas greater than 2 years but less than 4 and an increase for Associates. Data associated with graduation rates is less extreme than data associated with completion. Reviewing graduation at the 200% of Time data indicates that certificate programs at least one year but less than 2 showed a decrease in the graduation rate from 10.9% for the Fall 08 cohort to 9.6% for the Fall 09 cohort for full time students and 8.2% to 7.2% for part-time students, and 11.7% to 10.2% for transfer students. Associate Degrees showed a small increase in production from 10.6% (Fall 07) to 13.1% (Fall 08) for full-time students, 4.9% to 8.0% for part-time students, and a small decrease for transfer students from 26.1% to 19.2%. Some students choose to transfer out of Chattahoochee Technical College to pursue additional education elsewhere. These students are not losses for the college but represent the number of students continuing towards a four year program. For full time student who began Chattahoochee Technical College in Fall 2008, 20.6% transferred out to a four year institution. This number is an increase from the previous year’s cohort which saw a rate of transfer of 19.6%. The part-time student transfer rate however decrease from 12.5% (Fall 07) to 9.3% (Fall 08). Additionally, the transfer in population maintained a similar rate only dropping .2% from 25.1% (Fall 07) to 24.9% (Fall 08). The amount of time a student remains in school may correlate to their ability to complete their program of study. Therefore, it is important to review the time to degree, how long, on average it takes students to complete their first award. Comparing Fiscal Year 2011 and Academic Year 2012, the data indicate that for all students (full-time, part-time, and transfer) striving toward certificate/diplomas of at least one year but less than two or Associates Degrees, the average time to completion increased by as much as .8 years. Additionally, the number of credit hours students actually completed increase as well for both levels of programs.
Goals In the course of participating in the Complete College Georgia program, Chattahoochee Technical College identified five goals of improvement. Specifically, the college continues to focus on: Increasing the Number of Graduates, working on Transfer and Articulation, Transform the Remediation program, Restructure Delivery of courses, and Shorten the Time to Degree. With these goals in mind, the college selected twelve strategies to contribute to meeting these goals. Specifically the college selected to focus on: 1. Prior Learning Assessment; 2. Academic Advising (CTC's Quality Enhancement Plan - QEP); 3. College Reorganization Focusing on Retention; 4. Development of Associate of Science (AS) Degree Options for Students; 5. Continued Evaluation of Business/Industry Needs; 6. Expansion of Orientation Information Sessions for Pre-Health Students; 7. Implement Teacher's Academy; 8. "Recruiting" Effort Targeting Stopped Out Students; 9. Block Scheduling in Select Programs. 10. Pairing select learning support courses with appropriate general education courses; 11. Intensive Learning Support Instructor Training; and 12. Scheduling Learning Support Courses on Sub-Terms. Increase the number of graduates Performance Metric(s). To measure the college’s success increasing the number of graduates the CCG reports each year provide a long-term picture of the ability for the college to produce their necessary share of the 79, 531 graduates TCSG should supply. Additionally, the annual graduate reports completed by the registrar’s/records office provides yearly data on the success in producing graduates for the most recent year. Current year data indicates a great amount of growth for Chattahoochee Technical College in the number of students completing a program of study and receiving an award from 2,311 awards conferred in academic year 2014 to 4,449 in academic year 2015.
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Graduate/Awards. Academic Year
Awards Conferred
Growth from Previous Year
AY 2012
2504
-18.56%
AY 2013
2629
4.9%
AY 2014
2311
-12.09%
AY 2015
4449
92.51%
Strategies/Interventions. Current strategies employed to assist in increasing the number of graduates from Chattahoochee Technical College includes the review of Prior Learning Assessments through collaboration with Veterans services to award credit to current and former service men and women for work and training completed in services as well as exemption exams offered in various courses and programs across the college and specifically in the Business and Technical studies. Additionally, enhancing the academic advising program through the hiring of full-time professional advisors, collaboration between academic and student affairs to provide high quality advisement from the beginning of student enrollment provides more support for students on a continuum towards graduation and the emphasis placed by making academic Advising the college’s QEP provide dedicated and college wide attention to the importance of good and timely advising towards a student’s success. Reorganization to focus on student retention promotes a college wide attitude towards completion which allows dedicated staff to focus on student needs inside and outside of the classroom with tools such as data collection and evaluation as well as the Early Alert System. The college has placed emphasis on targeting those students who stopped out prior to graduations at various points in the process. Scripts were created in previous years to identify students and effort has been made in reaching out to these populations of students from various entities through phone calls, emails, and mailings. Finally, work with business and industry continued to identify possible TCCs that may be embedded in existing programs allowing students to work toward a higher level degree while obtaining the knowledge base as well as earning a credential allowing the student to demonstrate a competencies needed in industry. Resources Allocated. The college dedicated numerous staff to growing the number of graduates including hiring full time academic advisors, the plans to add 1 additional advisor and 1 additional advising coordinator before the end of the academic year in addition to time and effort in creating reports, evaluating data, and collaboration between departments to ensure correct and timely reviews of previous credit are achieved. Additional work, dedication and time from the Records Office continues to identify the numerous embedded certificates and swiftly process and award these credentials to students as they are earned. Obstacles. For Chattahoochee Technical College, the greatest ongoing obstacles include the service area in which the college serves and the diverse populations within the service area. Utilization of technology allows members of the college community to most effectively communicate regularly through emails and instant messaging as well as new video phones. Additionally, a large population of Chattahoochee students enroll in the college with the goal of transferring out rather than actually completing a program of study with the college. In academic year 2015, 2,781 students of the unduplicated 14,624 students enrolled listed their program of study as Technical Specialist, a program specifically designed for student transfer to a Board of Regents institution. Some students will complete this program, but additional work must be done to convince all students in the value of completing this certificate program prior to leaving the college. Enhancing the advising process by dividing out the Technical Specialist population provides the college greater opportunity to target this group of students and assist them in setting and obtaining completion goals.
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Transfer and Articulation Performance Metric(s). Data provided in the DC241 report (page 32) indicate the rate at which students choose to leave the college and transfer to another institution before completing a program of study. The data reported in the 2015 report indicates a slight rise in the number of individuals transferring to another institution of higher education. Additionally, future data gathered from Student Tracker will provide the college more detailed information in regards to where students attend after transferring out. Rates of Transfer Out First Time Entry Term
200602
200702
200802
200902
Full Time
18.2%
20.3%
19.6%
20.6%
Part Time
9.4%
11.2%
12.5%
9.3%
Transfer
21.1%
23.8%
25.1%
24.9%
Strategies/Interventions. One strategy implemented to enhance Chattahoochee Technical College’s transfer and Articulation included seeking opportunities for offering AS degrees. One such approved degree in conjunction with Kennesaw State University allows students to complete their AS in Culinary Arts with us, then transfer to Kennesaw State University to complete their Bachelor’s degree. At this time, the AS in Culinary Arts is the only AS degree offered by CTC. Resources Allocated. The largest resource allocation the college gives towards this goal is the time commitment of Academic Affairs administration to foster relationships and work toward obtaining more agreements with other institutions. Additionally, time from Retentions services is dedicated to identifying the students who plan to leave the college and providing those students with accurate and timely advising enabling those students to transfer and continue on successfully. Obstacles. While the AS approval process has been more difficult to navigate than anticipated, CTC firmly believes that additional AS program offerings would allow more students to quickly attain desired workforce skills while also permitting students to continue on a path to a four year degree, if they so desire. As the College is currently equipped to accomplish this with little or no additional resources, it is our belief that this would be a feasible option for the State to extend additional AS degree-earning opportunities in the CTC service area, particularly in parts of the service area where few (or no) options currently exist. As a college, CTC will continue to nurture the college’s relationship with Board of Regents institutions as well as local private colleges which may open doors in the future to further AS programs. Additionally, in the community the existing articulation agreements and programs offered by CTC may not be widely known, but an increase in awareness of faculty and staff as well as an increased effort to share this information will improve enrollment in those programs which may provide direct access to further education outside of Chattahoochee Technical College. Transform Remediation Performance Metric(s). Internal data measures such as grade reports allows the college to continuously review the success rate of the changes made to the learning support programs.
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ENGL 0090B and ENGL 1101 Results TERM
Number of Students
RESULTS
201412
3
100% Passed ENGL 1101 with C or Higher
201414
0
-
201512
0
-
201514
10
80% Passed ENGL 1101 with C or higher, 20% earned a D in ENGL 1101
201516
9
67% Passed ENGL 1101 with C or higher, 11% Withdrew, 22% Failed ENGL 1101
201612
10
TBD
Math 0090B and MATH 1111 Results TERM
Number of Students
RESULTS
201412
1
100% Passed MATH 1111 with C or higher
201414
1
100% Passed MATH 1111 with C or higher
201512
10
100% Passed MATH 1111 with C or higher
201514
20
85% Passed MATH 1111 with C or higher, 10% Withdrew; 5% earned a D in MATH 1111
201516
2
100% Passed MATH 1111 with C or higher
201612
59
TBD
Strategies/Interventions. Chattahoochee Technical College continues to change the way we treat students needing remediation by modifying the learning support process to allow eligible students to progress more quickly through the hurtle of learning support by pairing learning support courses with the gateway college level course such as READ 0090 with PSYC 1101, ENGL 0090 with ENGL 1101, MATH 0090 with MATH 1111 and an attempt at offering MATH 0090A in conjunction with MATH 1012. Ongoing education of new and current Learning Support faculty, ensuring constancy and a greater understanding of the tools used to teach in the Learning Support classroom including training on Connect the online platform for modular instruction in ENGL 0090 and READ 0090. Continued education also helps transform the way the college thinks about remedial work ensuring constancy and awareness of all resources for the faculty charged with assisting students in these classes. Faculty are also encouraged to attend meetings and trainings outside of the college. Finally, the college also began scheduling learning support courses during the mini-terms and continues to seek the right balance in the best time to offer these courses while allowing the students to actually be successful. Resources Allocated. In order to provide students the opportunity to complete both their learning support course with their college level course in the same term requires time from staff and administration to identify eligible students, as well as the funds to continuously provide training to faculty in best practices, software, and college policy and procedure.
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Obstacles. One challenge for changing the way the college, the faculty, and the students view learning support work requires identifying the students who most greatly benefit from strategies such as pairing the learning support course with the college level course. The MATH 0090A and MATH 1012 pairing continues to struggle for eligible and interested students. Continued evaluation of incoming students and revision of the offerings must always be ongoing. Training established faculty in new methods of teaching may always prove challenging but encouraging internal and external workshops as well as in group and individual settings allows for faculty to expand their knowledge base in a way that is best for them and meets their needs. Restructure Delivery Performance Metric(s). KMS data report DC200 provides the college with the ability to track success of those program taught in the block model.
Level Diploma Degree Diploma Diploma Diploma
Major Accounting
Academic Year
Total Retained
Cohort #
Retention Rate
Total Graduated
Graduation Rate
2014
22
12
55%
4
18%
2015
9
6
67%
5
56%
2014
33
20
61%
9
27%
2015
36
21
58%
7
19%
Air Conditioning Technology
2014
45
28
62%
21
47%
2015
30
16
53%
14
47%
Automotive Technology
2014
24
18
75%
15
63%
2015
26
21
81%
15
58%
Medical Assisting
2014
2
2
100%
Accounting
2015 Diploma Degree
Networking Specialist
2014
8
5
63%
4
50%
2015
7
6
86%
4
57%
Networking Specialist
2014
20
12
60%
7
35%
2015
15
8
53%
3
20%
Non-Block model programs (for comparison) Diploma Degree Diploma Degree Diploma Degree
Computer Programming
2014
13
10
77%
8
18%
2015
8
4
50%
0
0%
Computer Programming
2014
45
32
71%
5
38%
2015
36
20
56%
5
14%
Business Management
2014
21
11
52%
2
10%
2015
20
10
50%
1
5%
Business Management
2014
50
28
56%
4
8%
2015
49
32
65%
4
8%
Criminal Justice Technology
2014
16
8
50%
3
19%
2015
11
3
27%
1
9%
Criminal Justice Technology
2014
26
12
46%
3
12%
2015
19
11
58%
0
0%
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Strategies/Interventions. By pairing learning support courses with the comparable gateway course, Chattahoochee Technical College allows students to progress more quickly through the hurtle of learning support and rethink the way as a college we view the learning support courses. Additionally, the college established a Network for Effective Teaching (NET) through the intranet site used by faculty and staff as a method of delivering information and education to faculty and assisting them in their education of students for 21st century careers, prepare faculty through deeper pedagogical knowledge, facilitate workshops designed to enhance best practices in teaching, provide appropriate resources to faculty, and support faculty through collaboration using peer mentoring, coaching, and current research. Finally, the use of block scheduling to promote student completion continues to be used in Accounting, Air Conditioning Technology, Automotive Technology, Network Specialist, and Medial Assisting. Students remain able to complete each of these programs within the same time block. Additionally, programs such as Cosmetology and Barbering are cohort programs can be completed in one block over four semesters (including the core). Resources Allocated. Time and effort continue to be the greatest resources allocated to the constant improvement of teaching and our programs of study. Time commitment by those providing the research and data for our Network for Effective Teaching as well as the constant evaluation by faculty of their programs allows the college to continue to improve the method in which we deliver our education to best meet the needs of our students. Obstacles. As a college, we have limited obstacles outside of the constant changes to the economy and as the economy continues to improve registration in many of these programs decreases and students in the programs may leave as job opportunities become available. Shorten Time to Degree Performance Metric(s). Measurement of Time to degree can be found in the DC241 report from Complete College Georgia. Changes from report year 2015 and 2014 do indicate a lengthening of time to degree with students enrolled in academic year 2012 as compared to those students enrolled in academic year 2011. However, preliminary data for more recent years does not reflect a decrease in time to completion but rather a continued steady increase. Time to Completion (in average years) Academic Year
Full Time Students Certificates (Between 1 and 2 years)
2009 2010** 2011 2012 ** Data appears flawed.
Part Time Students
Certificates (Between 1 Associates and 2 years)
Transfer Students Associates
Associates
Certificates (Between 1 and 2 years)
2.4
3.7
3.4
4.5
2.5
2.6
.9
1.0
.8
.7
1.6
2.2
1.2
1.3
1.3
1.3
1.2
1.4
1.9
2.0
2.0
2.1
1.6
2.0
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Strategies/Interventions. Prior Learn Assessments through collaboration with Veterans services to award credit to current and former service men and women for work and training completed in services as well as exemption exams offered in various courses and programs across the college and specifically in the Business and Technical studies. Additionally, enhancing the academic advising program through the hiring of full-time professional advisors, collaboration between academic and student affairs to provide high quality advisement from the beginning of student enrollment provides more support for students on a continuum towards graduation. Reorganization to focus on student retention also promotes a college wide attitude towards completion which allows dedicated staff to focus on student needs inside and outside of the classroom with tools such as data collection and evaluation as well as the Early Alert System. By pairing learning support courses with the comparable gateway course, Chattahoochee Technical College allows students to progress more quickly through the hurtle of learning support and progress towards their program of study. Current parings include ENGL 0090B with ENGL 1101 as well as READ 0090 and PSYC 1101, Resources Allocated. Primary resources allocated to reducing the time to completion included staff time and commitment to evaluate credit for veteran students and time and effort in creating, facilitating and scoring exemption exams. Additionally, the personnel hired for academic advising reduces the case load per staff member allowing each advisor additional time to speak with students and identify their needs. Obstacles. Changes to HOPE and Pell funding streams have discouraged many students from taking larger course load thus extending the time to completion. Increasing services to students to help them correctly identify their program of study (thus potentially changing their aid package) as well as increased support from other entities such as the college foundation counter balance the challenges associated with the changes to funding streams and student needs. Communication Performance Metric(s). Measuring the success of communication proves difficult. However, data collected through TEAMS indicates that faculty perceive a greater level of understanding of both student needs, what puts a student at risk, and how to help the students. In academic year 2015, the first year of TEAMS, the college had a total of 923 unduplicated alerts issued. For students, communication through advising and the health care sessions appear to be positive through the comments and results of surveys and evaluations completed by new students for the fall 2015 terms. Strategies/Interventions. Many strategies set by the college serve to enhance and improve college-wide communication internal among the faculty and staff as well as communication with the student population. Reorganization within Student Affairs to focus on student retention promotes a systemic focus on retention of current students, the needs of the students, and providing students and faculty the needs and resources they need to be successful. Through consistent communication with Business and Industry to evaluate their needs and how we as a college can meet those needs through our programs. Each program of study continues to meet with their advisory committees regularly and the college encourages programs to constantly update their committees, so that we are always “recruiting” new members and staying in touch with the entire business/ industry segment for each program. In addition, the college expanded the orientation process for pre-health care students by first changing the name to Health Care Q&A sessions. These sessions allow current and prospective students the opportunity to learn more about the various health care programs offered. These sessions enhance students understanding of how the competitive programs work, the requirements for obtaining admission to these programs and a better understand of the challenges associated with high pressure health care education programs. Finally, some departments proactively reach out to students at stop out points such as registration for future terms in able to attempt to encourage continued enrollment rather than losing the student. Resources Allocated. Increased staffing in Retention Services through a Retention Specialist (in progress) and the hiring of full time academic advisors allows the college to provide greater access to students to the resources necessary for assisting them in their success. Additionally, work with Information Technology has allowed the use of preexisting tools to reach out to students through new and improved communication methods such as enhanced emails, reminder texts, and mass call blasts. Chattahoochee Technical College | 74
Obstacles. As will all attempts at improving communication, the ability to make processes perfect does not exist. As a large institution, spreading across a large geographical region with many faculty, staff and students, delivering the right message to the right people and the right time is difficult. Technology provides assistance but is not perfect and may be a challenge to use or may not work as expected all of the time. Excellent support from IT allows other departments to overcome challenges with technology and a constant message from the college to students in regards to the importance of the student email account helps to overcome many barriers associated with the regular use of technology for communication. For faculty advisory committees, challenges may arise in finding appropriate members for the committee as well as seeing regular attendance of the members to all meetings, however consistently watching for new potential members and fostering relationships in the communities allows the college a greater pool of individuals willing and able to share their knowledge with us. The Health Care Q &A sessions experienced a temporary stoppage due to a loss in staffing, however remaining staff did visit inside of classrooms to provide continue communication to students and with the resolution of missing staff, sessions will once again resume.
Student Success and Implementation Team Full Name
Title
Prior Learning Assessments Marcy Smith
Dean of Business and Technical Studies
Debbie Daly
Associate Dean of Business, Computer, and Public Services
Academic Advising (CTC’s Quality Enhancement Plan) Bethany Schultz
Director of Advising
Mickey Austin
Director of Academic Success
College Reorganization Focusing on Retention Lauren Lunk
Executive Director of Retention
Bethany Schultz
Director of Advising
Mickey Austin
Director of Academic Success
Cheri MattoxCarroll
Director of Student Support Services
Alaina Abney
Director of Student Engagement
Development of Associate of Science (AS) Degree Options for Students Jason Tanner
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Marcy Smith
Dean of Business and Technical Studies
Vacant
Dean of Arts and Sciences
Continued Evaluation of Business/Industry Needs Jason Tanner
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Marcy Smith
Dean of Business and Technical Studies
Debbie Daly
Associate Dean of Business, Computer, and Public Services
Diane Geis
Associate Dean of Technical Studies
Lindsey Holtzman
Director of Records
Expansion of Orientation Information Sessions for Pre-Health Students Kathleen Bombery
Associate Dean of Health Sciences
Implement Teacher’s Academy Jason Tanner
Vice President for Academic Affairs Chattahoochee Technical College | 75
Full Name
Title Special Projects Manager for AA
“Recruiting” Effort Targeting Stopped out Students Scott Rule
Vice President for Student Affairs
Lauren Lunk
Executive Director of Retention
Block Scheduling in Select Programs Jason Tanner
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Marcy Smith
Dean of Business and Technical Studies
Ron Webb
Dean of Health Sciences
Vacant
Dean of Arts and Sciences
Pairing Select Learning Support Courses with Appropriate General Education Courses Elizabeth Anderson Associate Dean of Mathematics Vacant
Dean of Art and Sciences
Julie Holland
Associate Dean of Humanities
Intensive Learning Support Training Elizabeth Anderson Associate Dean of Mathematics Vacant
Dean of Arts and Sciences
Julie Holland
Associate Dean of Humanities
Scheduling Learning Support Courses on Sub-Terms Elizabeth Anderson Associate Dean of Mathematics Julie Holland
Associate Dean of Humanities
Vacant
Dean of Arts and Sciences
Data analysis and Sharing of Results. Chattahoochee Technical College utilizes various sources of data collection and analysis to determine the level of success and tracking of progress for the Complete College Georgia goals and college initiatives. Competency verification activity validity for Prior Learning Assessments continues to be measured through comparison with alternative assessments, such as exemption exams. Academic Advising as well as the information sessions for Health Sciences students utilize survey tools to evaluate student retention of information as well as student satisfaction with the information presented and services provided to the students. Similarly, survey and satisfaction results will determine the level of success for the Teachers Academy (NET) as attendance and event completion records will allow the college to track the continued training of learning support faculty. Analysis of year to year comparison data pulled from banner allow the college to evaluate and establish baseline data for the new college focus on retention. Internal banner reports also provide information to the college community in regards to student enrollment and completion of the AS program as well as determining the number of graduates the college is able to produce through the increase of embedded TCCs. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of block schedule, review of the retention and graduation rates of students who participate in the programs offering this form must be regularly tracked and monitored. Comparison data allows the college to compare the success rate of students participating in co-requisite course (learning support + college level course) as compared to students following the traditional format.
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Committees, faculty meetings, college wide events, and small departmental meetings provide one setting for sharing the results of the data collected. Two events a year provide an opportunity to share data with the faculty and staff of the college in a face to face format. Smaller committees such as the Council on Advising receive regular updates on data pertaining directly to their function and in doing so, a continuous feedback loops exists allowing for data flow to the committee and recommendations from the committee based on data to improve processes.
Conclusions Most successful strategies/interventions. The move of the college to allows students to complete both their learning support course in conjunction with the college level course has provided many students the opportunity to speed up the rate in which it takes them to complete their program of study. For the students who elect to participate in this program and high percentage who are successful, this time of program may reduce their time to completion by one semester or more. Recruiting or re-recruiting the large population of students that have stopped out provides an accessible population to target the direct marketing, and direct communication through emails, phone calls and tests. One very simple early target population targeted were those students who selected not register for a subsequent term, direct communication with these students reminded them of registration and encouraged them to follow up through registering themselves or meeting with an academic advisor thus increasing, if only slightly the retention rate from Spring and Summer term to the following Fall. Finally, all of the initiatives that enhance the CCG goal of graduate production have thus far greatly enhanced the college productions numbers. Better evaluation of student completion using banner reports, finding and including more embedded TCCs for students, and providing better academic advising has driven more students towards credential completion. Least Effective. According to the data collected to this point, the least effective initiatives put into place by Chattahoochee Technical College include the expansion of AS degree offerings, though the college added one, at this time there are none apparent for the immediate future. Continued relationship building and ongoing research to find the right expansion opportunities must continue until more AS options can be available. Additionally, the success of all initiatives as it directly reflects on time to completion has, at this time, not yet made a significant impact on the data. Although data indicate positive satisfaction with Academic Advising, positive feedback from the work on revising the learning support model, and opportunities for new delivery methods, the data on time for students to complete their programs shows little movement. What adjustments have we made? Changes to initial ideas and strategies remain ongoing as data collection and evaluation continues. The QEP and Academic Advising data along with conversations with faculty and staff involved in the process indicate a need to modify the way in which students and their programs are distributed and handed off between the Student Affairs professional advising staff and their program faculty. The current proposal recommends the creation of “teams” of faculty and staff advisors to provide a more seamless transition for students and to provide a sense of greater access to advisement for students regardless of their program of study, their location, or, where they are in their program.
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Next Steps As the college moves forward and continues to strive for greater levels of student success through retention and ultimately graduation new ideas will emerge. Continued work on the current initiatives will progress and evolve over time as the college determines what works and what does not. Additionally, ongoing data collection and evaluation specifically focusing on student needs will continue. New initiatives and strategies in development from Student Affairs include a focus on African American males and other minority males on campus and how to best serve and encourage their success. Additionally, new programming targeting First Generation students and their unique set of needs remains in development with implementation slated for late fall semester 2015. As well as an increased focus on engaging students within the college community through enhanced campus involvement opportunities such as leadership and wellness programming and opportunities. Academic Affairs will continue to seek out new articulation opportunities for students as well as increase collaboration with the local K-12 system to provide seamless educational transition for students. In order to continue making strides towards student success, resources must be dedicated to the ongoing improvement of the college, from encouraging existing faculty and staff to ensure a positive atmosphere as well as continued professional development opportunities to assist current faculty and staff to continuously improve their own skill sets. Support proves to be one of the greatest resources available when given from all levels including the state, college administration, faculty, and staff. Additional funding to allow the college to hire the best faculty and staff possible to support all initiatives will always remain crucial to the success of the college and to the students.
Chattahoochee Technical College | 78
Coastal Pines Technical College
Coastal Pines Technical College | 79
Coastal Pines Technical College Overview When comparing CPTC student demographics for the 2014 year to the 2015 year using the KMS #DC241 Report, the following observations were noted. The data for 2014 was prior to the merger of Altamaha (ATC) and Okefenokee (OTC) Technical Colleges. The 2015 year represents the first year of Coastal Pines Technical College (CPTC). Student demographic data was analyzed by totals for type of enrollment, ethnicity, gender, age groupings, Pell recipients, and remedial enrollment in two or more courses at time of entry. When analyzing full-time, part-time and transfer students, the number of full-time students attending CPTC increased during the 2015 year and the number of transfer students decreased. Ethnicity data showed that CPTC’s student enrollment remained consistent in that the black student population represented 26% of total student enrollment, and the white student population represented 70% of the total student enrollment. For both groups during 2015, the black population decreased by 2% from the year 2014, whereas, the white population increased by 2%. The Hispanic population represented 2% of the total student population for both 2014 and 2015. All other ethnicity categories, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, Two or More Races, Unknown, and Non-Resident Aliens represented only 2% of total student enrollment for both 2014 and 2015. Disaggregated data in reference to ethnicity showed no significant change in the number of black or white students attending full-time, part-time, or transfer status. The Hispanic disaggregated data as well as all other ethnicity categories remained relatively the same according to the type of attendance status, each representing 2% or less of the total population. Overall gender data for CPTC showed that male and female student attendance remained constant when comparing the 2014 and 2015 data, with a 2% increase for males in 2015 and a 2% decrease for females in 2015. Male students attending CPTC part-time increased by 8%, while full-time and transfer categories remained relatively constant. Female students attending CPTC remained relatively constant in regards to all attendance categories. In reference to age categories for 2015, CPTC students ages 25 and over represent 55% of the total student population, 20-24 year old students represent 27%, and 18% of the population represents students 17-19 years old coming to CPTC directly from high school. When comparing to the 2014 data, each age category increased only slightly, representing an insignificant change. During 2015, 58% of full-time students attending CPTC received Pell, representing a slight increase over the 2014 year. Forty-eight percent (48%) of CPTC’s student enrollment received Pell in 2015, representing a slight decline from 2014. Full-time and part-time transfer students made no substantial change, increasing slightly for full-time students and decreasing slightly for part-time students. Students who entered CPTC in 2015 needing two or more remedial courses only represented less than 2% of the total student enrollment. Because the numbers were so closely related to the 2014 year, no significant change was noted.
Goals Goal 1: Increase the number of graduates annually over the previous year The following information establishes a trend report for CPTC degree production. The data shows combined information for the individual colleges during AY2014, prior to the official merger in AY2015. An increase of thirty-eight (38) additional students graduated in AY2015 over AY2014. While the number of graduates in 2015 show that the goal was not attained for the academic year, CPTC remains 944 graduates ahead of the overall CCG initiative goal. See Chart 1 at the end of the report which shows CPTC’s total progress towards increasing the number of graduates annually for the Coastal Pines Technical College | 80
years 2011 – 2015, with the 2011 – 2014 data representing Altamaha Technical College and Okefenokee Technical College data prior to the merger for 2015.
Degree Production KMS Report DC#293 Academic Year 2014 Academic Year 2015 Academic Year 2016 Cumulative Through 2015
Graduate Number 808 846 886 6,128 actual graduates of the total initiative goal of 10,048
Difference between Actual CCA Graduates and CPTC Goal -110 -67 +944 above goal
Strategies/Interventions Implemented. In reviewing the data, the following strategies were used to increase the number of annual graduates per year for CPTC. Although the strategies implemented did not produce the number of graduates projected for academic year 2015, the deficient was only 67. Strategy 1. During AY2015, the first year of the merger, a concentrated effort was made on evaluating degrees, diplomas, and technical certificates of credit (TCCs) and how faculty advised students and assisted students in applying for graduation for programs completed, including embedded TCCs. The Engineering Technology (AAS) program was launched by hiring an instructor and purchasing of equipment. Enrollment for the Engineering program will begin in AY16. Culinary Arts (AAS) program included enrollment of 22 students. Health Care Assistant program increased by 12 students; Early Childhood Care and Basics (TCC) increased by 2 students, the Railroad Technology program cluster increased by 2, and the COMP TIA A+ Certified Preparation program did not increase. While the Health Care Science and Computed Tomography Specialist program were not fully implemented during AY15, the strategy of developing the programs was accomplished and will result in new enrollment in AY16. Strategy 2. In order to ensure that all awards were granted, the Registrar’s Office audited the designated CCG tracked programs and notified faculty of additional awards that could be granted to students. The audit also produced student results showing awards available after completion of one more class. Faculty were trained in advising and assisting students in applying for graduation for all awards earned, including embedded TCCs. Strategy 3. An additional strategy for increasing the number of graduates per year was the redesign of the Naval Maintenance Apprentice (TCC) program taught for King’s Bay Naval Base in Camden County. CPTC requested that TCSG evaluate this program to be added to the Complete College Georgia list of tracked programs. The request was granted, thus providing an additional 74 graduates in 2015. Strategy 4. The Institutional Research department developed an internal CCG tracking report to more closely monitor enrollment in the CCG tracked list. Upon development of this report, the Institutional Effectiveness and Academic Affairs department evaluated the feasibility of implementing CCG programs not currently offered at CPTC. Approximately 45 programs were identified and CPTC will continue to evaluate and seek approval to offer these programs during AY16. Strategy 5. In order to increase the number of graduates and increase the number of students prepared for jobs aligned with Georgia’s plan for filling jobs in the identified Strategic Industries, CPTC initiated the development of TCCs to be offered in Ware State Prison. Resources Allocated: Money was allocated to hire the Engineering instructor and purchase Engineering equipment. Other resources included the devotion of time to track CCG tracked programs, and making the request to TCSG to add the Naval Maintenance Apprentice program to the list of CCG tracked programs. The new building on the Golden Isles instructional site was completed, equipped, and staffed in late AY2015. Coastal Pines Technical College | 81
Obstacles Encountered: A delay in hiring a full-time credentialed Engineering instructor due to a low applicant pool hindered the start-up of the program during AY2015. The instructor was hired in AY2016 and classes will begin spring Semester 2016. During AY2015, the completion of the new building on the Golden Isles campus ran slightly behind schedule resulting in a delay of program start-up from spring 2015 to spring 2016. Program expansion and increased student enrollment at the Golden Isles campus is planned for AY2016.
Goal 2: Shorten Time to Degree In reviewing the data, the following strategies were used to shorten the time to degree for CPTC students. Graduation Rate Performance Metric: In analyzing the graduation rates using KMS Report DC#242 for students earning certificates/diplomas, the rates of completion time remained exactly the same for full-time students during AY14 and AY15. A one-percent (1%) increase occurred for part-time student completion for each of the completion time frames of 100%, 150%, and 200% of time. Students who transferred to CPTC also remained the same with a 1% increase for those completing in 200% of the time allocated. While the cohort of associate degree seeking students was extremely small (less than 12 students), full-time students completing in 100% of the time stayed the same for AY2014 and AY2015, with an increase of 5% in the 150% and 200% categories for AY2015 over AY2014. For transfer students, the graduation rates for all time categories decreased. CCA Outcome Metric 2: Graduation Rates Reported to CCA: 2014 (Final Data) KMS Report DC#242 Full-Time Students Part-Time Students Transfer Reported to CCA: 2015 (Final Data) KMS Report DC#242 Full-Time Students Part-Time Students Transfer
Certificates/Diplomas 100% of 150% of 200% of Time Time Time 20% 26% 29% 12% 18% 19% 19% 23% 24% Certificates/Diplomas 100% of 150% of 200% of Time Time Time 20% 26% 29% 13% 19% 20% 19% 23% 25%
Associate Degrees 100% of 150% of Time Time 20% 20% 0% 0% 68% 75% Associate Degrees 100% of 150% of Time Time 0% 25% 0% 0% 9% 27%
200% of Time 20% 0% 75% 200% of Time 25% 0% 27%
Strategies/Interventions Implemented Strategy 1. CPTC continued to implement early intervention processes to assist students identified as having academic difficulties and attendance issues. CPTC staff and faculty were trained on the implementation of TEAMS that assists in early identification of at-risk students, and TEAMS began to be used. Strategy 2. Block scheduling continues to be utilized for degree, diploma, and TCC programs. In order to report information on student success in the TCSG identified programs using the block scheduling format, the KMS report DC200 report was used to report retention rates for each of the block scheduled programs. In CPTC’s AY14 Complete College Georgia report, FY2014 data was combined for Altamaha Technical College and Okefenokee Technical College. This year’s report reflects the AY15 data to design a trend report for CPTC to further analyze. Seven out of nine programs following a block scheduling format indicated an increased percentage of change. Two additional programs have been added to the block scheduling list of programs being tracked for CCG purposes. The Locomotive Electrical Systems and Coastal Pines Technical College | 82
the Locomotive Mechanical Systems TCCs have also shown positive increases for AY2015 compared to AY2014 rates. For comparison purposes, two non-block scheduled programs retention rates are listed in the following chart. AY2014 and AY2015 Block Scheduling Cohorts BLOCKED SCHEDULE PROGRAMS AY14 Cohort
AY14 Total Retained
AY14 Retention Rate
Accounting
24
5
21%
19
7
37%
16%
Degree AC13
Accounting
6
2
33%
4
2
50%
17%
Diploma ACT2
Air Conditioning Technology
29
9
31%
33
19
58%
27%
Diploma AT14
Automotive Technology
9
8
89%
8
7
88%
-1%
Diploma CJT2
Criminal Justice Technology
32
17
53%
27
12
44%
-9%
Degree CJT3
Criminal Justice Technology
NA
NA
NA
1
1
100%
100%
Diploma MA22
Medical Assisting
17
10
59%
12
11
92%
33%
Diploma NS14
Networking Specialist
15
6
40%
14
7
50%
10%
Degree NS13
Networking Specialist
5
3
60%
4
3
75%
15%
TCC LE51
Locomotive Electrical Systems
3
1
33%
2
1
50%
17%
TCC LM31
Locomotive Mechanical Systems
5
0
0%
7
2
29%
29%
Level
Major
Diploma AC12
AY15 Cohort
AY15 Total Retained
AY15 Retention Rate
% of Change
NON-BLOCKED SCHEDULE PROGRAMS Diploma EP12
EMS Professions
9
6
67%
12
4
33%
-34%
Diploma FT12
Forest Technology
6
4
67%
1
0
0%
-67%
Strategy 3. A major focus for CPTC during AY2015 has been the expansion of dual enrollment and ACCEL opportunities within 15 high schools in CPTC’s service delivery area. High school enrollment increased by 366 students during AY2015. See Chart 2. Strategy 4. In order to assist in promoting graduates equipped for jobs within the identified strategic industries of Georgia plan, CPTC began to develop partnerships with the prisons in CPTC’s service delivery area. Ware State Prison Coastal Pines Technical College | 83
contacted CPTC to offer two welding TCCs with the possibility of adding some diesel mechanic TCCs. Preparations began in AY2015 to add Ware State Prison as an off-campus instructional site with SACSCOC for programs to begin in AY2016.
Strategy 5. CPTC joined the Achieving the Dream (ATD) initiative in AY2015. Data strategies inside the initiative focus on determining obstacles that hinder students from completing programs of study and graduating. In cooperation with the TCSG Data Center and the National Student Clearinghouse, ATD’s data coaches are actively assisting CPTC’s leadership in identifying hidden concerns often embedded in data analysis. Specifically, data is being reviewed based on ethnicity, gender, students receiving Pell, and course analysis specifically in relation to remedial courses. Resources Allocated: To assist in identifying and implementing early intervention strategies, CPTC with financial support from TCSG, hired a Student Navigator. The Student Navigator’s primary responsibilities are to monitor the TEAMS tracking system, administer early alert procedures, making contact with at-risk students, and providing students with the support needed to overcome obstacles hindering the continuation of their program of study. Personnel served as the major resource in promoting and increasing dual enrollment opportunities. Personnel assigned to work directly with dual enrollment expansion included four high school coordinators. Two director-level positions were assigned specific tasks related to the development and promotion of dual enrollment. These positions included a Dean for Academic Affairs and the Executive Director for Student Affairs. Adjunct faculty pay was provided to ensure that courses/programs were offered as requested by area high schools. In order to prepare for the implementation of programs at Ware State Prison, Student Affairs staff have been assigned to travel to the prison to administer placement testing and receive admissions application materials. The membership fee for joining the ATD initiative was paid for by TCSG’s Foundation for the first three years. CPTC allocated travel expenses for five staff members to attend the “Achieving the Dream Kick-Off Institute” meeting in Cincinnati, OH in June 2015. The ATD data coaches consulted with the entire CPTC staff and ATD committees in August 2015 to gather information to assist in developing strategies for improvement. Obstacles Encountered: The primary obstacle CPTC encountered in the implementation of TEAMS was ensuring that appropriate staff was trained on TEAMS. CPTC has six instructional sites in addition to the main campus. This required training approximately 200 full-time faculty and staff. The dedication of time required a great undertaking for Student Affairs staff to ensure that all faculty were trained. CPTC was committed to ensuring that all faculty and staff who needed to use TEAMS was appropriately trained. The challenge of expanding dual enrollment opportunities required the commitment of time by the High School Coordinators. The Dean for Academic Affairs and the Executive Director for Student Affairs devoted a great deal of time in planning and scheduling high school visits with the appropriate personnel. After the initial meetings, the Dean and the Executive Director developed the programs, hired the faculty, scheduled the high school coordinator’s visits to the high school for assessment, admission processing, and financial aid consulting. CPTC was able to successfully meet all high school requests by being committed to maintaining a detailed schedule that included constant and consistent follow-up with high school representatives and interested students. The obstacle that hindered CPTC from beginning classes in AY2015 at Ware State Prison was the time needed to seek SACSCOC approval for offering programs at Ware State Prison. CPTC prepared the materials and submitted to SACSCOC and is waiting for final approval before beginning the programs. An obstacle faced in dealing with the prison involves the limitations created by the potential students not having access to computers. Paper copies of all admission and financial aid information has had to be supplied rather than by electronic means.
Coastal Pines Technical College | 84
GOAL 3: TRANSFORM REMEDIATION The following strategies were used to transform remediation at CPTC. Success in Remedial Education Performance Metrics: When analyzing the data of students completing remedial courses during the first two academic years using the KMS report, DC#251, CPTC found a decline in Math (8%), English (6%), both Math and English (27%), and total remediation (10%). The total number of students enrolled in remedial Math courses was less in 2015 than the total number enrolled in Math during 2014. Although the percentage completing declined in 2015, there were less students enrolled but the actual number of completers remained approximately the same. CPTC will continue to review internal data on individual courses in an effort to improve the completion rates. Success in Remedial – 2014
KMS Report DC#251 & DC#254 Students Completing Remedial within first 2 Academic Years (DC#251) Students Complete Next Level Course in Same Subject within first 2 Academic Years (DC#254)
Math 52%
English 57%
Both Math & English 56%
Total Remedial 54%
32%
32%
17%
29%
The data analysis of the students who successfully completed a college level course in the same subject as that in which they took a remedial course, KMS Report DC#254, showed that students enrolled in the subsequent Math course during academic year 2015 passed at a six percent (6%) higher rate than those in 2014. The same percentage of students enrolled and successfully completed the subsequent English course in 2015 as in 2014. For those students enrolled and successfully passing both Math and English subsequent courses in 2015, the percentage of students passing declined by seven percent (7%) when compared to 2014 rates. The total passing rates for remedial remained the same in 2015 as compared to 2014. CPTC will continue to review internal data on students enrolled in remedial courses in relation to the passing of the subsequent course(s) courses in an effort to improve the pass rates. Success in Remedial - 2015
KMS Report DC#251 & DC#254 Students Completing Remedial within first 2 Academic Years (DC#251) Students Complete Next Level Course in Same Subject within first 2 Academic Years (DC#254)
Math 44%
English 51%
Both Math & English 29%
Total Remedial 44%
38%
32%
10%
29%
Strategies/Interventions Implemented Strategy 1. Learning support redesign was implemented in Math in AY2015 by structuring the course on a more individual learning basis. Students are allowed to work at their own pace, offering an incentive for students to complete the material in a more expedited fashion. Strategy 2. Tutoring schedules were developed providing students with weekly tutoring opportunities on the Waycross, Jesup, and Golden Isles campuses. Full-time Math and English faculty set aside time each week for student tutoring. Strategy 3. All math faculty (full-time and adjunct) participated in a professional development training session to provide information to instructors on how to work with students in remedial courses. This training also included tips on how to provide tutorial services to students in remedial math and/or other subsequent math courses. Strategy 4. Smarthinking online tutorial services have continued to be offered to students. Coastal Pines Technical College | 85
Strategy 5. The lead math instructor created a learning support math advisement guide that was distributed to all faculty and
academic advisors. This guide is used by faculty to properly advise students for all math classes offered at CPTC. Strategy 6. The Dean for Academic Affairs, General Education and Learning Support, created a COMPASS readiness resource to enable prospective students a means of review prior to taking the COMPASS entrance exam. This resource gives students the opportunity to review the competencies covered on the exam. Rather than a student taking the entrance exam without any knowledge of what is covered on the exam, the resource serves as a refresher of skills the students have previously learned. Often this has helped a student improve their scores on the entrance exam and bypass remedial courses. Resources Allocated: Adjunct instructors were encouraged to provide expanded tutoring schedules for students. Tutoring schedules are designed and provided for students. CPTC continues to provide the Smarthinking service through a continuation contract each year. The math department is utilizing MyMathLab developed by Pearson. MyMathLab is a learning support management system that utilizes online homework, tutorials, and assessment products for mastery of mathematics. Faculty use the integrated system for all math courses offered at CPTC. Obstacles Encountered: Remedial and general education instructors realized that occupational faculty advisors and general academic advisors experienced difficulty in understanding the sequencing of learning support math courses. Thus, the reason for the creation of the math learning support advisement guide. The guide has enabled the faculty to provide more structured and accurate advisement in reference to remedial math courses. CPTC has experienced difficulty in securing credentialed Reading faculty. CPTC is currently working with the Adult Education department to share faculty.
Student Success Implementation Team The Institutional Effectiveness and Research departments utilize a variety of reports from KMS and locally generated systems to analyze student success data. Information is made available to CPTC employees through the College’s intranet, email distribution, and shared during meetings with the President’s Cabinet, College Council, and the Complete College Georgia Committee. Full Name
Title/Position
Role
Email Address
Vincent E. Jackson Lonnie Roberts Dr. Teresa Allen Katrena Taylor Dr. John Rowe Dr. Al Cunningham Eddie Aycock Abraham Pallas Patsy Wilkerson Amanda Morris Austin Johnson Chad Swanson Cathy Montgomery Karen Boyle Stephanie Roberts Janet Carter Lauren McCullough
IR Director Provost Vice President for IE Psychology Instructor Allied Health Instructor VP for Academic Affairs Industrial Sys. Instructor Dean, Academic Affairs Dean, Academic Affairs Dean, Academic Affairs Exec. Dir. Student Affairs Dir., Distance Education Counsel/Spec Serv. Dir. Special Services Coord. Student Activities Coord. Assistant Registrar Student Navigator
Point of Contact Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Coastal Pines Technical College | 86
Conclusion The most effective strategies include: 1. The promotion of dual enrollment opportunities for high school students. This strategy is assisting in creating interest in CPTC so that high school students recognize and choose CPTC as their postsecondary option. 2. Continual review of program offerings specifically aligned with the Complete College Georgia tracked programs. 3. Continual monitoring of student completion progress to identify students who have completed or are close to completing a Complete College Georgia tracked program. This information is then shared with faculty for more focused advisement efforts to encourage student completion of available awards.
The least effective strategy includes: 1. The affiliation with The Achieving the Dream initiative will assist the college in designing future intervention strategies; however, the initiative has been less productive in improving the 2015 data than all other internally developed strategies, due to the fact that ATD is a new initiative begun in 2015. CPTC is establishing strong working relationships with the ATD data coaches, the data provided locally, and by the TCSG Datacenter which is focused on ATD strategies. During AY2016, more positive results should be shown.
Next Steps Degree Production CPTC has implemented numerous strategies/interventions to increase completion toward meeting the College’s CCG goal for 2020. As referenced earlier in this report, the Institutional Research department has identified approximately 45 CCG tracked programs that are closely associated and/or embedded with the College’s current program offerings. During AY2016 CPTC plans to continue developing and adding these program offerings to provide more opportunities for student enrollment and program completion. Closely associated with developing new program offerings, CPTC will realize greater enrollment prospects as a result of the expansion of the Golden Isles campus offerings. Occupancy of the new building during spring 2016 will provide students with additional training in the areas of Cosmetology, Commercial Truck Driving, Computer Information Systems, Paramedicine, Practical Nursing, and Business Office Technology. New programs will begin in Neuromuscular Therapy and Health Information Management Coding. While the majority of CPTC students currently attend on the Waycross and Jesup campuses, the expansion of the Golden Isles campus is projected to become a key location in attracting students in the Brunswick area over the next five years. As evidenced by the growth in serving area high school students, CPTC plans to continue developing Move on When Ready (MOWR) partnerships in the service delivery area. CPTC is currently developing an array of TCCs to be offered in the high schools so that students can complete college level coursework and earn awards prior to graduating from high school. CPTC’s commitment of resources, especially in the form of dedicated staffing, has been substantial. CPTC plans to continue providing these resources to serve the large service delivery area. In addition, CPTC is working at developing stronger and additional partnerships with area Board of Regents (BOR) institutions to provide additional opportunities for students including developing articulation agreements and pursing Associate of Science (A.S.) degrees. The Achieving the Dream (ATD) initiative will be promoted during AY2016. The College anticipates using the currently generated data center reports, in-house statistics, and analyses by ATD derived from National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) reporting to identify student success obstacles encountered based on ethnicity, gender, financial status, and those students in need of remedial support. The use of this information will support the College’s review and revision of policies/procedures that perhaps contribute to deterring student success. Graduation Rates. CPTC will continue to develop partnerships with federal and state prisons in the service delivery area. These partnerships will enable CPTC to provide inmates with training to enhance their ability to gain employment Coastal Pines Technical College | 87
when released. Programs offered in the prisons will be focused on CCG tracked programs such as Welding and Diesel Mechanics. CPTC is committed to not only providing this valuable service to inmates, but also considers this service to be of great assistance in reducing the recidivism rate in Georgia. The Student Affairs and Academic Affairs staff will continue to evaluate student progress to monitor student completion of available awards. Through the use of TEAMS and supported by the Student Navigator, the CPTC staff will remain focused on the identification of at-risk students who potentially may drop out prior to completing programs. In addition, efforts will continue in contacting students who withdraw, fail, or choose to non-return to classes. Currently CPTC has two foundation boards that provide support to students, Altamaha Technical College Foundation and Okefenokee Technical College Foundation. Both foundations are committed to continue providing support to students who express needs such as tuition assistance, money for books, transportation costs, uniforms/tools needed, and other instructional supplies. CPTC will continue to expand online course offerings to provide more availability options to students. The College will continue to provide Diversity Training for CPTC staff to assist in recruiting, advertising, admission, career guidance, academic advising, and program delivery. Success in Remedial Education. The College will continue evaluating the redesign of Reading and English learning support courses. CPTC plans to expand the opportunities for prospective students to participate in college entrance exam readiness. This will enable students who typically miss the cut off scores by 1 or 2 points to refresh skills learned in the past and improve their chances of attaining the cut-scores on the entrance exam. Summary of Resources Needed for ‘Next Steps’ Resources needed for Increasing Degree Production are most often associated with human resources and time management in developing new program offerings, but monetary and intangible resources cannot be ignored. The expansion of the Golden Isles campus will require increased budgets to maintain and promote the new and existing programs. Support from the Brunswick community and other local education systems will be an essential resource for the ongoing growth of the site. The development of MOWR partnerships will require human resources support, advertising funding, and the backing of local school systems’ administrators. The same is true in collaboration with BOR institutions. All of these initiatives require the support of our legislators, competitively representing our interests. The ATD initiative will require local monetary resources to support staff development activities, as well as focused training in specialized software for more insightful data analysis. Resources needed for Increasing Graduation Rates will include monetary and human resource allocations to develop partnerships with federal and state prisons in our area. Supplies and instructional materials will be required in many cases, due to the limitations placed on prisoners. The success of the TEAMS initiative depends upon having people who are able to administer the software and counsel students. The more human resources available, the greater the results will be. CPTC will continue to rely on the monetary support of the ATC and OTC foundations for students who have exhausted all other revenue sources. CPTC will require ongoing funding and time allocation for instructors to expand online course offerings. External training resources will be necessary for diversity training in all departments of the College. Support and collaboration from sister colleges in the redesign of Reading and English support classes will be essential resources needed for Increasing Success in Remedial Education. Sharing and cooperation in the planning and development of expanded opportunities in college entrance exam readiness will also be needed. Tutoring services and materials will be needed to support tutoring activities.
Coastal Pines Technical College | 88
Chart #1: DEGREE PRODUCTION: Tracking Between AY2011 and AY2015
Total Number of Awards 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Total # of Awards
1076
976
866
698
779
Cert < 1 yr
522
408
335
292
312
Cert/Dip >= 1 and = 2 and
