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Walmart Foundation, AIHEC, HACU, and NAFEO Student Success Project

AIHEC Summer Meeting- 2013

Santa Fe, NM

Deborah His Horse is Thunder, Ed.D.

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Walmart Student Success Project

• 18 MSIs:• Six TCUs; • Six Predominantly and Historically Black Colleges

and/or Universities, and • Six Hispanic-Serving Colleges and/or Universities

• Train the trainer model – Mentor/Mentee Institutions.

• Purpose: Collaborative initiative to pilot and test strategies designed to increase retention and graduation rates at MSIs.

• Phase I - Grants of $100,000 to improve student retention

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Goals for AIHEC Institutions:

1. Identify successful intervention strategies for supporting student success. These strategies were to be shared with all MSIs interested in improving the rate at which their students graduate and enter the workforce or transfer to other institutions to pursue advanced degrees.

2. Disseminate and support implementation of successful intervention strategies.

3. Build a community of practice among participating AIHEC tribal colleges on student success.

4. Institutionalize retention and student success as a high priority across the tribal college partnerships and assist mentor and mentee teams through integrating student retention into their Colleges’ strategic plans.

5. Institutionalize implementation of best practices for student success in tribal colleges.

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Walmart Student Success Project

• February 2010 – Official Award by the Walmart Foundation

• December 2010 – RFP for Mentor Colleges• February 2011 – Two Mentor TCUs Selected

(LLTC and IAIA)• April 2011 – Mentor Meeting in San Antonio, TX• May 2011 – RFP for Mentee Colleges• July 2011 – Four TCU Mentees Selected• September 2011 – Kick-Off Project Meeting of all

18 MSIs

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Walmart Student Success Project• March 2012 2nd Project Meeting of 18 MSIs - Durham, SC• June 2012– TCU “Develop a Community of Practice”

Meeting at IAIA• September 2012- 3rd Project Meeting of 18 MSI on

Developmental Education- Denver, CO• December 2012- Final Meeting for Phase I - Santa Fe, NM• January 2013 – TCU Data Meeting – Minneapolis, MN • February 2013 – Phase I Ended

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Walmart Student Success Project

• March 2013 – Phase II Began– The focus on Phase II is the collection, analysis, and

use of data generated to support the success (or lack thereof) of the retention strategies identified in Phase I.

• September 2013 – Project Meeting with all 18 MSIs at KSU

• April 2014 – Project Meeting with all 18 MSIs at CSU in Fullerton, CA

• July 1, 2014 – Project Ends

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Walmart Student Success Project• Phase II

–One-to-One Mentoring• IAIA and Ilisagvik

• LLTC and Stone Child College

• SBC and Ft. Peck Community College

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Walmart Student Success Project

• Strategies Identified include:– Development of an Effective College-wide

Retention Plan– Learning Support Centers/Learning Labs– First Year Experience Class– Student Summit– Monday Drum– Re-focus on Student Orientation– Advising (1st Year; Mid-Term)

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Walmart Student Success Project

• Ilisagvik College (Mentee)– Implemented an Orientation Program …

Each Semester– Aggressive Counselor Intervention by

the Retention Coordinator– Implementation of a Freshman Seminar– Improved the Learning Center

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Walmart Student Success Project

• Stone Child College (Mentee)– Improved their Learning Center– Implemented Monday Drum– Implemented Aggressive Counselor

Intervention by Retention Counselor– Implemented Mid-Term Advising– Established a Student of the Month

Award– Established a Wall of Fame to

Showcase Student Success

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Walmart Student Success Project

• Sitting Bull College (Mentee in Phase I)– Implemented a Student Summit– Implemented Freshman Seminar– Implemented Aggressive Counselor

Intervention– Implemented At-Risk Advising– Implemented First-Time Freshman Advising– Re-conceptualized the First Year Experience

Class.

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Walmart Student Success Project

Fort Peck Community College– Focused on the Improvement of its Learning

Center– FPCC has restructured the process of its

admissions, enrollment and advising of students. Changes are seen in a new step-by-step registration process and new registration forms that create a check and balance to make sure students are sent to and have been advised by the correct individuals.

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Walmart Student Success Project

• Phase II Outcomes–Verify successful intervention

strategies–Support and Institutionalize

Successful Strategies–Build a “Student Success” culture

and community of practice–Increase graduation rates at TCUs

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Walmart Student Success Project

• Dissemination of Information– AIHEC Summer Meeting– Effective Practices Professional Paper

Series in process– Posting on the Student Success Portal on

AIHEC’s Home Page www.aihec.org or

http://www.msistudentsuccess.org/Pages/MSI_Home.aspx

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