Helping Students on Academic Probation to Persist...

Helping Students on Academic

Probation to Persist and Succeed

Robert M. Kurland, Ph.D.

Associate Dean, Office of Academic Services

Instructor / Assistant Research Professor, Department of Psychology

Rutgers University – Newark

Dijha R. Allen, Ed.M.

Academic Advisor/Probation Coordinator

Office of Academic Services

Rutgers University – Newark

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Helping Students on Academic Probation to Persist and Succeed 2

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Helping Students on Academic Probation to Persist and Succeed

College Student Success

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Overview

• The Office of Academic Services

• At-risk students

• Previous practices

• Recent practices

• Current initiatives

– course development

• Future Directions

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• Staff size and structure (teams)

• Responsibilities include:

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Academic Advisement Academic Integrity

Academic Probation & Dismissal Convocation

First Year Services Graduation Certification

Peer Advisor Program Pre-Professional Programs

Reenrollment Reinstatement

School-to-School Transfers Placement Testing

Transcript Evaluations Transfer Services

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Who we are

• The GAP Team

– Graduation and Academic Progress

• Retention and Attrition

• Probation

• Dismissal

• Graduation Certification

• Academic Progress

• Academic Integrity

• Junior and Senior Initiatives

• Special Programs

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Background

• As the practices in higher education are falling under more

scrutiny, colleges and universities are finding themselves

focusing more of their efforts on measurable variables

including retention and graduation rates.

• Students who end up on probation are less likely to be

retained and graduate as compared to students who remain in

good academic standing (Mathies, Gardner, & Bauer, 2006).

• “Low-hanging fruit”

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Probation students within NCAS and UC-N

Prior to 2010:

• Retention rate of 67% (overall student retention rate was 82.7%)

• 360 students on probation, we potentially lost 120 students

• @ $13,683 per student (per year, in-state tuition), RU-N lost over

$1.6 million dollars

• What could we do with $1.6 million?

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Past Practices

• Students on probation have long been an overlooked

population

• Few efforts and resources were used

– One staff member

• Sent letters

• Students were “required” to attend a “Probation Workshop”

• Not enough flexibility for non-traditional

• What do we do?

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Probation Mission

• The GAP Team strives to provide support and guidance to

students who are on academic probation.

• Our purpose is to make probation students feel like individuals,

address their academic, personal, and social concerns, and equip

them with information that will help them interpret university

regulations and policies and with the resources available to them.

• The GAP Team provides programmatic intervention that will allow

students to develop a sense of academic re-empowerment by

enhancing their abilities to foster communication skills, solve

problems, think critically, build relationships, and manage daily life

tasks.

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Probation Goals (PIE)

1. Prevent students from being on academic probation - Prevention

2. Reduce the number of students on probation - Intervention

3. Prevent students from returning to probation - Education

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Probation Objectives

• Provide students with the proper resources to assist them

with their academic progress.

• Articulate an in-depth understanding of their academic

position as it pertains to their probationary status.

• Identify possible roadblocks that contribute to their

probationary status.

• Develop a concrete action plan to address their probationary

status.

• Hold students accountable for their academic progression.

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What are the current criteria for academic probation ?

1. A cumulative grade-point average (G.P.A.) of less than 2.000

or

2. Two consecutive terms of a grade-point average (G.P.A.) of less than 2.000

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Additions to academic probation criteria

3. failure to successfully complete 60% of attempted credits within 7

years

4. failure to enroll in a composition or mathematics course, as

prescribed by the placement standards at the college and prior

course history, and continue to enroll each and every term until the

requirement is satisfied

5. failure to complete successfully any course after three attempts,

including those for which W grades are received.

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Survey results: Why are students on probation

1. Overcommitted (work, family obligations)

2. Poorly prepared (e.g. study skills, prep work)

3. Poor organization skills (poor time management)

4. Poor motivation

5. Wrong area of study

6. Can’t do the work

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Development of Academic Success course

• Why?

• Theoretical Influences

– Developmental

– Prescriptive

– Proactive (formerly

Intrusive)

– Learning Centered

– Appreciative Inquiry

– Strengths Based

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Development of Academic Success (online)

course

• Why online?

– Scheduling

– Technology

– Groups

• How did we develop an academically sound

pedagogically appropriate online course?

• “Hire” an Instructional Designer

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CONSIDERATIONS:

1. Student

• population

• academic tendencies

• academic behaviors

2. Interaction

• peer-peer

• instructor-student

• student-content

3. Content

• based on research on what

good students already do

• factor in survey responses

• develop learning outcomes

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Retrieve from Flickr by ted_major

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Design

Retrieved from Flickr by Will Scullin

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Course Menu

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MODULE ASSIGNMENTS DUE DATES

(no later than)

Academic

Advisement

Summary and Action Plan (x3) Meeting 1 by September

10, 2014

Meeting 2 if required by

your advisor

*Due date set by advisor

Meeting 3 between

October 27, 2014 and

November 14, 2014

Academic Success Workshop Quiz – To be completed

after the workshop

No later than

September 29, 2014

Rutgers Learning Center Workshop Reflective Journal

– To be completed after the workshop

No later than the week

of November 3, 2014

Course

Expectations

Syllabus Analysis & Course Appropriateness September 19, 2014

Time Management Mapping September 26, 2014

Academic

Support

Centers

Visit Learning Center, Writing Center, and Career

Development Center

October 3, 2014

Learning or Writing Center Utilization Assignment October 10, 2014

Career Exploration Assignment October 17, 2014

Academic

Integrity

Quizzes October 24, 2014

Self-

Assessment

Learning Strategies Reflective Journal October 31, 2014

Emotional Intelligence Reflective Journal November 7, 2014

Critical Thinking Reflective Journal November 14, 2014

Academic

Policies

Road ‘to’ and ‘off’ Probation Assignment November 21, 2014

End of

Course

Course Reflection Journal November 28, 2014

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Quantitative Results (so far…)

• GPA change

• Dismissal

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0.2828

-0.1426

-0.2000

-0.1500

-0.1000

-0.0500

0.0000

0.0500

0.1000

0.1500

0.2000

0.2500

0.3000

0.3500

All Probation non-Probation

Change in term GPA from Fall 2013 to Spring 2014

p = .000

*

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What about our Academic Success course?

Spring 2014

– 324 students on probation

– 118 (35%) enrolled in Academic Success (AS) course • of which 70 (59%) passed

• and 48 (41%) did not

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0.21

0.45

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

AS not enrolled AS enrolled

Probation student term GPA increase from FA13 to SP14

p = .039

*

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54.29%

45.63%

39.58% 40.00% 37.38%

25.00%

5.71%

16.99%

35.42%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

AS pass no AS AS no pass

SP14 probation results by Academic Success (AS) course enrollment and success

good standing %

probation %

dismissal %

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Qualitative Results (so far…)

• Better interaction with students

• More in-depth information

• Advisor meetings are more productive

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Student Assignment: Advisor Meeting

Summary & Plan 1

“I met with my advisor…I explained to her that the reason why I am on

probation is because last semester I was under a lot of stress. I was working

full time along with volunteering at the local hospital and then also trying to do

good in school…After having this meeting with her all of my questions are

now answered and I'm glad she made everything very clear to me and

now i can go on and fix my mistakes i have made last semester….The

reason I was not able to excel was because my work hours were not going well

with my college course hours…I would either not make it to class and if i did

then i wasnt able to concentrate because i would be so tired. Also i do live 45

minutes away from the university so the commuting was difficult as well…i am

working less…now i made my work schedule and college schedule much

easier. I gave myself time to get enough sleep and be able to wake up in the

mornings and make it to my early 8:30 class. Also I only work part time

now…Hopefully things will be different this semester and with this change i can

do much better and get off probation.”

- K.K.

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Student Assignment: Advisor Meeting

Summary & Plan 2

“Today I met with my assigned adviser for my second meeting…I was

well prepared before walking into the office. My three main

concerns were that how I can raise my GPA, questions about the

academic success class online, and about changing my major…She

help me calculate my minimum GPA that I would need for the semester

to raise my GPA and to get off probation. Then she told me about how I

need to do the academic success class… After she finished explaining

to me about the course, she asked me what I thought about the course.

I told her that I really liked the course and that I felt it was

motivating me to do better…Overall my experience with her was

great. I loved talking to her and I loved that she really helped me

out…She motivated me and made me gather faith in myself that I

can do better in the subjects I want.”

- S.K.

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Student Assignment: RU Ready to Succeed?

Workshop Reflective Journal

“The things I learned…are things that I was missing when it

came to my school work. I learned that I need to believe in

myself in order to be successful. My reason for being in school

and wanting a degree should be something that I want, not what

my parents want for me…The one thing that I took from the

workshop is that I have to know what I want regarding my

education. My reasons for being in school have to be my own

personal reasons. I have to be motivated in succeeding so I

don't fail. But if I do fail, then I am motivated to keep

pushing towards to my goal. The overall thing that I learned

is that I have to believe in myself in order to see myself

succeed.”

- D.J.

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Student Assignment: Syllabus

Pre-Calculus 21:640:114:01-05

• “This course is a preparation for students who intend to take

Calculus I as an additional requirement for their intended

major. The course is a mixture of College Algebra along with

new materials that will aid whilst taking Calculus I. Even

though this course is a prerequisite for Calculus, it still should

not be taken lightly as it is a foundation for Calculus as well

as a consideration for real-world situations. From this course,

I expect to learn and spent about six hours a week on

homework. With quizzes every recitation and two exams

and a final throughout the course, I expect this course to

be a very rigorous.

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Pre-Calculus 21:640:114:01-05

• His grading policies are point based for this course. The

two exams are 100 points each (40%) along with 10 quizzes

which are worth 10 points each in total of 100 (20%).

Homework is worth 10% of our total grade and the final

exam is worth 30%. 500 points (100%) in total with

homeworks, quizzes and exams.

• Assignment due dates for this class are that we have

quizzes every recitation, which is on Fridays. The two exams

are on October 8th and November 12th. The final exam is on

December 17th.

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Pre-Calculus 21:640:114:01-05

• Communication policies for Professor Keigher is extremely

straightforward with using email as the main form of

communication if seeing in person does not work out. His

office hours are Mondays 1:15pm- 2:15pm and Wednesdays

11:45am-12:45pm or by arrangement.

-S. K.

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Student Assignment: Time Management

Mapping

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• How do we know that the class just isn’t showing

us what we already know?

• Those that will do better, will do better and those

that won’t, won’t!

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0.1996

-0.6699

-0.8000

-0.7000

-0.6000

-0.5000

-0.4000

-0.3000

-0.2000

-0.1000

0.0000

0.1000

0.2000

0.3000

AS non-pass probation non-AS (bottom 1/2)

Term GPA increase between Academic Success (AS) non passing and bottom half of non-AS probation

p = .000

*

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p = .06

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Current probation data

• 13% reduction for students on probation

• 21% reduction in dismissed students (approximately 30

students)

– 30 students x $13,683 (yearly in state tuition) = $410,490

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Next Steps

• Starting Fall 2014 the course is a mandated

requirement for all students on probation.

• Revenue from the increase in student retention could then be used to

increase staff, resources, programs, etc.

• This course (content, design, resources, and modality) can be used by other

colleges and universities.

• Use this model for other purposes (freshman seminar, transfers, senior

seminar)

• Examine other at-risk populations (“high hanging fruit”)

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Academic Success Course Results Matrix

If a student earns a:

and at the end of the semester they are:

In good academic

standing Still on probation Dismissable

then they will be:

↓ ↓ ↓

Pass Congratulated Placed on contract Suspended

No credit Placed on contract Suspended Dismissed

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Note: All students returning from dismissal or suspension will be placed on contract

Thank you

Kenneth Sanders, Ed.D., Dean


Shelley C. Kurland, M.A.T., Instructional Designer

Center for Teaching Excellence, County College of Morris

http://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/academic_success_course

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Questions

48 http://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/academic_success_course

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