Butler Community College Listening to Entering Students EARS

Butler Community College Listening to Entering Students: EARS – Early Alert and Referral System May 31, 2011

Early Alert DEFINITION: Timely intervention for students experiencing academic difficulty or exhibiting behaviors counter-productive to student success. …plus a predictive modeling system that allows preemptive intervention for likely students in need. Entering Student Success Institute

Butler by the Numbers Residential campus – El Dorado (23% students, 30% credit hours) Commuter campus – Andover (41% students, 44% credit hours) Five additional teaching/service sites in five county service area 45% full-time 58% female 29% minority 62% traditional age (18 to 22) Fall 2010 Headcount: 10, 116 Entering Student Success Institute

Butler by the Numbers Entering Student Success Institute

Butler by the Numbers Average Class Size: 17 Remediation • 60% require developmental math • 29% require developmental English Retention • 58% fall-to-fall retention rate (first-time, full-time) • 39% fall-to-fall retention rate (first-time, part-time) Fall 2010 Entering Student Success Institute

Birth of EARS • Outreach to students in need existed prior to 2008 but without college-wide coordination or promotion • Discussions started in the spring of 2008 on implementing a more coordinated approach to identifying and reaching out to students in need based on best practices • ESSI Institute, March 2008 Early Alert Program identified as way to address needs identified in SENSE data, specifically targeting students missing classes early on • Explored Early Alert programs at other colleges • Piloted Early Alert and Referral System (EARS) with Lead Faculty

Early Stages of EARS (Fall 2008) • Email from VPA to 55 Lead Faculty with EARS referral form • Director of FYE spoke with Lead Faculty at luncheon during faculty in-service (the week before fall classes) • Director of FYE spoke with all faculty at Professional Development Days • Began handling referrals, 49 students first semester Survey of Entering Student Engagement

Early Results 0. 08

Early Process The FYE Director, Academic Advisor, or Counselor receives forms, email, and/or call about student in need. Respond to the referring instructor to follow-up, ask if it is okay to share that instructor referred student. • High touch with students • Personal contact with instructors FYE/Advisor/ Counselor accesses student record in Banner. FYE/Advisor/ Counselor contacts student (phone, email). Contact student’s other instructors to ask for progress report and attendance; explain and promote the program. Entering Student Success Institute STRENGTHS FYE/Advisor/ Counselor enters info into Excel spreadsheet on shared drive WEAKNESSES • • Manual processes Info restricted No dedicated staff member Faculty permission problematic

EARS Challenges ü Large adjunct faculty and part-time student populations ü Multi-site college with commuter students ü Time-consuming manual process for faculty and staff ü Typically, only worst-case students referred Entering Student Success Institute

EARS Evolution ü Learning College Principles RESPOND WITH AGILITY We effectively respond to opportunities, changes and threats in our environment, continually seeking new or adapted ways to respond to the learning needs of our students and other stakeholders. Entering Student Success Institute

EARS Evolution (2009 -2010) ü Hired Retention Specialist (Title III grant) ü Refined referral process: Ø Behavioral issues – Dean of Students Ø Disability issues – Disability Services Director Ø Academic/Attendance – Retention Specialist ü Committed to intrusive intervention ü Established CARE Team Entering Student Success Institute

CARE Team Vice President of Student Services Dean for Enrollment • Management (or Director of Advising) • Dean of Students Retention Specialist Student Involvement • Coordinator Advising Office Representative Counseling Office Representative Disability Services Director Security Office Representative Academic Dean Entering Student Success Institute Faculty Member Meets weekly on two major campuses Anyone may bring names forward Discusses both people and processes

Current Process Retention Specialist receives forms, email, and/or call about student in need. Retention Specialist accesses student record in Banner, and refers to appropriate person. Student is contacted (phone, email, Facebook, text). Contacts tracked in Banner (SPCMNT – “Space Mountain”) Entering Student Success Institute STRENGTHS Retention Specialist closes the loop with referring faculty. • High touch with students • Personal contact with instructors • Streamlined process • Alert attached to student WEAKNESSES record • Manual processes • Staff dependency

Continuing Challenge: Dependency on Specific Staff 400 Number of Alerts per Semester 396 350 300 250 239 180 200 150 89 100 50 8 0 Fall 2009 Entering Student Success Institute Spring 2010 Summer 2010 Fall 2010 Spring 2011

EARS Today • Campus-wide announcements promoting EARS and CARE Team • Incorporated into Faculty Handbook • Presentation at faculty in-service • Multiple emails to faculty from Retention Specialist with referral form attached • Accidental Alert email to students resulted in selfreports Survey of Entering Student Engagement

EARS Today • 396 alerts submitted in Spring 2011 Full-Time: 67% Half-Time: 28% 4000 Population by Status Spring 2011 3500 3000 Less than HT: 4% 2500 2000 • Part-timer effect 1500 1000 • Virtual students? 500 0 FT Entering Student Success Institute HT LH

EARS Today – Greatest Need • Associate of Applied Science (19% of referrals, 26% of pop • Associate of Arts (27% of referrals, 16% of population) • Associate of Science (29% of referrals, 13% of population) • African American (23% of referrals, 10% of population) • Hispanic (10% of referrals, 5% of population) • White (56% of referrals, 71% of population) • Male (51% of referrals, 42% of population) • Female (49% of referrals, 58% of population) Entering Student Success Institute

EARS Tomorrow • Investing in student relationship management software package (Hobsons' Retain™ CRM – tentatively “Bear Tracks”) ü Banner-compatible student communication and early alert system. ü Automated at-risk identification tool and streamlined communication. ü Predictive modeling to statistically understand the strengths and weaknesses of current retention efforts and predict outcomes for students based on historical information. • Piloting new processes in Summer 2011 • Full roll-out Fall 2011 • Banner compatibility will allow student outcome tracking Entering Student Success Institute

Lessons Learned ü Communication is key ü Dedicated staff person is imperative ü Spread the load (Specialists, CARE Team) ü Build stable, scalable processes (Hobson’s) ü Measure and improve Entering Student Success Institute

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