Student Retention Progression and Graduation RPG The Georgia

Student Retention, Progression, and Graduation (RPG) The Georgia Southern Experience Bret S. Danilowicz, Dean Allen E. Paulson College of Science and Technology

Outline University & Retention overview NSF-STEP Grant (ASPIRES) Initiatives Other College Initiatives First-Year Experience (FYE) Initiatives

Georgia Southern Profile Doctoral/Research University 19, 100 students (Fall 2009) 87% undergraduate, 1108 avg. SAT 25, 000 University Enrollment 20, 000 15, 000 Total Undergrad Graduate 10, 000 5, 000 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Retention in TN

Retention at GSU National data from CSRDE reports; GSU data from Inst. Res. Office 85 83 81 79 University COST National 77 Nat STEM 75 73 71 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Why work on retention? Admin: increase resources & rankings Advancement: increase alumni base/giving Civic responsibility for broadening access Supports economic development mission If student learning/grades are improved, then ◦ Fewer ‘failed’ students repeating courses, hence student quality in each course improves ◦ Students less needful of basic/repetitive instruction in upper division courses ◦ Protect critical “small major” departments

COST Undergrad Enrollment 1400 Retention! 1200 1000 Biology Chemistry 800 Geology & Geography Mathematics Physics 600 Construction Mgmt Eng. Studies & Tech 400 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

NSF-STEP ASPIRES http: //www. nsf. gov/funding/pgm_summ. jsp? pims_id=5488&org=NSF&sel_org=NSF&from=fund C. Whitlock (PI, Chemistry) 1/1/2007 -12/31/2011 Funds the institutionalization of ‘Best Practices’ from other College/Universities Five initiatives, with two goals ◦ Reduce DFWs from 33 -53% to 20 -25% ◦ Increase retention from 78. 8% to 85%

NSF-STEP grant (ASPIRES) Initiatives Goal 1: Increase retention in STEM fields Goal 2: Decrease DFW rates Data Tracking (Assessment) Intrusive Advisement (Retention) RIGS (Retention/DFW) Supplemental Instruction (DFW) Guided Inquiry (DFW) Undergraduate Research (Retention)

COST Fall 2005 DFWs* *Percent of Students receiving the grade of D, F, or Withdraw in the course Core Course Pre-Calc Trigonometry Calc I Phys I Chem I Biol I Average % DFW STEM ALL 53 48 47 36 33 37 46 45 49 38 37 37 GOAL 25 25 25 20 20 20

Dept/College DFW tracking 50. 0% 45. 0% 40. 0% COST 35. 0% ASTR 30. 0% PHYS BIOL 25. 0% CHEM GEOL 20. 0% GEOG MATH 15. 0% TCGT 10. 0% 5. 0% 0. 0% F'05 SP'06 F'06

Faculty centered DFW reports Faculty D Faculty B Grade Fall 06 A 25 B 7 B 10 C 9 C 10 D 3 F 13 F 3 W 22 W 15 V V Total 63 Total 66 DFW% 71. 4286% DFW% 31. 8182% 1. 3902 AVG GPA # Sections 2 31. 5 Avg. Class Size 33 AVG DFW% 52. 4725% AVG DFW% T/T-T 55. 9006% AVG DFW% Temp 49. 7537% OVERALL AVG GPA 2. 1183 GPA T/T-T 1. 9134 GPA Temp 2. 1432 AVG GPA Avg. Class Size 3. 0000

Faculty tracking Faculty X Grade Fall 05 Spr 06 Fall 07 Spr 08 A 2 5 14 14 12 B 19 4 16 25 19 C 26 10 18 10 13 D 14 3 7 4 7 F 28 13 14 3 9 W 36 9 15 2 9 Total 125 44 84 58 69 DFW% 62. 4% 56. 8% 42. 9% 15. 5% 36. 2% 1. 4719 1. 5714 2. 1304 2. 7679 2. 3000 # Sections 3 1 2 2 2 33. 00 35. 00 42. 00 29. 00 34. 10 38. 4% 2. 2345 2. 3171 AVG GPA Avg. Class Size AVG DFW% OVERALL AVG GPA 45. 3000% 46. 7000% 46. 2000% 2. 1034 2. 0303 2. 0758 Faculty thanked in their Annual Review for their efforts, or…; Department Chairs put this data into context…

Faculty tracking Temp Faculty G Grade A B C D F W I Total DFW% AVG GPA # Sections Avg. Class Size AVG DFW% OVERALL AVG GPA Fall 06 2 7 9 10 13 22 63 71. 4% 1. 3902 2 31. 5 52. 4725% 2. 1183 Fall 07 3 5 13 7 11 18 57 63. 2% 1. 4615 2 28. 5 40. 8% 2. 1521 Faculty member not renewed

College DFW tracking 60. 0% COST Core Course DFWs (Fall 2005 - Fall 2008) 40. 0% 50. 0% ASTR 37. 0% 40. 0% PHYS BIOL CHEM 34. 0% 30. 0% GEOL GEOG MATH 31. 0% 20. 0% TCGT 28. 0% 10. 0% 25. 0% 0. 0% F'05 SP'06 F'06 SP'07 F'07 SP'08 F'08 SP'09

Intrusive Advisement Students meet with ‘Hand Selected’ faculty advisors twice a semester their Freshman & Sophomore years Faculty given re-assigned time to work in Center 93% of students advised ‘well’ each semester, up from the 70 s% Students with one or more unsatisfactory mid-terms called in for a ‘special’ session

Intrusive Advisement ‘Special’ call ins for students: they had lower DFW rates (63% vs. 86%) and higher GPAs (1. 73 vs. 1. 19) in Spring 2008. Career Office seeing approximately 80 freshman per semester! Aggressive phone campaign to contact students not yet registered for next year Letter to Students at home address asking if they need assistance registering; marked confidential Faculty - Students

Residential Interest Groups (RIGs) Share 3 courses (Major, Writing, GSU 101) COST-specific retention for 2007 -2008 RIG students is 81. 8%, and 62. 5% overall Students had higher term GPAs: ◦ -Biology RIG - 2. 89, Chem RIG - 3. 10, Math RIG - 3. 23, Physics RIG - 3. 23 ◦ -All non-RIG COST GPA - 2. 59 DFWs in RIGS averaged 4%, non-RIG 29% Faculty - Students Faculty need “incivility” support

Supplemental Instruction An extra hour of ‘anything’- lab time, revision time, case studies, but led by a peer mentor Developed many new ways of adding instructional time Logistics are a NIGHTMARE for a comprehensive- finding qualified peers, faculty members must manage the peers, Faculty - Students and scheduling… Limited initial faculty buy-in

Guided Inquiry Support faculty to use active learning in the classroom (e. g. SCALE-UP and POGIL) Implemented in Chemistry and Physics Core DFW Chem 38. 8% 20. 8% DFW Phys 34. 3% 11. 6% Student learning also increased!!! Faculty - Students

Guided Inquiry Background on GI in STEM Education ◦ Handelsman, J. et al. (2004) “Scientific Teaching”. Science. 304: 521 -522 Need to truly recognize and reward the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning; at Georgia Southern, it is = to basic research Faculty pursuing So. TL as their areas of Scholarship for T&P must have reached that agreement with Chair & Dean a priori.

SI/GI in Physics Adopted ‘Scale Up’, called Studio Physics Studio-style initially had lower DFW rates (36%) than those for the traditional courses (53%). Studio-style courses also had higher learning gains (0. 33) than traditional courses (0. 28); FCI & CSEM. Now fully implemented, just 16% DFW in Phys I courses! Common Exam at end of Semester Faculty - Students

Undergraduate Research Many of our ‘best’ students transfer to UGA or GTech after freshman year We offer twenty 5 -10 week slots each summer for freshman ($2 K stipend, $500 consumables, $500 faculty salary) Of the first two student cohorts, all but one student has been retained, and in STEM! Faculty - Students

Mathematics DFW Percent in Core Courses 50. 0% 45. 0% 40. 0% 35. 0% MATH 30. 0% 25. 0% 20. 0% F'05 SP'06 F'06 SP'07 F'07 SP'08 F'08 SP'09 MATH GPA in Core Courses 2. 80 2. 60 2. 40 MATH 2. 20 2. 00 1. 80 F'05 SP'06 F'06 SP'07 F'07 SP'08 F'08 SP'09

Dept. of Mathematical Sciences Teams charged to develop pilot initiatives Faculty - Students 1) ‘Speed’ Math Courses ◦ DFW%: 12. 5% compared to 37. 1% 2) Hybrid College Algebra ◦ 29. 7% compared to 36. 9% ◦ (improvement better EACH semester Faculty - Students as Faculty and GAs learn to ‘teach’ with it)

Dept. of Mathematical Sciences 3) New student math course recommendation algorithm, provided to all advisors and incoming freshman Percent of Freshman receiving an A, B or C OK Not OK Modeling Algebra Trigonometry Pre-Calculus I 87. 7 82. 6 81. 3 73. 3 84. 8 66. 9 58. 5 64. 6 47. 2 80. 0 Overall 81. 7 60. 3 Faculty - Students

First-Year Experience Initiatives Expectations Brochure Conversations with Professors Limited Withdrawals Web-based Early Alert System Defer Greek Rush? !?

Expectations Brochure & Conversations with Professors Comparison of High School to College sent to all confirmed Freshman (handout) Used as basis for ‘conversation’ with faculty member on Sunday afternoon before the first class Raise student expectations about what is expected of them, while at the same time reducing anxiety Faculty - Students Faculty-based initiative

University Withdrawal Policy Students were not limited in course withdrawal if credit hours remained > 12 2009: students may withdraw from 5 courses maximum in their GSU degree Freshman Withdrawal Data ◦ Fall 2007: ◦ Fall 2008: ◦ Fall 2009: 8. 1% of Classes 7. 5% of Classes 5. 7% of Classes Faculty - Students

Early Alert System Web-based portal where faculty place information on why a freshman ‘in trouble’ in a course- attendance, grades, etc. Viewable by advisement centers, advisors, used to call in students for support Participation of faculty varies widely, where it has been used it has Faculty - Students worked extremely well.

Consider Deferring Greek Rush? Greek Rush occurs in Fall Semester Students undergoing rush had a much lower GPA than non-rushing students ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ Fall 2006 First-Time Freshmen Female Greek: 2. 8152 Female Non-Greek: 2. 7282 Male Greek: 1. 9957 Male Non-Greek: 2. 2802 Greek FTF: 2. 4447 Non-Greek FTF: 2. 4831 Other Faculty - Students supports now in place and Rushing Greek GPA > Non-Greek

Conclusions from GSU Retention is *rapidly* increasing, which presents new difficulties Almost everything has worked, as long at faculty develop the initiatives, and then are supported in their efforts NSF-STEP grant application can provide a basis for discussion, and a roadmap to follow You can increase retention without grade inflation; student learning can also improve.