strengthening your campus’ culture of completion: stories ...€¦ · central college, julius...
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Strengthening Your Campus’ Culture of Completion: Stories, Strategies and Tools from
Project Finish Line
Washington Student Services Commission Pre Conference SessionApril 27, 2017
Green River College North Seattle College Seattle Central College South Seattle CollegeSonia Servantes Aimee Brown
Alice MellingAriana Cantu
Bo LeongWilliam Spence
Becca AbelesErin BarzenJulius LloydMegan Nord
Private Consultant
Puget Sound Educational
Service DistrictWalla Walla
Community CollegeMaureen Pettitt Hilary Loeb Kristi Wellington-
Baker
Pre Conference Agenda• Introductions• Project Finish Line overview• Collaboration Exercise• Creating an Equity Praxis for Completion• Rotating small group discussions and debrief• Communications Tool• Questions and Answers, Closure and Evaluation
Introductions• Three rounds—three minutes each
1. What is your name?2. Where do you work?3. How do you support student completion?4. What do you hope to learn this afternoon?
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Project Finish Line Overview
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Completing a Degree or Transferring to a 4-Year College within Three Years
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green River
Community College
• Walla Walla Community College award winning model• Reengagement of “potential completers”• Changes to infrastructure, policies and practices
• Gates Foundation funding for one coach/campus with college match
• Goal of return on investment=69 FTE students/Completion Coach
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green
River CollegeResults Year Two
8,016
3,809
2,193
-
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
Students Identified forCompletion Coaching
Students Responding toCompletion Outreach Efforts
Students Agreeing to Workwith Completion Coaches
Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green
River CollegeResults Year Two
230 91
1,009
1,330
1,147
-
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
Completes aShort TermCertificate
Completes aCertificate (not
short-term)
Earns a Two-Yearor a BA Degree
Total CredentialsCompleted
Total UniqueStudent
Completions
Puget Sound Coalition Learning
Community
• Expert counsel in adult learning design• Co-designed by college representatives• Topics: Racial Equity, Student Self-Efficacy, Measuring
Effectiveness, Scaling and Sustainability• Stipends for groups of represented personnel at all Coalition
Colleges
• Collaboration with Dr. Rob Johnstone of National Center for Inquiry & Improvement
• External evaluation led by Professor Bob Hughes• Changes in infrastructure, policies, practices aimed at
supporting completion
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Creating an Equity Praxis for Completion
Collaboration Exercise• Please divide yourselves into eight groups• Sharing our experience
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Small Group Discussions
Completion
Completion Coaching
101
Getting started in building a
completion culture
Supporting students encountering
financial barriers
Engaging with campus and
community partners
Small Group DiscussionGetting started in building a completion culture: Erin Barzen, South Seattle College, Naina Eshwar, Seattle Central College, Alice Melling, North Seattle College, Maureen Pettitt, Independent Consultant
Supporting students encountering financial barriers: Bo Leong, Seattle Central College, Julius Lloyd, South Seattle College, William Spence, Seattle Central College
Engaging with campus and community partners: Aimee Brown, North Seattle College, Sonia Servantes, Green River College
Completion Coaching 101: Becca Abeles, South Seattle College, Megan Nord, South Seattle College
Small Group Discussion: Logistics• We will participate in three 15-minute discussions of four
topics– Begin with introductions– Each topic will have handouts in your packet
• Questions to keep in mind for debrief– What have you learned that you can implement on
your campus or organization?– What are some concrete steps that you can take to
support postsecondary completion efforts?
Small Group Discussion: Debrief• What have you learned that you can implement on your
campus or organization?• What are some concrete steps that you can take to
support postsecondary completion efforts?
Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC
Communications and Outreach Planning
Why Plan for Communications and Outreach?• Engaging stakeholders is critical for student success• Different audiences have varied needs• Just in time information can make a difference in
students’ lives
Why Plan for Communications and Outreach?• Strong communication can…
• Shift consciousness to change culture: Colleges need to be student ready rather than students need to be college ready
• Early program adopters can nurture partnership
• Critical communications resources:• Compelling completion stories• Clear completion data
Communications and Outreach Planning for Student Completion
Audience AssumptionsWhat do we know about
them?
ResearchWhat else do we need to
know?
Key MessagesWhat need will this fill for
them?
StrategiesHow will we reach them?
Students • Priorities: achieve academic goals, contribute to family, take care of finances
• Needs: help navigating systems, access to resources, sense of success
• Info: email, website, phone, in-person
• Who: Info Desk, Financial Aid, advisors, counselors peers, student leaders
• How best to reach students-limited success with email.
• What unexpressed needs do we not know about? Any use for focus groups?
• Need to know which systems-level barriers are most frequent and/or most challenging
• You are so close and we’re here to help you get over the last hurdles. You can do it & it’s worth it.
• We’re here for you just as much at the end of your college experience as we were at the beginning.
• There’s a resource for that.
• Having a degree will make a tangible difference in your life.
• Be visible on campus – staff at events & in classrooms, signage, and online presence
• Referrals from staff & faculty
• ID programs, classes, and student meetings/events to target
• Use social media• Create systems to
anticipate & thus mitigate barriers for students
Individual or Small Group Exercise• Complete the Communications and Outreach Planning for
Student Completion Tool individually or with a member of your campus or organization team
• Large group debrief• What opportunities does this spark for future work?• What questions does this exercise raise?
Closing Thoughts• Completion is a system-
level endeavor• Student services• Institutional research• Financial aid• Technology
• Key Project Finish Line supports• Executive sponsorship• Communication and
celebration of early easy wins
• Collaboration across teams on five campuses
A shared commitment to exploring and addressing issues of equity helped us support students’ individual needs.
Resources• Road Map Project Community and Technical College Report
http://www.roadmapproject.org/data-center/reports/• Project Finish Line Website
https://coalition.psesd.org/project-finish-line/• AACC Completion College Fact Sheet
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/About/completionchallenge/Documents/Completion-Fact_Sheet.pdf
Resources• Puget Sound ESD Race Equity Materials and Toolkit:
https://www.psesd.org/services/equity-in-education/• Bailey, Thomas R., Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Davis
Jenkins. Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015.
• Please contact Ury Salinas to be added to the Puget Sound College and Career Network Newsletter mailing list: [email protected]