Messages about Student Success
Laker to Laker - January 16, 2024 - Academic Student Support
Dear Colleagues,
This week GVSU commemorates the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Your presence and engagement in these events is important and much valued and appreciated. I hope to see many of you there.
In continuing with the theme of student success and the supports we are building and strengthening together, I have this week invited Keigh-Cee Bell, Director of Tutoring; Patrick Johnson, Director of the Writing Center; and Jennifer Torreano, Director of the Knowledge Market to describe the academic support initiatives they have been leading and coordinating with many of you.
Have a great week everyone and stay warm,
Fatma
Grand Valley is at an exciting juncture; we are experiencing an increase in enrollment at a time when most universities are seeing a decrease, and we are celebrating our most diverse class of first-year students in history. With growth also comes challenges, and we are working across campus to address those challenges.
The November 27, 2023, issue of Lakers Ready discussed recent and upcoming approaches to supporting students. Early in the fall 2023 semester, the directors of the Tutoring and Reading Center, the Knowledge Market, and the Writing Center advocated for and received equitable, more competitive pay to attract more student employees. This investment is critical considering the increased usage of these services, and the higher wage validates the important work of peer tutors and consultants and enables the centers to hire and train more of them to meet the demand.
The tutoring centers, including the Tutoring and Reading Center and eight of the drop-in centers across both campuses, received a 14% budget increase to match the larger first-year student enrollment. Tutoring has a positive impact on retention; students who utilized tutoring in 2022-23 were retained at a 13% higher rate than students who did not. The Library Research Center (LRC) also received a $26,000 funding increase. First-year students who visited the LRC last year were retained at a 10.7% higher rate than those who did not, and similar data reflects the impact of other Knowledge Market programs.
Expanding embedded support options in the classroom helps meet students where they are and gives faculty valuable resources to aid in student success. Currently, in all first-year writing courses, the Writing Center provides support to students in the form of embedded consultants, workshops, presentations, required consultations, and more. Building off the success of the Writing Center’s embedded model, expanded funding for the LRC will allow for increased in-class support for courses with high first-year student enrollment as well as additional service hours in the library.
The Tutoring and Reading Center provides Supplemental Instruction in the form of Structured Learning Assistance (SLA), and funding has been provided for 2024-2025 to pilot expanding SLA to include over 60 sections of high-DFW general education and prerequisite courses each semester. This pilot expansion will allow first-year students from all majors to receive more embedded peer support. Last year, students in SLA courses were retained at a rate of 85%, and 96% of SLA students felt that the service positively impacted their final course grade.
In total, the Office of the Provost is investing more than $1.1 million to fund student support services over the next two years. Student support programs focus on expanding options and preparing peer tutors and consultants, but faculty and staff are essential in connecting students to these programs. Highly motivated students have a habit of utilizing support, but many students who need assistance may not take advantage of it without encouragement. Connecting students with academic support early helps improve their chances of success and retention. There will be many challenges and opportunities in the coming years, but with expanded funding, ongoing data collection, and a collaborative mindset, Grand Valley can chart this course together.
Keigh-Cee Bell, Director of Tutoring
Patrick Johnson, Director of the Writing Center
Jennifer Torreano, Director of the Knowledge Market
Laker to Laker - November 27, 2023 - D/F/W Rates and Academic Efforts to Understand and Address
Dear Colleagues,
In the October 2, 2023, newsletter, Vice Presidents Truss, Hall-Jones and I gave an overview of the many institutional initiatives around student success. The success of every student is and will continue to be one of our highest priorities. This week, Dr. Jennifer Drake, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dr. Catherine Buyarski, Vice Provost for Advising and Student Success, and Philip Batty, Associate Vice President for Institutional Analysis, discuss ongoing and planned efforts around the D/F/W rates.
Fatma
At GVSU, we're breathing new urgency into discussions about D/F/W outcomes for a few specific reasons. First of all, each D, F, or W grade represents a poor use of both a student's and a faculty member's resources (time, effort, tuition money). Second, evidence has shown that D/F/W grades are highly predictive of longer-term challenges, especially for students in their first year of college. For example, for each D/F/W result a student earns in the first year, the associated six-year graduation rate decreases by 13 percentage points. The third reason for urgency is equity. The financial and psychological impacts of a D/F/W grade are much higher for students from low-income families and underserved backgrounds. As we strive to offer educational opportunities to a broader student population, these efforts are counterproductive if the new students cannot be successful. (view data)
We have expanded the number of course-based academic support services that are integrated into classes with high D/F/W rates in three ways. First, the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Writing have recently instituted stretch classes which allow students to take introductory math and writing courses over two semesters rather than one. In Fall 2023, 51 sections of WRT 120 were offered, providing 918 seats and enrolling 899 students. Also in Fall 2023, 19 sections of MTH 108 were offered, providing 456 seats and enrolling 454 students. Assessment of these pilot courses is ongoing. Second, the Department of Chemistry has run a successful “parachute” program for several years that allows students in CHM 115 to move into CHM 100 with no tuition or late fee penalties so they can build the skills to succeed in later chemistry courses. This semester, the Department of Biology is piloting this option for BIO 120 and the Department of Physics is piloting this option for PHY 220. Twenty-seven students are taking advantage of these three parachute courses this fall. We are researching ways to encourage more of the students who can benefit from this option to actually take it. Third, GVSU offers Structured Learning Assistance (SLA), Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), and embedded tutoring programs that integrate academic support into the classroom and/or into class expectations. About 30 SLA/PASS sections are offered per year, serving select 100 and 200 level courses in Biology, Biomedical Science, Engineering, Chemistry, Mathematics, Psychology, and Statistics. In addition, this year nine course sections are piloting embedded tutoring, including multiple sections of the stretch courses MTH 108 and 109.
These course-based initiatives are in addition to the academic support offered by the Tutoring and Reading Center, the Knowledge Market, the Speech Lab, and the Writing Center. Usage of these services is up: this fall the newly renovated and expanded Tutoring and Reading Center is seeing a 40% increase in overall usage and a 12% increase in unique student count, and Knowledge Market consultations are up 35%. The Writing Center embeds consultants into every section of WRT 120, 130, and 150 to ensure student access to the support the Center provides. The Provost’s Office has agreed to increase the student wage budget for all these areas in order to offer a more competitive wage to tutors and increase the number of tutors available.
We are also refining the processes and supports in place throughout the semester that assist students who are having academic difficulty. In week four of the term, all new students were invited to complete “MySuccessCheck” through which they could identify areas in which they are struggling; staff in housing and the Student Academic Success Center follow up with students who indicated they needed support on the survey. At mid-terms, first-year students who earned at least one D or F were contacted by their academic advisor, and if the student is participating in an affinity group such as Oliver Wilson Scholars or one of our Laker Connections programs, the staff in those offices also reached out. Throughout the semester, staff are contacting students for whom faculty have filed an academic alert in Navigate or CARE report. Approximately 800 CARE reports (personal, health concerns) have been filed this fall, which is about 14% less than last year at this time. Over 1300 Navigate academic alerts have been filed by faculty this fall, which is over 500 more than this time last year. Staff follow up on all reports that are filed; however, in some cases the student never responds to outreach. Academic alerts in Navigate are “closed” after connecting with the student or three failed attempts at outreach.
These efforts are just the beginning. Plans are underway to double the number of learning communities for fall 2024 – learning communities at GVSU have been shown to positively impact course grades, retention, and graduation for all students, especially students of color and those who are the first in their family to attend college. The Office of the Provost is funding an initiative proposed by CLAS professors Deborah Herrington (Chemistry) and Janet Vigna (Biology) to engage faculty cohorts in systematic course redesign to support student success in high-enrolled, multi-section, high D/F/W courses. Faculty cohorts will participate in the Gardner Institute’s Gateways to Completion experience and partner with the Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center to develop long-term sustainable support for course redesign and professional development. Departments with courses that may benefit from this initiative are being invited to develop a faculty team for the first cohort and will begin working with the Gardner Institute during the Winter 2024 semester. A campus-wide committee is developing a plan for redesigning academic advising with the goal of strategically leveraging advising as a key component of our retention efforts; the redesign will lower advisor to student ratios, with advisors using data to conduct more proactive and intentional outreach to students.
GVSU faculty and staff have always been committed to student success, and the efforts described here build on that proud tradition.
Jennifer Drake, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Cathy Buyarski, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Advising and Student Success
Philip Batty, Director, Institutional Analysis
Laker to Laker, October 2, 2023 - Overall Approach to Retention and Student Success
Dear Colleagues,
The topic of this week’s newsletter is on retention, and the initiatives under way to support the success of every Laker we admit. We know that you are working very hard to support our students and your efforts are truly appreciated. This is an institutional wide effort, so this note is co-authored with Vice Presidents Jenny Hall-Jones, B. Donta Truss, and Milos Topic reflecting our strongest commitment and collaboration.
Fatma
GVSU's retention rate decreased by approximately 2%, however, the persistence rate for GVSU increased by approximately 1% over last year. Multiple populations of students saw retention rates increase to include American Indian, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, non resident international, and students who identify as two or more rases.The hurdles and challenges students can face are multiple and multi-faceted, so this layered approach guides our efforts. The figure below categorizes the efforts and initiatives by their primary target or primary agents: student, faculty and staff, curricula, and institution. In each we list a sample of the efforts. In this edition, we discuss one or two from each category with the goal that future messages will include additional information. We invite you to learn more and thank you, too, for the ways many are already engaged in this work.
Student Care and Empowerment
We have the largest number of initiatives in this category. In addition to the university-wide efforts listed, several more are implemented within specific units and for specific student groups or that are piloted at a small scale until we establish their effectiveness.
Student Orientation & Onboarding
The onboarding of students and their families as Lakers is an important step in their journey. We have collectively been working at reviewing, assessing, and revising student orientation. Several changes were made last year; a multi-divisional committee has been formed to review the feedback from students, parents, staff, and faculty assessing everyone’s experience and outcome from this year’s orientation. This feedback and review are used to co-design the orientation and onboarding this coming year. This effort is a collaboration between Enrollment Management (EM), Student Affairs (SA), Academic Affairs (AA), and Information Technology (IT).
Financial Aid/Support: Grand Valley Pledge and Michigan Achievement Scholarship
Financial Aid plays a major role in the student success and retention of students as affordability has been mentioned as one of the biggest barriers to college completion. The Grand Valley Pledge awards full undergraduate tuition (renewable for four years) to qualified students who have a family income of less than $50,000. Additionally, the Michigan Achievement Scholarship initiated this year, provides renewable scholarships for undergraduate students who graduate from high school in Michigan with a diploma, certificate of completion, or achieved a high school equivalency certificate in 2023 or after.
Basic Needs
Students cannot learn and succeed if they have basic needs that are unmet. Basic needs include food, housing, transportation, physical and mental well-being, technology, and financial among others and GVSU already has Replenish, our Basic Needs Center. We recognize that basic needs are an ecosystem of necessities and include things beyond the range of these areas. We have formed a task force charged with exploring best practices in supporting our students’ basic needs holistically. The task force is co-led by Jessica Jennrich, Director of the Center for Women and Gender Equity, and Emily First, Assistant Dean of Students. They have identified priority areas and associated recommendations and are currently working with the respective divisions to develop an implementation plan.
Faculty and Staff Supports
Student Success Series
The Student Success Series is driven by the idea that the success of our students is a shared responsibility and shared commitment. The series is co-organized by Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, and the Pew Faculty Learning & Teaching Center in Academic Affairs. It seeks to educate GVSU faculty and staff about developments in the science of learning and motivation, share evidence-based practices from around the nation, and reflect on our progress in making every Laker find their purpose and mission and have the most positive experience.
Pew FTLC Strong Start
The Pew FTLC Strong Start Institute stems from the recognition that students are at the highest risk of dropping during their first two years and need the highest level of customized attention during the same period. The assets, expectations, and needs of incoming students have been changing; as a result, the strategies that are effective in supporting them, engaging them, and preparing them for successful studies are also changing. The Strong Start Institute is a two-day offering to inform, share resources and best practices, and form community for faculty. This was one of the recommendations that emerged from the Rapid Response Team last year.
Curricular Pathways
Ideally, every class our students take is challenging and doable. Sometimes, students find themselves in classes for which they are not yet prepared or may benefit from additional time and support. Development of various courses to support students’ learning include stretch and parachute course options.
Stretch Courses
Time of exposure and repeated practice are essential for learning skills such as mathematics, writing, and languages. To support students’ varied learning needs, faculty have “stretched” some of the courses, maintaining the same content but expending the time of learning. Instead of learning foundational content in one semester, stretch courses allow students to span the exposure and practice over two semesters (e.g., students take the sequence MTH 108 and MTH 109 over two semesters or take MTH 110 in one semester, depending on their need). These stretch courses allow students more time to engage with content as well as practice and apply skills, while receiving additional faculty instruction and support.
Parachute Courses
Faculty have also been developing parachute courses. These courses start later in the semester and are linked to specific courses required for particular majors. Under close advice from faculty and advisors, students who start in the original course but realize they are not fully prepared for it or realize they have not sufficiently engaged with the material and have fallen behind, are advised to transition to the parachute course without loss of credit and without additional financial cost. For example, students can “parachute” from CHM 115 to CHM 100. Parachute courses provide additional time that may be needed to acquire the needed skills level, or they give the students a second start and the opportunity to catch up.
Institutional Processes & Policies
Growth Mindset Communication
Research shows that a student’s perception of an institutions’ growth mindset impacts their retention and success. The perception is shaped in large part by every communication they engage in with the institution. Last spring, we brought together a multi-divisional group to inventory the pace and content of routine communication and review them for their tone, relative to growth mindset. Co-led by Danny Velez (EM) and Christine Rener (AA), this group spent the summer reading the research literature and agreeing on a common framework. Christine is now leading a subgroup with faculty focusing on academic communications, and Danny is leading a subgroup focusing on other communication to students.
Scheduling Systems & Processes
The course schedule is also an important component of student success. Last spring, we organized a university-wide two-day workshop to examine how our schedules are constructed and how the process can be improved. Bonnie Bowen led this effort with participation from all Colleges, the Registrar’s Office, Institutional Analysis, and IT. The workshop generated a set of recommendations focused on using more data analytics to adapt the offerings to what the students will need to progress, and on reducing the number of software systems, the number of steps, and the number of trial and errors in our current process.
Again, the above is a general overview of some initiatives being undertaken towards retention. We are aware that the work that each of you do is directly contributing to the retention and success of our students and that there are many other small- and large-scale efforts in every functional area of the university. This is our work together and we are all appreciative of the highly visible and the less visible contributions that you all make every single day in changing lives.
Thank you for all you do and have a great week everyone,
Jenny Hall-Jones, Vice President for Student Affairs
B. Donta Truss, Vice President for Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach
Milos Topic, Vice President for Information Technology
Fatma Mili, Provost and Execuitve Vice President for the Division of Academic Affairs