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Overcoming the Remediation Challenge: Building a Culture of Student Success

Dr. Katrina Hermoso, Associate Director, Educational Opportunity ProgramMayra Soriano, Associate Director, Encounter to Excellence Program

Dr. Paz Maya Oliverez, Associate Vice President, Student SuccessCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills

Who is in the room?

Overview

Setting the Context Bridge Program Proactive & Developmental

Advising Best Practices for Supporting

Remedial Students Building a Culture of Student

Success Assessment Lessons Learned Discussion/Q & A

Located in Carson, CA Part of the CSU System of 23 campuses Flanked by and competing with some large and well-known

CSU campuses CSU Long Beach CSU Fullerton CSU Los Angeles

Serves a low-income, ethnically diverse, and educationally underprepared section of Los Angeles County

Context Matters

CSUDH has a service area that represents a portion of the county in the southern central region of the Los Angeles metro area known today as the “South Bay” Carson Compton Long Beach Lynwood Torrance Harbor City Other municipalities

Context Matters

The vast majority of students are of Latino/Latina

backgrounds

Students from historically under-represented groups

total more than 74%

58%16%

11%

11%

3%1%

Latino AfricanAmerican AsianWhite Two or more Other

Ethnic Backgrounds

Gender Breakdown

64%

36%

Female Male

The Cohorts

Student Remediation Needs2010-2014

Placement testing shows Bridge students to be consistently less prepared than their peers upon entry to our institution.

Reflection Questions:

#1: What portion of your student population requires remediation?

#2: What interventions does your campus have in place to address remediation?

Bridge Program

Target Group

• First-time Freshmen• Students in need of English and/or math remediation

Program

• Free 6-week remedial math/English courses in summer• College Knowledge Workshops every Friday• Advisors, peer mentors, supplemental instructors• Supports begin in the summer and continue through freshman year

and beyond

Funding

• Early Start (CA Lottery Funds)• Baseline Funds

2010-2011-Title V-Gilbert

2011-2012 -Title V-Gilbert

2012-2013-Title V-Gilbert II-CSUDH

2013-2014-Title V-CSUDH

2014-2015-Title V-CSUDH

Scaling Up

2015-2016-CSUDH

Advising Framework

Proactive (Intrusive) Advising-Glennen, Earl, Miller & Murray

• Programs utilizing this model build structures that incorporate intervention strategies that mandate advising contacts for students who might otherwise not seek advising.

• Model is action-oriented and aims to motivate students to seek advising when needed.

• Approach is shown to improve effectiveness of advising, enhance student academic skills, and increase retention.

Advising Framework

Developmental Advising-Creamer, Raushi, Winston, and Crookston

• Recognizes the importance of the interaction between the student and the campus environment, it focuses on the whole person, and it works with the student at their own life stage of development.

• Concerned with facilitating the student’s rational processes, environmental and interpersonal interactions, behavioral awareness, problem-solving, decision-making, and evaluation skills.

Best Practices

College Knowledge

Early Start (remediation)

Supplemental Instruction

Peer Mentoring

Transition from HS to

College

Academic Advising

Summer Bridge

Best Practices

1:100 Advisor to

Student Ratio

Assigned Advisor &

Peer Mentor

Pre-selected GE courses

Cohort Model

Best Practices

Holistic Advising Weekly

CommunicationTargeted

Interventions

Proactive/Intrusive Advising

• General Education course selection

• Major & career exploration

• Personal/social challenges

• Develop college success strategies• Goal setting• Time

management• Campus referrals

• Consistent communication

• Celebrating student success

• Important Reminders

• Foster program identity

• Promote campus events/programs

• Early Warning• Appeals Support• University policy• Course progress• Referrals• Leadership

development• Scholarly

opportunities

Best Practices

Early Warning System

Model Appropriate

Behaviors

Course Content

Supplemental Instruction

Best Practices

Role Model Student Advisor

Information & Resource Sharing

Tips for Academic SuccessBuilding

Community

Professional Development

Leadership Development

Communication skills

Broader Campus Network

Peer Mentoring

Best Practices

Student Club &

Organization Involvement

Campus Engagement

& Leadership

Development

CampusNetwork &

Student Success

Student Leadership Development & Campus Engagement

Best Practices

Third Year & Beyond

Second Year

Freshman year

Developmental Advising

Best Practices

Building a Sense of Community Freshman Community Meetings Weekly email newsletters Program identity Welcoming office space

Social activities (mixers, barbeque) Specialized workshops for program

participants Graduation celebrations

Reflection Question:

#3: What are some best practices that your campus has implemented that have

proven to be successful in supporting students in need of remediation?

Revisiting the Cohorts

Revisiting the Cohorts

Non-Bridge students who begin with two semesters of math and/or English remediation required have a much lower chance of progression toward a degree.

But students in the Bridge program who begin with two semesters of math and/or English remediation required have a much stronger chance of persistence. Over the last 3-4 years, they are generally 10-20

percentage points higher in retention. Bridge students are persisting at consistently higher

rates than the control group.

Culture of Student Success

The Game Changers

#DHFYE (Dominguez Hills

First-Year Experience)

Freshman Convocation

FYSFreshman-

Year Seminar

EAB-SSC(Education

Advisory Board- Student Success

Collaborative)

Culture of Student Success

The Game Changers #DHFYE

• Institutionalized due to the success of Bridge cohort

• Comprised of both remedial and non-remedial students

• Provides uniform support services to all freshmen

Convocation

• Occurs during fall & spring semester

• Goal is to have freshmen visualize and be more informed of graduation

• Fall semester is coordinated by Student Affairs; Spring semester is coordinated by Academic Affairs

Freshman Year Seminar

• Integrates UNV 101 course framework

• Encourages faculty to develop innovative & engaging ways to teach

• Fosters mentorship between faculty & students

EAB-SSC

• Implemented to establish transparency among all advising entities

• Used to send communications, schedule appointments, & record appointment notes

• Historical/baseline data allow advisors to examine student performance & predict potential outcomes

Reflection Questions:

#4: What is the current culture around supporting students in need of remediation on your campus?

#5: What on-campus partnerships are in place to support the success of students in

need of remediation?

Assessment

IRAP (Institutional

Research, Assessment, & Planning)

Campus Labs

Primary Data Sources

Assessment

Primary Data Sources

Used to gather performance indicators (e.g., retention, graduation)

Requested after fall & spring census

Used to gather qualitative data (e.g., program satisfaction, student needs)

Collected during Summer Bridge & academic year

Administered during workshops and/or via email

IRAP

Campus Labs

Reflection Question:

#6: What measures are used on your campus to assess your efforts to support

students in need of remediation?

Lessons Learned

Scaling-up can be challenging if the resources and infrastructure do not exist to support growth.

Adequate staffing and space to deliver programs and services continue to be a challenge.

Academic departments were not prepared to offer more course sections to accommodate larger number of retained students.

Some may be threatened by program’s success.

Lessons Learned

Partnership between Student Affairs & Academic Affairs has been critical to

institutionalizing program & helped to mediate competing agendas.

Discussionand

Q & A