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Student Transition, Advising, & Retention System

(STARS)

STARS should provide support for at least 90% of our first-year students while not placing a burden on those students who may not need assistance.  The goals of the program are to

Other goals will emerge as these ideas are discussed with the Retention and Advising

Committee and with the staff in Undergraduate Studies.  STARS is made up of several components, many of which are already in place; others will need to be augmented or expanded.  The primary target will be those students at greatest risk of dropping out. 

This program has as a theoretical foundation the notion that “student success programs must be concerned with the totality of factors that affect a student’s progression through the first year” (http://www.occe.ou.edu/csrde/1999.htm CSRDE “The Freshman Year Initiative at Fayetteville State University: A Comprehensive Approach to Student Success, p. 3).

A second foundation is that student success depends on successful integration (both academic and social) into the institution.  For this to happen, the student must feel that his or her goals and “the mission and resources of the institution” are congruent. 

The third principle for this program is what is known as “front-loading of resources.”  This means that we will intervene extensively and intrusively during the first year of the student’s career and then be less intrusive as the student becomes more familiar and experienced with the university.

Below are some of the major components:

At-Risk Student Intervention: mandatory intervention comparable to what we now do with EOP Summer Bridge Students.  (See page three for more details.)

At-risk profile that considers the following factors:

Mandatory orientation for all first year students

Developmental Advising

            Multiple sessions designed to ensure that the at-risk student knows how to select classes and read the catalog to select classes in the major

Early Alert System

This system would be an E-mail early warning system that would allow faculty to identify students at risk of failure early enough for intervention to make a positive difference.  To develop this system, we will first have to get a sense from faculty of what factors they think put students at risk.  At minimum, I would think the following would be important:

Attendance

Failure to turn in assigned work

Poor performance on tests

The Early Alert System would ask all faculty teaching freshmen to “identify students who are experiencing any form of academic difficulty.”  The e-mails would go out to faculty in the third week of the quarter if practical.  In any event, I’d want to do it before the mid-term because it is often too late at that point.

Existing programs that would make up part of the STARS constellation would include:

  1. Advising & Academic Services (Probations & Contracts)
  2. EOP
  3. First-Year Seminar
  4. FSMP
  5. Honors Program
  6. SAIL
  7. Summer Bridge
  8. TAP
  9. The Learning Center

Develop a special Math Laboratory within the Learning Center specifically for pre-baccalaureate & G. E. math assistance

  1. The Writing Center

Under this plan, FSMP would be expanded to allow us to assign a student mentor to each section of the First Year Seminar.  The faculty member who teaches the First Year Seminar might also be the assigned advisor for each student in his or her section of the Seminar. 


At-Risk Student Intervention

Target Audience

*          Students with Basic Skills deficiencies – ELM scores < 540 and/or EPT < 151

*          Undeclared students

*          Students meeting the profile developed by the At-Risk Profile

Activity or Program

All students in target audience will be required to enroll in USTD 100a.  This requirement must be implemented before the May Freshman Advising Day event.  Therefore, admissions profiles, EPT/ELM scores, major status must be completed by late April of each year.

Encouraging enrollment in summer remedial courses BEFORE 1st Fall term

Placing all students scoring in the Math 75a & Math 80 range on a Basic

Skills contract for closer monitoring and continuous encouragement.

A first-year academic STARS plan for each remedial and undeclared student.  All three quarters, plus summer, will be outlined, reviewed and signed by an Advising & Academic Services advisor.  A schedule audit will be made before the end of the first week of the quarter to ensure student is enrolled in proper courses and not enrolled in any upper division courses if the student is a Freshman.

A notice will be sent to these students once they have been admitted.  A registration hold will be placed and the plan must be signed by the beginning of the Winter quarter registration period.

Undergraduate Studies student mentors (FSMP) will be assigned to the target students.

Early Warning System

Half-sheet forms will be sent to the student’s instructors (until an e-mail system can be developed) with the following three inquiries:

1)      Has student missed a significant number of classes?

2)      Has the student missed assignments?

3)      Has the student received a grade of “C-“ or lower on any mid-terms or quizzes?

If yes has been answered to any of the three inquiries, the instructor should return the form to Advising & Academic Services, which will then contact the student for an immediate appointment.

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