LAUNCHING A CAMPUS-WIDE STUDENT SUCCESS EFFORT: Process and P rograms Bette L. Bottoms , Lon S. Kaufman , Tom Moss ,

1. LAUNCHING A CAMPUS-WIDE STUDENT SUCCESS EFFORT:Process and Programs Bette L. Bottoms, Lon S. Kaufman, Tom Moss, Stacie Williams, & Linda Deanna Reinvention Center's UVP Network Meeting, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. October 30, 2013

2. Student Success Planning at UIC:Heeding a National, Moral Agenda “By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. That is a goal we can meet.” President Obama, February 24, 2009

3. UIC First-year Undergraduates(N = 3123, from among 16,671 total) • 53% are Pell eligible • 96% are from Illinois • ~ 50% live on campus • < 50% have a parent with a college degree • ~ 60% work during the school year • Among the most ethnically diverse of all universities . . .

5. 57% But not for all students… 6-Year Graduation Rate

7. UIC Student Success Plan • Comprehensive effort to identify factors that lead to undergraduate success and failure, aimed at increasing student retention and graduation • Led by VCAA/Provost & VCSA, Undergrad Policy Council of Deans & VPs • Recommendations/plan being created by 8 task forces involving 200+ faculty, students, and staff: 5. Advising 6. Financing College 7. Campus Life 8. Pre-Matriculation 1. Data Analysis and Assessment 2. Targeted First-Year Curriculum 3. Support for Student learning 4. Faculty Engagement

8. Sample Initiatives Already Resulting from the UIC Student Success Plan:

9. Sample Initiatives Already Resulting from the UIC Student Success Plan: • Undergraduate Success Center: • New centralized advising center, 4 advisors, housed among freshman composition classrooms • Provides academic advising + referrals • Aimed at students who “fall through the cracks” • First-Year Dialogues: (elective/mandatory in AD&A) • 7-week 1-credit course based on Intergroup Dialogues • Enhances students’ appreciation for and ability to benefit from diversity, communicate, understand social justice, etc.

10. Sample Initiatives Already Resulting from the UIC Student Success Plan: • Summer College: • 12+ “bridge” programs to ease transition to college • Tuition-free, 5 weeks, ~ 18% of incoming class • Core: Writing & Math seminars for those w/remedial placements • Results: 81% earn higher placements in credit-bearing courses; higher GPA & graduation rates • “It just gets better” Intervention Research: (w/Greg Walton & Mary Murphy). The power of socioemotionally supportive peer messaging to change attitudes and increase resilience.

11. Sample Initiatives Already Resulting from the UIC Student Success Plan: • EAB Data-Driven Advising Tool: helps advisors understand students’ “fit” for various majors • Key Policies:e.g., class scheduling, faculty syllabi, student evaluations, etc. • Faculty Teaching Training:We must overhaul teaching support on our campus, increase faculty responsibility for student success. • Other: Early alerts, mentoring programs, undergraduate research assistantships paid by federal work/study funds.

13. UIC Student Success Plan • Comprehensive effort to identify factors that lead to undergraduate success and failure, with the goal of increasing student retention and graduation • A plan for change being created by 8 task forces involving 200+ faculty, students, and staff: 1. Data Analysis and Assessment 2. Targeted First-Year Curriculum 3. Support for Student learning 4. Faculty Engagement 5. Advising 6. Financing College 7. Campus Life 8. Pre-Matriculation

14. Building Multivariate Model Predicting Student Success Pre-Matriculation • Student/Family Background: Parent Income & Education, Student Ethnicity, Gender, & Age • High School Success: ACT, HS GPA, AP Credits, etc. • High School Quality: Percent Low Income students, Dropout Rate, Attendance Rate, etc. Student Non-Cognitive Factors • Academic Aspirations, Self-efficacy, Social Support, etc. Institutional • Financial: Pell Eligibility, Unmet Need • Housing

15. Some preliminary findings at UIC… No one factor predicts a lot, but every factor counts… • ACT is not a good predictor of success, especially above 22; unweighted High School GPA is better. • Full financial aid: levels the playing field. • Unmet need, particularly above $5,000, threatens retention after freshman year.

16. Chicago Collaborative for Undergraduate Success • University of Illinois at Chicago • Associated Colleges of Illinois • City Colleges of Chicago • DePaul University • Illinois Institute of Technology • Loyola University • Northwestern University • University of Chicago • U Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research

17. Chicago Collaborative for Undergraduate Success To increase undergraduate success (especially low-income students) in Chicago by: • Collecting and sharing relevant data • Investigating common questions • Trade successful interventions • Share our findings with key stakeholders, e.g., Chicago Public Schools

18. The Larger Context…and Our Role in It: Chicago THRIVE • THRIVE = a Cradle-to-Career Civic Infrastructure Model, engages an entire community in student success. • Nationally, other such initiatives include Success Boston, Strive. • UIC/Chicago Collaborative for Undergraduate Success will lead the College Success part of Thrive.

19. Thrive Chicago

20. Good luck with your initiatives! For more information… Web: studentsuccess.uic.eduE-mail: bbottoms@uic.edu

23. USU/APLS Student performance strand.

24. NEXT SLIDES ARE ONLY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS IF NEEDED

25. Lessons Learned, Advice … • The task is huge, so leadership must be strong, clear, and transparent. • It takes resources (staff & budget), so there must be reallocation of money and staff work focus, engagement of all on campus, development of gifts. • Guard against ingroup/outgroupbias and conflict institutionalized by university structures (faculty vs. administration, student vs. academic affairs, etc.), and build trust through transparent planning, wide collaboration, careful deputizing of respected leaders with the right personality

26. Lessons Learned, Advice … • Empathize with everyone’s fear of change, give strong statements of support when realistic, but make no false promises, give voice and control to as many as possible. • Understand diffusion of responsibility and work hard to engage everyone individually. (At UIC, “every 30 students = 1%”) • Ensure your processes are transparent and bring a broad range of people to the table.

27. Lessons Learned, Advice … • Work to dispel myths about your students. For instance, “Our students should be treated like the adults they are.” In fact, developmentally, they are not adults; the human brain is not fully developed until mid-20s.

28. Lessons Learned, Advice … • Investigate ways to reward faculty engagement, teaching and student mentoring, via P & T processes, etc. • Get to know your peers. Read, talk with leaders at other universities. Study best practices. Don’t reinvent the wheel, but one size does not fit all – realize your institution’s uniqueness. • Stay the course and steel yourself to criticism. Be patient. Climate change takes time. Don’t take things personally. Surround yourself with socioemotionally smart staff, find the one person to vent with, and get a therapist!

29. Cohorts who entered 2004-2006

30. Chicago Collaborative for Undergraduate Success

31. Plan of Analysis • Goal: To identify factors that are uniquely and meaningfully associated with student success. • Method: Build a multivariate model (using regression, SEM, MLM, etc.) • Consider the influence of factors by themselves and in combination with other variables. • Test many factors; keep those that are predictive, drop those that aren’t.

32. Sources of Data Admissions records FAFSA and other financial aid information University records Entering Student Survey Housing Illinois State Report Card

33. Data 9 Student Cohorts Fall 2004, n=2,738 Fall 2005, n=2,798 Fall 2006, n=2,854 Fall 2007, n=3,294 Fall 2008, n=2,991 Fall 2009, n=3,144 Fall 2010, n=3,203 Fall 2011, n=3,114 Fall 2012, n=3,123 Total Student N = 27,259 Total High School N = 1,073

34. Means and % for Full Sample

35. Student Success by Ethnicity

36. Student Success by Ethnicity

37. Pre-Matriculation Factors

38. High School-Level EffectsDoes it matter where the student went to high school? If so, what characteristics and qualities of the high school are predictors of success in college?

39. Students Nested within High Schools High School 1 High School 2 Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 1 Student 2 First Term GPA: Intraclass Correlation = 13%

40. High School-Level Variable Groups 1. High School Achievement • Average ACT, 4-Year Graduation Rate 2. High School Size, Location, and Teacher quality • High School in Chicago, School Enrollment, Average Class Size, Percent Teachers with Emergency Credentials, Percent Teachers Not Qualified 3. High School Student Characteristics • Ethnic Diversity, Percent Low Income, Percent English Language Learners, Percent with Individualized Education Plans 4. High School Student Behaviors • Attendance Rate, Dropout Rate, Mobility Rate, Chronic Truancy Rate

41. High School-level Effects on Success

42. Institutional Predictors of Student Success: Financial Aid • What are indicators of financial resources? • Does Pell eligibility influence student success? • Does unmet need influence student success?

43. Financial Indicators • Two groups of financial indicators: • Students’ family economics and need • Financial aid given to the student • No control condition: All needy students get aid.

44. Pell Grants and Student Success 44 Financial aid probably levels the playing field and, therefore, is critically important in student success. NOT: “Financial aid does not matter.”

45. Financial Aid Predictors of Success