Title III Part A Strengthening Institutions Program:  FY 2015 Project Abstracts

# Title III Part A

# Strengthening Institutions Program

# FY 2015 Project Abstracts

## Table of Contents

4University of Alaska Anchorage

5Marion Military Institute

6Pulaski Technical College

7West Valley College

8University of Bridgeport

9Governors State University

10Joliet Junior College

11Wichita Area Technical College

12Campbellsville University

13Jefferson Community & Technical College

14Brescia University

15Berkshire Community College

16Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology

17Cape Cod Community College

18Springfield Technical Community College

19St. Clair County Community College

20Glen Oaks Community College

21University of Great Falls

22North Carolina Wesleyan College

23Rockingham Community College

24Metropolitan Community College

25Doane College

26Villa Maria College

27Mohawk Valley Community College

28Terra State Community College

29University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

30East Central University

31Seminole State College

32Eastern Oklahoma State College

33Southwestern Oregon Community College

34Midlands Technical College

35Chattanooga State Community College

36North Central Texas College

37Vernon College

38Austin Community College

39College of St.  Joseph

40Skagit Valley College

41Bellingham Technical College

42Spokane Community College

43Viterbo University

## University of Alaska Anchorage

***Anchorage, AK***

Stabilizing College Funding through Development of a Centralized, Robust Online Learning Environment

University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a community-based, open-enrollment four-year university, one of three in the state of Alaska.  With its main campus in Anchorage and four community campuses, UAA is the only public, state institution of higher education in its defined service area of 60,682 square miles.  The 21,719 undergraduate student population at UAA is very diverse (24 percent minority), and has over half (54 percent) with demonstrated financial need.

Over the past several years, UAA’s enrollment and student credit hour production have both dramatically declined.  This is compounded by the fact that in seven of the past ten years (2004- 2014), UAA has also experienced significant cuts to its state appropriation due to the state’s dependence on oil revenues.

Based on a thorough analysis of institutional strengths, weaknesses and problems, UAA is proposing a single, comprehensive activity, **Stabilizing College Funding through Development of a Centralized, Robust Online Learning Environment****to achieve eight objectives by September 30, 2020:

1) Increase number of online Master Courses to 26 (Baseline zero:  2015).

2) Increase enrollment in online Master Courses to 1500 (Baseline zero:  2015).

3) 80 percent of students enrolled in online Master Courses will complete with a C or better (Baseline zero: 2015).

4) Increase number of faculty who are certified to teach online Master Courses to 50 (Baseline zero: 2015)

5) Increase retention of minority students in online learning to 62 percent (Baseline 53 percent: 2015).

6) Increase the percentage of graduates who have taken online Master Courses to 15 percent (Baseline zero: 2015).

7) Increase graduation rate to 33 percent (Baseline 28 percent:  2015).

8) Increase online student credit hours (SCH) to 84,471 and related revenue to $14,779,449  (Baseline = 79,971SCH/$13,914,954 revenue:  2015)

**Long-term:**Three interconnected strategies, based on the college’s experience in online learning, best practices and relevant literature, were specifically selected to address UAA’s major problems of: declining enrollment, retention, and graduation, student credit hours and tuition (revenue).  The project proposal is based on building an infrastructure to develop and offer online learning, which reflects the college’s strategic priorities, addresses its chronic problems, and strengthens UAA’s financial stability in the long term.

**Competitive Preference Priorities**: This project addresses Competitive Preference Priority “Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.” Selected study: 

Stephens, N.M., Hamedani, M.G., & Destin, M. (2014).  *Closing the social-class achievement gap: a difference-education intervention improves first-generation students’ academic performance and all students’ college transition.*

**Funding Request:**$2,247,009

## Marion Military Institute

***Marion, IL***

Strengthening (MMI’S) Academic Quality by Improving Student Support Services

Marion Military Institute (MMI) is a two-year public institution that serves an increasing number of under-prepared, low-income, and first-generation students.  Forty-one percent are Pell Grant-eligible; 99 percent of MMI’s students are enrolled full-time.  With 47 percent of total enrollment, the largest of these programs is the Leadership Education Program (LEP), the majority (80 percent) of whose students are underprepared.  Although this Title III proposal benefits all students at MMI, its specific focus is improving the opportunities for success of these LEP students.

***Goals*:**Based on the comprehensive analysis of institutional strengths, weaknesses and significant problems, MMI’s Title III proposal has two comprehensive goals:  **1)**we will **improve persistence, graduation, and overall success rates for students enrolled in the LEP program**by developing an integrated academic support/career services center to deliver a spectrum of tutoring and career services; and **2)**we will **increase student satisfaction**in the areas of academics, academic support, and general cadet welfare.

This first goal has several expected **outcomes**:  a) by 2020, we will increase retention of LEP students by a minimum of 11 percent to 64 percent (fall 2013 baseline = 53 percent); b) we will increase graduation of LEP students by 15 percent to 47 percent (fall 2013 baseline = 32 percent); c) we will increase successful course completion of LEP students enrolled in developmental courses by 6 percent (fall 2014 baseline = 64 percent); d) 100 percent of faculty will integrate the student retention and academic alert software into their advising and classroom communications; e) we will ensure that 100 percent of MMI faculty have the opportunity to attend quarterly and annual professional development activities.  The second comprehensive goal also has multiple outcomes:  a) By 2020, a minimum of 90 percent of surveyed students utilizing academic and career support services will express satisfaction in those services (2014 baseline data = 69 percent); b) A minimum of 85 percent of surveyed students will express satisfaction with their advisor and the assistance received (2014 baseline = 65 percent).

This Title III proposal’s implementation plan connects these two goals through the incorporation of three initiatives; a) a **Student Academic Success Center (SASC)**, a multiple-use resource facility offering tutoring, advising, and career guidance to the target population; b) an enriched **faculty development program**, enhanced by an emphasis on training instructors in the best practices of teaching, advising, and supporting the participants of the LEP program; and c) an **early alert software system (Starfish)**which will create a seamless support system linking students, instructors, advisors, and staff.

**Funds Requested:**$1,920,804 (Endowment Match Request - $125,000)

**Competitive Preference Priority:**Scrivener, S., Weiss, M. J., Ratledge, A., Rudd, T., Sommo, C., & Fresques, H. (2015).  *Doubling graduation rates: Three-year effects of CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for developmental education students*.  New York: MDRC.

Scrivener, S., & Weiss, M. J. (2013). More graduates:  Two-year results from an evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for developmental education students (MDRC Policy brief). New York: MDRC. 

## Pulaski Technical College

***North Little Rock, AR***

Support Our Students

Pulaski Technical College (PTC), North Little Rock, Arkansas, proposes a project titled **Support Our Students (SOS)**to improve support services leading to higher rates of retention and timely graduation for the thousands of disadvantaged students who enroll at PTC.  PTC is the largest of 22 comprehensive community colleges in Arkansas and enrolls the most Black students of any postsecondary institution in the state.  Area disadvantage is widespread, especially among Black residents, yet not all Whites are well off: for example, the median family income for White residents in the Little Rock metro area is only about 81 percent of that for Pulaski County Whites.  At the same time, Little Rock offers tremendous opportunity, particularly in aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and medical science.  PTC is committed to equipping our students for success in these high-opportunity, high-demand, and high-paying fields.

However, PTC is challenged to support at-risk students whose attempts to earn college degrees increasingly end in failure.  Fall-to-fall retention has dropped from 59.1 percent in 2009 to 50.8 percent in 2014, far below the national average of 54.9 percent (ACT 2014), and 34.2 percent for Black students, who comprise nearly half the student body.  Underprepared students return at lower rates than all students, 48.2 percent in 2014.  Reversing these trends requires support for which PTC has only the most limited funds, but reversing them will also open revenue streams to sustain improvements in the future.  Analysis reveals that ineffective support accounts for many students’ failures, and so SOS will develop new on-campus and online Academic and Financial Aid Advising, Progress Tracking, and Early Alert grounded in accurate and complete student data and information through a new student information system with faculty/staff development in system use and service delivery; objectives and outcomes call for substantial increases in retention and graduation.  The project thereby addresses the Title III Program Purpose, “to help eligible institutions become self-sufficient and expand their capacity to serve low-income students [by improving and strengthening] academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability,” objectives and GPRA indicators, and the 2015 Title III Competitive Preference Priority*.*PTC cites:

Bettinger, E.P., & Long, B., Oreopoulos, P., Sanbonmatsu, L. (2012). *The role of simplification and information in college decisions: Results from the H&R Block FAFSA experiment*(Working Paper No. 15361), and 

Castleman, B. L., & Page, L. C. (2014). *Freshman year financial aid nudges: An experiment to increase FAFSA renewal and college persistence*(EdPolicyWorks Working Paper Series No. 29). Charlottesville, VA: EdPolicyWorks, permission to cite granted by EDPolicyWorks and the authors May 11, 2015. 

Both meet *What Works Clearinghouse*standards without reservations, as evidence of the effectiveness of two proposed financial aid advising interventions.  The five-year budget request totals $2,248,694.

*Table 1:*

**185 percent of poverty; Census ACS 2013*

*Table 2:  **Fall 2014 PTC Student Profile***

PTC 2015

*Table 3:*

ADHE 2014

## West Valley College

***Saratoga, CA***

As a public California community college, West Valley College (WVC) is committed to serving a diverse population in Santa Clara County, a densely populated area in the heart of Silicon Valley.  WVC’s fall 2014 unduplicated headcount is 8,424 students.  While the Silicon Valley continues to attract those seeking high-paying careers, for many prospective students, the dream of a better life may never become a reality without access to distance education and critical services for those with extensive family and employment responsibilities.  While WVC students are primarily traditional age, a significant percentage (37 percent) are over 25 years of age—working adults and returning veterans.  Many WVC students are low-income, first generation students, totaling to a combined 54.2 percent of the population.  Since the majority of our students work to support themselves and their families, distance education is prime and has generated 15 percent of annual credit FTES and 17 percent of the college’s total enrollments.  Through this process, we identified gaps in student support services and distance education which inevitably has resulted in low student persistence, along with poor success rates and inadequacies in data collection.  To address these weaknesses, WVC will implement a three-pronged Activity.

**Component One**:  WVC will significantly improve online services by:  (a) enhancing the interactive capability of the student portal, providing web-based orientations, E-counseling, online educational plans, degree audits, and strengthening online transfer services; (b) improving the existing early intervention process for potentially at-risk students; and (c) redesigning and expanding the college’s First-Year Experience (FYE) learning communities to three cohorts, and providing technology-based services, available anytime, anywhere.  Mirroring the Kingsborough study, the hallmark of the FYE Program focuses on three linked courses and extended services.  

C**omponent Two:**WVC will increase student access and success by implementing a robust Learning Management System designed to improve learning outcomes in distance education (DE) courses by:  (a) creating WVC’s virtual DE Support and Resource Center; (b) supporting DE curriculum development, emphasizing student success; (c) developing an embedded online assessment of student readiness using the protocols from the cited Bowen study; (d) providing more access to services by implementing online academic support such as, counseling/advising and tutoring; and (e) and capitalizing on social media to attract, engage and retain students.  

**Component Three**: WVC will strengthen institutional research and infrastructure in support of data-informed, student-centered decision-making through:  (a) improved student tracking and reporting systems; (b) improved enrollment management capabilities within the college’s data warehouse; (c) web portal and content management systems integrated to provide infrastructure and keep information organized and relevant while broadening access.  Professional development for faculty and staff is intricately woven within the fabric of each component, giving emphasis on acquiring new technology skills and allowing faculty to train other faculty, implementing effective pedagogical and student service strategies, and sustaining these practices through consistent institutional support.  This project will substantially change the way WVC educates students, as measured through improved success, degree attainment, and transfer metrics.  The project will impact over 200 faculty and staff through staff development and other venues and no fewer than 7,500 students per year will be affected by this project; which calculates out to a project cost of only $56/student - $2,149,000****divided by 37,500 (7500 students x 5 years).  

Competitive Preference Priority: This proposal addresses the Competitive Preference Priority. 

Contact:  Victoria Hindes, telephone: 408-741-2020; e-mail: victoria.hindes@westvalley.edu

## University of Bridgeport

***Bridgeport, CT***

Enhancing Student Services for Retention and Academic Success

**Institutional Profile:**The University of Bridgeport (UB), founded in 1927, is a four-year, private, non-sectarian institution located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the state’s largest city.  UB is an urban, culturally-diverse institution.  Undergraduate enrollment has increased significantly over the past four years, from 2,503 full-time and part-time students in fall 2011 to 3,021 in fall 2014.  In fall 2014, the University employed 121 full-time faculty and 357 part-time (adjunct) faculty.  Of the full-time faculty, 81 percent possess a doctorate.  The University of Bridgeport is governed by a 34-member Board of Trustees and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Universities.

**Programs:**Academic programs are largely career-oriented, pre-professional, or preparatory for graduate and advanced study.  Thirty-two baccalaureate majors include accounting, biology, business, computer science, computer engineering, dental hygiene, design, electrical engineering, human services, medical laboratory sciences, psychology, and social sciences.  Post-baccalaureate programs include business, education, engineering, and health sciences.

**Student Body Characteristics:**The University’s fall 2014 enrollment was 5,191 students, of which 58 percent (3,021) were undergraduates: 37.6 percent Black/African American; 25.1 percent White; 16.6 percent Hispanic/Latino; 14.8 percent Non-resident alien; 2.9 percent Asian; 1.9 percent ethnicity unknown;0.8 percent American Indian students, and 0.3 percent Native Hawaiian.

**Problems:**UB’s major problems include:  (1) Large population of at-risk (first-generation and low-income) students; (2) Low retention and graduation rates; (3) Many of UB’s students face significant academic problems as they attempt to achieve their postsecondary educational goals; (4) Academic advising is inconsistent and does not effectively or efficiently meet the needs of faculty/students; and (5) Early alert indicators are significantly underutilized.

**Overall Goal:**Enhance student services for retention and academic success.

**Outcomes:**(1) Increased retention of at-risk students; (2) fewer at-risk students on academic probation at the end of their freshman year; (3) faculty trained in advising best practices; (4) 6- year graduation rates increased; (5) comprehensive and supplemental advising activities centralized and available to assist students; (6) enhanced writing support integral part of gateway and general education core courses; and (7) increased overall fiscal stability for the future.

**Strategies:**(1) Establish a Centralized Advising Center; and (2) Enhance Writing Support.

**Competitive Preference Priority:** Bettinger, E.P., & Baker, R. (2011). *The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring.*

**Funds Requested:**$1,833,758

## Governors State University

***University Park, IL***

Integrating Pathways:  Student Success and Retention through Junior Year Transition

This Title III proposal focuses on student success in transitioning to the junior year and attaining the baccalaureate degree.  The Center for the Junior Year (CJY) will provide the mechanism to ***remove***the barriers toward degree completion and to ***increase***opportunities to participate in activities, identified by research, that improve degree completion.

The GSU CJY is much more than a conventional transfer center.  It reaches back into students’ freshman and sophomore years and forward to their graduation.  The CJY centralizes mentoring, early alert notifications, advising, career and major information, and research for transitioning students, faculty and staff.  These transformative collaborations increase student retention and persistence toward graduation.

There are six goals guiding the activities in this proposal.  These goals are to:  1) improve student academic success and academic excellence at the freshman and sophomore levels through intensive and systematic academic support; 2) increase the retention of native and transfer students during the transition to the junior year and major field of study; 3) improve the university experience, connectedness, and engagement of transitioning native and transfer students; 4) improve the systematic assessment of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) across all undergraduate programs through the use of e-portfolios; 5) improve retention of underrepresented students through the Transformational Leadership Initiative, focusing on leadership potential and civic engagement; and 6) engage GSU faculty and staff in professional development focused on research and best practices to address students transitioning to the junior year.

At the conclusion of the project, our goal is to have strengthened GSU’s student services and academic support to: (a) improve the transition of native and transfer students into the junior year and the major; (b) increase the retention of all students, especially underrepresented students; and (c) improve rates of students’ successful attainment of the baccalaureate degree.

Competitive Preference Priority: This proposal addresses the Competitive Preference Priority - Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.”

Evidence Studies:  1) Bettinger, E. & Baker, R. (2011). The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring (Working Paper No. 16881). 

2) Scrivener, S. & Weiss, M. J. (December, 2013).  More graduates: Two-year results from an evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Program (ASAP) for developmental education students.  *MDRC: Building Knowledge to Improve Social Policy,*1-11.

**Project Director:**  Deborah E. Bordelon, PhD, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Governors State University, One University Parkway, University Park, IL 60484.  Telephone:  708-534-4980.  E-mail: dbordelon@govst.edu

## Joliet Junior College

***Joliet, IL***

Joliet Junior College (JJC) is America’s first public community college.  Located 50 miles southwest of Chicago in Will County, Illinois, JJC offers 197 degree and certificate programs in more than 50 areas of study.  JJC enrolls 15,000 students from the city’s diverse neighborhoods and surrounding rural communities.  Reflective of the District, Hispanic students represent the largest minority group at 23 percent of the student population; while the total minority student population stands at 36 percent; the average age of students is 24, and the male-female ratio is 46 percent- 54 percent.  There are 218 full-time faculty complemented by 525 adjuncts with a faculty ratio of 20:1.

The Title III project has an overarching goal of improving student engagement, achievement, persistence, and completion.  Throughout its 114 year history, JJC has provided opportunities for students who would not have otherwise been able to seek higher education.  Despite a focus on instructional excellence and support for a diverse population, JJC is at a crossroad with only one in two students continuing to the second year of study and even fewer graduating.  The Activity, ***Progressive Pathways to Student Success***, responds to an in depth analysis of all institutional processes that directly impact student success from the point of acceptance through to completion and is composed of two key components:  High-Touch, High-Tech Student Centered Engagement and High-Impact Learning Pathways through Pathways Learning Communities.

***High-Touch, High-Tech Student Centered Engagement***will transform institutional culture and processes to support student success by modernizing its technological systems and deploying high-tech solutions to customize its outreach to a new generation of students.  This will include improvements to the existing information system, a newly designed Pathways Portal that will include capacity for intensive assessment, on-line orientation and engagement with faculty advisors and Pathways Coaches who will assist students in developing a Pathways Portfolio outlining a pathway to completion.  ***High-Impact Learning Pathways through Pathway Learning Communities***adapts the successful Kingsborough Community College (a CUNY ASAP institution) approach to learning communities and integrated curricula through the development of structured Pathways aligned with the College’s major academic departments; designing Pathways- specific College and Career Exploration Courses that introduce student to the College and learning in their discipline; while restructuring gateway courses to align with the Pathways and contextualizing or accelerating developmental education content through paired learning communities and a Pathways Summer Bridge course.  The resulting Pathways Model will be supported by a Cyber-Pathways Learning Community that students may continue to access throughout their academic career.  With a budget of $2,139,132, ***Progressive Pathways to Student Success***will increase student achievement in gateway courses (20 percent), including the top enrolled developmental education courses, increase retention fall to spring (15 percent) and fall to fall (10 percent) and increase completion (5 percent) once the components are fully implemented over the five year grant cycle.  The project is supported by moderate evidence of effectiveness as defined in the Federal Register NIA for New Awards for the FY 2015 Strengthening Institutions Program.  The study is cited below.

Scrivener, S., Weiss, M. J., Ratledge, A., Rudd,T., Sommo, C., & Freques, H. (2015). Doubling graduation rates: Three-year effects of CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for developmental education students. New York:  MDRC.

## Wichita Area Technical College

***Wichita, KS***

Pathways to Success in Health Sciences

Wichita Area Technical College (WATC), an open-door, two-year comprehensive college in Wichita, Kansas, proposes a Title III project that will expand capacity through new programs and improve student success in health science programs in order to connect WATC students with growing area employment opportunities while increasing enrollment revenue.

Located within the largest city in Kansas, consolidations in area industries have eliminated so many jobs in the past decade the area is reeling.  WATC serves a high-need population (78 percent low income, 46 percent minority, 77 percent underprepared, and 73 percent first generation) from an expansive seven- county district (population 675,000).  Economic distress, throughout Wichita’s urban-core, impacts 65.1 percent of WATC students coming from *pockets of poverty*—zip codes with poverty ranging from 24.4 percent to 41.5 percent.  Unemployment in the area is 10 percent higher than the state average—leading many non-traditional and at-risk students (average student age 26, 75 percent working) to WATC in hopes of gaining training that will connect them with secure, well-paying careers.

Increasingly, employment opportunities are in health sciences.  The Kansas Hospital Association projects that the healthcare will gain 4,000 jobs statewide through 2020.  There has been a shortage nationwide in Emergency Medical Technician /Paramedics and locally there were 465 job openings in 2014.  Cardiac Sonography jobs have grown 20.7 percent regionally in the last year, and are anticipated to grow 20 percent more over the next 10 years.  Veterinary Technicians are needed to fill the growing health care for animals including comprehensive dental cleaning among other needed Vet Tech skills.  Vet Tech jobs promise salaries averaging $40,000 annually.

However, limited capacity, and inadequate support services hamper efforts to strengthen our health sciences programs and further develop our health sciences career pipeline.  Over a third of WATC students (35 percent) identify completion of health studies as an educational goal, and current waiting lists cause us to turn away twice as many as we are able to serve.

To address our weaknesses and tap into area opportunities while building essential enrollment- based revenues, we propose several strategies, practices, and programs:

Add new Health Science programs.  Develop the Emergency Medical Technician certificate as well as core curricula leading to three Associates of Applied Science (AAS) degrees: Paramedic, Cardiac Sonography, and Veterinarian Technology.

Strengthen Health Science support:  Develop new Health Studies advising and tutoring systems, Establish a new Health Science Success Center.

By the end of the grant period, WATC expects to see an increase in the number of Health Studies degrees and certificates awarded as well as an increase in overall enrollment and enrollment-based revenue.

Total Five Year Budget Request:  $2,248,645. WATC is responding to the FY 2015 Title III Competitive Preference Priority: 

Bettinger and Baker*, The Effects of Student Coaching in College: an Evaluation of a****Randomized Experiment in Student Mentoring,*2011; and Beck and Chizhik, *An Experimental Study of Cooperative Learning in CSI,*2008

## Campbellsville University

***Campbellsville, KY***

Connections: Increasing Achievement, Retention, and Persistence

Campbellsville University’s project: **Connections:  Increasing Achievement, Retention, and Persistence****has an overarching goal of improving student success in the formative first two years of the baccalaureate.  The project has two essential components **—**Unified Enrollment Systems and Contextualized Learning Communities **—**informed by the establishment of five Academies that promote engagement leading to completion.

The Unified Enrollment Systems reengineer enrollment processes, providing individualized coaching and aligning orientation, career assessment and exploration, advising, and e-graduation plans within five Academies to create a focused pathway to degree attainment.  The Contextualized Learning Communities strengthen student engagement and connections through redesigning and integrating the first-year experience and selected general education courses, forming learning communities that are contextualized within the Academies.  A robust professional development program coordinated through a new Teaching Learning Center and twenty first century technology upgrades support both components.

Project outcomes includes a 20 percent increase in fall-to-fall, first-year student retention; a 15 percent increase in general education achievement as measured by course completion (C or better); and a 10 percent increase in student persistence from the second to third year leading to a five percent increase in graduation and a two-point increase in student engagement.

The Activity responds to the Competitive Preference Priority: Supporting Programs, Practices, or Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness, Part III Other Attachments.  The citation of the study is referenced below.  

Bettinger, E.  P., & Baker, R.  (2011). The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring.  

Campbellsville University is a private, nonprofit, master’s degree granting institution with a primary service area of 16-counties in rural central KY.  Campbellsville offers a broad range of academic programs with 54 undergraduate majors, 17 master’s degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs.  These programs are structured through the College of Arts and Sciences and the schools of Education, Nursing, Business and Economics, Theology, Social Work, and Music.  The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) reaffirmed accreditation in 2014.

The fall 2014 undergraduate enrollment of 2,137 FTE students are mostly from KY (87 percent) and reflect state demographics with 77 percent white and 11 percent black populations, augmented by a strong representation of international students, which extends the cultural diversity.  The majority of students qualify for financial aid (91 percent) and over half (56 percent) are first-generation college students.  Students are primarily (67 percent) between the ages of 18 and 21 and 59 percent are women.  Faculty characteristics mirror the student population with 152 full-time and 158 part-time instructors, resulting in a student to faculty ratio of 13:1.

Managed by the Title III Coordinator along with an Activity Director, the five-year project budget of $2,244,778 supports faculty development, academic programs, and student services.

## Jefferson Community & Technical College

***Louisville, KY***

Jefferson Community & Technical College (JCTC) is a comprehensive, open admissions, public postsecondary institution headquartered in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.  Part of the Kentucky Community & Technical College system (KCTCS), JCTC has six campuses: two in Louisville and four in surrounding rural locations.  Jefferson serves an ethnically, economically, and academically diverse clientele, over half of whom (55.1 percent) are underprepared for college-level work and/or otherwise at-risk of academic failure.  More than one third (35.6 percent) of its 13,668 students are minority, with African Americans comprising the largest subgroup (24.6 percent).

During the past three years, JCTC's first-time/full-time fall-to-fall retention was just 49.9 percent, compared to the United States average of 54.9 percent (ACT Institutional Data File, 2014).  When considering all new students (full- and part-time), fall-to-fall retention drops to 43.3 percent, translating into thousands of students lost within their first year of enrollment.  Furthermore, a longitudinal trend analysis of first-time freshman for the past three class cohorts reveals an abysmal average three-year graduation rate of just 6.1 percent - less than one-third the national average of 26.5 percent (NCES, 2014).  Equally disheartening, university transfer rates are only 10.0 percent (2013), compared to a United States average of 25 percent.

A major factor underlying these depressing statistics is failure rates in key gateway courses, including all developmental and college-level math courses, plus five courses comprising the core of most JCTC degree programs: Writing I, General Psychology, Introduction to Biology, Human Anatomy & Physiology, and Introduction to Sociology.  Anywhere from a third to three-fourths of students in these classes earn a D or F or withdraw from the course before the end of the semester.  Teaching strategies at JCTC have changed slowly over several decades, and faculty are relying on very traditional models, like lecturing, as their primary teaching strategy.  On a positive note, however, a Spring 2015 JCTC Faculty Survey indicated that faculty are more than willing to incorporate new teaching/learning strategies, provided they are afforded proper training.  Another underlying problem is ineffective or even non-existent academic advising: only four full-time advisors are available to serve more than 13,000 students.  KCTCS has provided an online advising software package, *Starfish,*to all system colleges, but JCTC has not been able to institutionalize its use.  With no available trainer/support staff, only 14.9 percent of faculty currently use *Starfish*“often” and just 3.2 percent report sufficient training in its use.

JCTC proposes a Title III project that will result in:  1) more effective gateway courses following course redesign to incorporate active/collaborative learning, contextualized learning, and lecture capture instructional strategies; 2) curricular modification of math instruction; 3) identification of new math pathways as alternatives to the traditional required College Algebra course; 4) systematic and comprehensive faculty professional development activities; and 5) a Start to Finish Advising model inclusive of a comprehensive student intake process, First Year Experience course, holistic student tracking system, high touch intrusive advising, early alert system, and eLearning modules to facilitate future personnel training.  Proposed activity elements will contribute to increased course completion, credentials attainment, persistence to degree completion, graduation, and university transfer.

The overall five-year funding request totals $2,241,719.  This proposal addresses the Competitive Preference Priority.  Citations:   *An experimental study of cooperative learning in CSI,*Beck and Chizhik, 2008. And: *Impact of curriculum-based professional development on science instruction: results from a cluster-randomized trial,*Taylor, Kowalski, Getty, Wilson, and Carlson, 2011.

## Brescia University 

***Owensboro, KY***

Brescia 2020

**Institutional Information:**Founded in 1925 by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, Brescia University is a Catholic, liberal arts institution with total enrollment of 1,056 students.  The student to faculty ratio is fourteen to one, as Brescia employees 120 full-time and part-time instructors.  Accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, Brescia offers over 60 academic programs and grants an average of 120 degrees annually.  The institution is situated in Owensboro, Kentucky, which has a population of approximately 58,000 and is located in western portion of the state.

**Project Description:**The proposed Title III project, **Brescia 2020***,*will contribute to the long- term viability and sustainability of Brescia University by cultivating and nurturing an academic culture that blends the tradition and heritage of a liberal arts education with modern and innovative modes of delivery in an effort to prepare students to achieve their desired career goals.  **Brescia 2020****will foster growth and increased enrollment as well as increase retention, achievement, and graduation rates through enhanced academic support services, professional development, and space and technology upgrades.

**Project Objectives & Activities:**

Increase retention, and therefore graduation rates, through improved student achievement and enhanced faculty development.  The Ursuline Center for Teaching and Learning will consolidate services, reinvent academic advising practices, and foster continuing education for faculty in the areas of pedagogy and instructional technology.

*Elevate and improve the quality of the educational experiences in the University’s designated “Anchor Programs” of Social Work, Education, Business, and Life Sciences.*

**Project Outcomes:**With the proposed activities over a five-year span, the project outcomes will be:  1) to increase undergraduate enrollment from 1003 to 1,500; 2) to increase the five-year average six-year graduation rate of first-time, full-time Bachelor degree seeking students from 39 percent to 50 percent; 3) to maintain overall retention at 85 percent by 2020; 4) to increase freshmen fall-to-fall retention rate from 57 percent to 65 percent.

**Competitive Preference Priorities:** This proposal will address competitive preference priority.

Funds Requested: $2,237,390.02

## Berkshire Community College

***Pittsfield, MA***

The Completion Framework

**Summary:**Located in rural Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Berkshire Community College (BCC) was founded in 1950 as the first community college in Massachusetts.  The College offers 36 Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degree programs and 19 certificate programs.  Within Berkshire County, there is no other community college offering affordable postsecondary access.

**Students Served:**The student population (2,230 as of fall 2014) is diverse and at-risk, and comes from 32 towns in Berkshire County, as well as adjacent areas of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.  Sixty-six percent of students are part-time; 61 percent are female; and the minority population now stands at 19 percent.  Approximately 55 percent of students are first-generation and 86 percent require some form of developmental education.  82 percent are low-income.

**Significant Problem:**Fragmented enrollment and intake services; undefined academic pathways; passive instruction; and limited professional development opportunities have resulted in declining retention and graduation rates.  Since the fall semester 2010, the colleges’ graduation rate has dropped to 19 percent, down from 25 percent; enrollment has declined by 22 percent.  Fall to fall student retention rates hover at 56 percent.  The proposed Title III project stems from a comprehensive internal and external analysis, which was prepared for the college’s 2014-2019 Strategic Plan.  The plan was developed by a diverse group of faculty, staff, administrators, students, and community representatives, which also identify five key strategies on which the college should focus over the next five years.

**Project Description:**The proposed activity, **The Completion Framework,** will be comprised of three components.  The first is to restructure the college’s intake services through the development of a comprehensive, one-stop center, coupled with a redesigned orientation and implementation of an early alert tracking and intervention system.  The second component seeks to provide structured pathways to graduation through the development of academic pathways and connected first year experience courses.  The third component aims to improve course completion rates through the infusion of engaged learning into the curriculum and the development of faculty online “toolkits.”  Budget: $1,980,144 over five years.

**Project Outcomes:**By September 2020, key measures of success will be: (1) increase student satisfaction with integrated support services by 26 percent; 2) increase fall to fall retention rates of students by 9 percent; 3) increase total number of students with academic pathways from 0 to 1,400; 4) increase graduation rates by 8 percent; 5) increase student engagement in the classroom by 26 percent; and 6) increase course completion rates by 10 percent.

**Addresses *Competitive Preference Priority***through an academic coaching activity intervention meeting moderate evidence of effectiveness cited in:

Bettinger, E. P., & Baker, R. (2011). *The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring.*

## Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology

***Boston, MA***

Systems for Student Success: A Pathway to Retention and Completion

Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT), located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a private urban college offering a broad range of academic programs in 15 technical fields of study.  Along with a strong technical foundation, our majors incorporate general education courses to prepare students with team building, problem solving, and communication skills to succeed in today’s economy.  Our curriculum focuses on training students to diagnose and solve problems, while becoming leaders in technology industries.  BFIT is one of New England’s oldest colleges of technology, started with a bequest from Benjamin Franklin, and a gift from Andrew Carnegie.  BFIT programs are designed specifically for leading industries of today and of the future.

BFIT serves a population of students with an average GPA of 2.2, most of whom have not pursued a college-preparatory course of study in high school.  The student population is 89 percent male and 11 percent female, and is highly diverse with a majority of students from minority ethnic/racial groups, which reflects the community served by the College.  More than 90 percent of students are receiving financial aid.  The College has a ten to one student/teacher ratio.  During the 2014/2015 academic year there were 72 full- and part-time faculty.

The Title III project, **Systems for Student Success: A Pathway to Retention and Completion****has an overarching goal of improving success for all students by re-engineering the student services system utilizing advanced technology to transform the teaching and learning environment.  **Systems for Student Success****is a single, focused activity with two interrelated components: Unified Support Services through learning communities, and Enhanced Instruction through a Learning Commons.  **Unified Support Services**will be delivered through a learning communities framework embedded with structured coaching wrapped around majors which provide a comprehensive first year experience customized to each major.  **Enhanced Instruction**will be supported through a new Learning Commons, a forward-thinking fusion of student and academic support integrated with a digital retooling of gateway courses required in the first year.  The Commons provides a vehicle for faculty development in technology-enhanced courses and active learning strategies.  Building a strong foundation for the Activity, the strategy supports an integration of technology resources including equipment and software, and robust professional development for faculty to transform how students learn, perform and succeed.

With a budget of $2,232,432 over the five-year duration of the grant, **Systems for Student Success****tackles the key problem of student outcomes and connects directly to institutional goals and Title III (GPRA) priorities.  The project will touch the lives of over 1,500 first-year students, helping them to understand and achieve their goals.  **Systems for Student Success****will increase fall-to-fall persistence by 15 percent, the three-Year graduation rate by five percent, achievement in gateway courses by 10 percent, and strengthen student engagement and satisfaction by 15 percent.

The Activity addresses the Competitive Preference Priority – Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness: Bettinger, Eric P. and Baker, Rachel B.  (2011). The Effects of Student Coaching: An Evaluation of a Randomized Experiment in Student Mentoring.

## Cape Cod Community College

***West Barnstable, MA***

Project SAIL - Success through Advising and Interactive Learning

Cape Cod Community College (CCCC) is a comprehensive, public, two-year community college offering a broad range of academic programs leading to an associate’s degree or certificate.  CCCC enrolls 5,791credit students annually, 80 percent drawn from 10 towns on Cape Cod, a largely rural peninsula with a tourist economy and a declining population.  Most students who enroll at CCCC are economically and academically disadvantaged.  Among degree-seeking students enrolled in fall 2014, 49.7 percent were low-income, 44.6 percent were first-generation college students, 11 percent had a documented disability and 72 percent tested into developmental math.  Racial/ethnic minorities comprised 21 percent of the student body compared to 6.2 percent in the region, 62 percent of students are women; the student median age is 23, and 53 percent of students are ages 18-24.

Project SAIL has one Title III Activity with three, inter-related components designed to meet the following performance outcomes: (1) Increase retention for first-time and all students by 20 percent; (2) Increase the percentage of degree-seeking students who complete an AA/AS degree or certificate by 20 percent; (3) Increase the transfer rate from CCCC to four-year colleges and universities by 20 percent; and (4) Increase percentage of students who progress from developmental to college level math by 50 percent.  The activity components are:

· Component 1:  Strengthening Student Services:  Interventions include mandatory orientation, adopting a case management advising approach focused on academic plans, including a Group Advising Lab and incorporating technology (degree auditing capacity, electronic academic planning, early warning and referral system and scheduling software).

· Component 2: Strengthening Academic Programs:  Interventions include implementing Guided Pathways to Success (GPS), with academic focus areas and block scheduling, improving capacity to communicate with students, multiple pathways to completing developmental coursework, with placement options, online modules, embedded tutors, supplemental instruction, revised developmental courses and intensive courses.

· Component 3:  Faculty and Staff Development in Learning Strategies and Targeted  StudentServices:  Interventions include the development of faculty and advising staff training programs to support the “high impact” strategies employed in Components 1and 2 above, and professional development for faculty on redesigning  gateway courses and effective strategies promoting student learning and achievement.

An intensive evaluation plan ensures continuous assessment and improvement of the interventions.  A total of **$**2,227,003 is requested over the five years of project implementation to achieve the Project SAIL outcomes.  CCCC will also allocate its own resources to support the proposed interventions, including in-kind personnel time (clerical support and grants compliance officer), facilities, supplies, office equipment and IT support.  CCCC will commit resources to support the two academic advising positions beyond the funding period of the grant.

The proposal also addresses the **Competitive Priority Points**with two studies (Bettinger and Baker, 2013; Scrivener, et.al. 2015) that are proposed to meet the *What Works Clearinghouse Evidence Standards*without reservations and support the efficacy of the proposed activities of Project SAIL.

## Springfield Technical Community College

***Springfield, MA***

Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) is a public, two-year institution in Springfield, Massachusetts, that enrolls approximately 3,000 full-time and 3,500 part-time students (headcount).  STCC offers more than 100 associate degree and certificate programs.  The College serves the residents of Springfield, a city that ranks 350 out of 351 in per capita income in Massachusetts.  More than 70 percent of STCC students enter the College academically underprepared for college-level coursework.  A large percentage of students (42 percent) are from racial/ethnic groups that are underrepresented in higher education and there are significant achievement inequities between students from these groups (African-American or Black and/or Hispanic or Latino) compared to White students.

Based on a thorough analysis of institutional strengths, weaknesses and problems, STCC is proposing a single, comprehensive activity with five interrelated components to resolve its key problems.  These components will simultaneously strengthen student success rates and reduce inequities in student achievement for underrepresented groups:

· Comprehensive training in cultural competency

· Supplemental Instruction in high-enrollment courses

· Improved and expanded online learning that incorporates cultural competency

· Improved advising

· Family Outreach

Key measures of success will be to: a) increase the retention rate of new full-time and part-time students by five percent, from 55 percent to 60 percent; b) increase graduation rates of students from underrepresented groups, from 10 percent to 18 percent for African American/Black students and from 9 percent to 18 percent for Hispanic/Latino students; c) increase success rates of students from underrepresented groups in high-enrollment courses (complete with grade C or higher), from 70 percent to 80 percent for African American/Black students and from 68 percent to 80 percent for Hispanic/Latino students; d) increase enrollment of students from underrepresented groups in online courses, from 15 percent to 20 percent for African American/Black students and from 14 percent to 20 percent for Hispanic/Latino students.

The activity addresses the Competitive Priority.  The citation for the article used is:

Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G., & Destin, M. (2014).  Closing the social-class achievement gap:  A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students’ academic performance and all students’ college transition.  Psychological Science, 25(4), 943-953. doi: 10.1177/0956797613518349

## St. Clair County Community College 

***Port Huron, MI***

Guided Pathways to Success:  Strengthening SC4’s Capacity to

Increase Student Retention and Completion

**Institutional Profile:**St. Clair County Community College (SC4) is located in Port Huron, Michigan, and accredited by HLC (Higher Learning Commission).  The College serves St. Clair, Huron, Lapeer and Sanilac counties.  SC4 is the only public postsecondary institution in the county.  College programs include four transfer degrees and over 37 occupational associate degree and certificate programs.  SC4 also hosts a University Center with five institutions offering Bachelor and graduate programs.

**Student and Faculty Profile:**St. Clair County Community College’s fall 2014 enrollment was 4,127 credit students and 161 non-credit students.  The IPEDS graduation rate for the 2010 IPEDS cohort was 16 percent.  SC4 students are mostly female (59 percent) and SC4 students average age is approximately 24.  SC4 students are mostly Caucasian (87 percent), Hispanic (three percent) and African American (three percent).  Approximate 62 percent of full-time, first-time students received grant aid.  The SC4 faculty currently includes 74 full-time and 180 adjunct faculty.

**Problems:**SC4’s major problems include: 

(1) a continuous decline in retention and enrollment; (2) a service area characterized by low educational attainment and high percentage of first-generation/low-income students; (3) too many students not completing their educational goals; (4) limited and ineffective academic advising; (5) inefficient business processes and systems; and (6) fiscal issues as a result of declining retention and enrollment.

**Goals:**(1) Improve student success, retention and completion; and (2) Improve efficiency and effectiveness of key institutional processes and systems.

**Outcomes:**(1) Increased retention; (2) Decreased number of credits students are taking to graduate; (3) Increased guided pathways for certificate and degree programs; (4) Increased graduation rate; (5) Decreased gap for academic advising/counseling; (6) Increased faculty and staff professional development related to advising; (7) Increased key staff using real-time reporting; and (8) Improved campus-wide document imaging.

**Strategies:**(1) Implement guided pathways to success; and (2) Digitize and automate institutional processes and systems that support key college operations.

**Competitive Preference Priority:**This project addresses the competitive preference priority— supporting strategies for which there is evidence of moderate effectiveness.

Bettinger, E.P., & Baker, R.  (2011). *The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring.*

Rodgers, Blunt, and Trible. "A Real PLUSS: An Intrusive Advising Program for Underprepared STEM Students."  *NACADA Journal*34.1 (2014): 35-42.  

**Funds Requested:**$2,075,766

## Glen Oaks Community College

***Centreville, MI***

**Institutional Background:**  Glen Oaks Community College (GOCC) is the second smallest (in enrollment) community college among Michigan’s 28 community colleges.  Centreville, a small community of 1,425 residents, is home to the GOCC campus.  GOCC serves a small, largely low- income (in fall 2013, 90 percent of GOCC students received some type of financial aid), and educationally underprepared population, 45 percent of whom are the first in their families to attend college.  GOCC is the only postsecondary institution serving rural, undereducated St. Joseph County, Michigan.

**Implementation Strategies:** Improve student retention and completion through increased student engagement: improve teaching and learning through faculty professional development and classroom redesign: improve institutional effectiveness by increasing data-informed decision-making capacity and business process improvement.

**Evidence Study Citations:**  This Title III project addresses the Competitive Preference Priority through replication of two experimental studies meeting the What Works Clearinghouse standard for “moderate evidence of effectiveness.” 

· Bettinger, E.P., Baker, R. (2011). The Effects of Student Coaching in College: An Evaluation of a Randomized Experiment in Student Mentoring*.*

· Castleman, B.L., Page, L.C. (2014). Freshman Year Financial Aid Nudges: An Experiment to Increase FAFSA Renewal and College Persistence. EdPolicyWorks Working Paper Series No. 29. June 2014.

**Student Body Characteristics:** Fall 2014 Enrollment: 1,104; Race/Ethnicity: White-82.3 percent; Hispanic/Latino-6.5 percent; Black or African American-4.7 percent; Race/Ethnicity Unknown-4.6 percent; Asian- 0.9 percent; American Indian or Alaska Native-0.2 percent; Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander-0.2 percent; Non- Resident Alien (International): 0.2 percent; More than Two Races: 0.4 percent.

**Five-Year Project Budget:**  $2,225,000.

**Contact Person** for the Title III Proposal:  Dr. David H. Devier, President, Glen Oaks Community College, 62249 Shimmel Road, (269) 294-4221, Centreville, MI 49032, ddevier@glenoaks.edu

## University of Great Falls

***Great Falls, MT***

**Institutional Profile:** The University of Great Falls (UGF) is a private Catholic liberal arts university that shapes students intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

**Student and Faculty Profile:**UGF enrolls approximately 1,100 undergraduate students, a 44 percent increase since 2005.  UGF attracts equally large numbers of in- and out-of-state students.  Most UGF students are the first in their families to attend college (56 percent in 2013), and one in five is both low-income and first-generation.  Students have close working relationships with faculty, with an FTE student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1 and an average class size of 11.

**Problems:**Students at UGF are far less likely to graduate than students nationally.  Two effective interventions with proven impacts on retention and completion, advisement and Early Warning systems, are inefficient at UGF.  Student service offices are located at different parts of the campus, adding a hurdle to use of these services.

**Goal:**Students will achieve their educational goals and graduate.

**Core Objective 1:**Increase the first-year, on-campus retention rate from 54 percent to 80 percent by 2020.

**Core Objective 2:**Reduce the average number of days between Early Warning notifications from faculty to referral from seven to two days by 2020.

**Core Objective 3:**Increase the Personal Education Plans completed by academically underprepared non-TRIO students from zero percent to 50 percent by 2020.

**Activity 1:**Enhance advisement by streamlining advising processes and adding comprehensive advising through Personal Education Plans.

**Activity 2:**Enhance Early Warning through software and assigned retention specialist for high-need non-TRIO students.

**Activity 3:**Create special section of Corps of Discovery freshman orientation for non-TRIO academically underprepared freshmen.

**Activity 4:**Create an Academic Engagement and Advising Center and centralize core student services in adjacent locations.

**Activity 5:**Create Retention Workgroup to oversee Title III implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization.

**Competitive Preference Priority:**Stephens, N., Hamedani, M. & Destin, M. (2014). Closing the social-class achievement gap: A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students’ academic performance and all students’ college transition. *Psychological Science, 25*(4): 943–53.

**Funds Requested**: $1,628,234

## North Carolina Wesleyan College

***Rocky Mount, NC***

North Carolina Wesleyan College (NCWC) is a private, residential, four-year liberal arts institution located in Rocky Mount in eastern North Carolina.  NCWC currently has an enrollment of 787 traditional undergraduate students and 1,108 non-traditional students.  The proposed project focuses on the traditional undergraduate students and has a goal of improving their retention, persistence, and graduation rates.

***Projected Outcomes and Results*:** Traditional undergraduate enrollment will increase from 787 to 1,125.  The freshman fall to fall retention rate will increase from 56.7 percent to 66 percent.  The fall-to-spring persistence rate will increase from 87 percent to 92 percent.  The percentage of students graduating within six years with a Bachelor’s degree will increase from 36 percent to 42 percent.  The success rate for Developmental Education students in English will increase from 74 percent to 85 percent.  The success rate for Developmental Education students in math will increase from 86 percent to 90 percent.  The College also will have strengthened classroom technology and technology infrastructure, strengthened institutional research and assessment and data-driven decision-making capability, and a comprehensive professional development program to enable achievement of these results and outcomes.  The project has four objectives and nine key tasks.

**Objective 1.0:***To increase enrollment, retention, persistence, and completion through strengthening academic and student support services.*(1) Establish the Learning Commons; (2) Revise and expand the existing Supplemental Instruction (SI) program; and (3) Strengthen student success programs (including the First Year Experience program, Learning Communities, Summer Bridge Program, and academic, career, and personal advising and counseling).

**Objective 2.0:***To strengthen and increase the adequacy of institutional technology and applications of technology to instruction and academic support.*(4) Enhance the College’s technology infrastructure; and (5) Enhance classroom technology.

**Objective 3.0:***To strengthen institutional effectiveness through increased capacity and strengthening of institutional research and assessment and data-driven decision-making.*

(6) Implement personnel and data systems to support data-driven decision-making; (7) Establish and implement a data warehouse and a formal comprehensive plan for data collection, analysis, and reporting to inform academic and institutional decision-making.

**Objective 4.0:***To strengthen professional development for faculty and staff:*(8) Enhance the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC), and (9) Provide College personnel with basic and ongoing in-depth training in the use of the Jenzabar ERP.

$2,127,320 is requested to support this strengthening and capacity-building project.

The proposed project addresses the Competitive Preference Priority of **Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness**.  The following study is provided as evidence of meeting the Competitive Preference Priority: 

Sommo, C., Mayer, A., Rudd, T., & Cullinan, D. (2012, July 1).  Commencement day: Six-year effects of a freshman learning community program at Kingsborough Community College.

## Rockingham Community College

***Wentworth, NC***

Expanding Access to Programs

Rockingham Community College (RCC) is part of the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) and is accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.  RCC offers 25 Associate’s degrees, 12 diploma and 39 certificate program options.  RCC students include traditional-aged high school graduates (65.4 percent 24 or younger) and nontraditional (34.6 percent) students.  Over a quarter (25.5 percent) are minorities (17.2 percent African-American; 3.9 percent Hispanic; 1.9 percent biracial; and smaller groups of Native Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders).  Over half (51.1 percent) require remediation, 60 percent are first generation in college, 58 percent receive Pell, 55 percent enroll part-time, and about 66 percent must work and 39 percent are responsible for the care of dependents.  Consistently at least 20 percent are enrolled in  at least one online class, and demand for greater access is growing: 83 percent of students in a Spring 2015 Student Survey indicated that they would like to see more courses or programs available online.

However, RCC ranks last in the NCCCS for online enrollment and online course offerings.  RCC’s current online offerings have been developed and offered on an ad-hoc basis, with insufficient faculty training, and no instructional design standards or support.  The campus has insufficient expertise to effectively develop technology training for faculty.  Together these gaps lead, not surprisingly, to spotty design and delivery.  Without adopted standards and expectations for course design and facilitation, faculty have no framework to help them ensure that online courses are consistent and of high quality.  No online academic or student support services save an application for admission exist to support online students.

Expansion of eLearning capacity will rapidly outstrip available technology infrastructure and storage capacity, and current technology systems, such as the Polycom video system installed in classrooms for synchronous online learning have reached end-of-life.  RCC has no streaming server, lecture capture system or dedicated space for faculty to develop media content for online courses.  Any expansion of distance learning volume or delivery mechanisms will stress RCC’s technology infrastructure.  In addition, staff capacity is currently insufficient to support technology expansion in networks and technical support.

To address these problems, RCC will conduct one focused activity:  “*e-Learning: Access and Success*.” Faculty will develop or redesign 44 courses for online or hybrid delivery, making two degrees fully available from a distance: the Associate of Arts and the Associate of Applied Science in Criminal Justice Technology.  Underlying this effort is ensuring a robust technology infrastructure, offering comprehensive faculty professional development, and creating online academic and student support services such as orientation, advising, tutoring, and instruments to determine readiness for online learning.  RCC plans to improve access to media using a video editing room, a video archive server and storage, Video over IP, and the use of WebEx as an online virtual classroom.  As a result, RCC expects to see significant growth in both, headcount and FTE generated by online/hybrid student enrollment by the end of the grant period.

RCC requests a total of $2,250,000 over a five-year period to implement this project.  The activity addresses the Competitive Preference Priority. Research Studies to Address Competitive Preference Priority:

H. F. Thomas, R. J. Simmons, G. Jin, A. A. Almeda, and A. A. Mannos (2005). *Comparison of Student Outcomes for a Classroom-based vs. an Internet-based Construction Safety Course.  Journal of SH&E Research,*Spring 2005.

Taylor, J., Kowalski, S., Getty, S., Wilson, C., and Carlson, J. (2011). *The impact of curriculum-based professional development on science instruction: results from a cluster- randomized trial*.  The study meets the WWC definition of moderate evidence of effectiveness.

## Metropolitan Community College

***Omaha, NE***

First-Year Services and Coordinated Advising for Student Success and Completion

**Institutional/Student Profile:**In over forty years of growth, Metropolitan Community College (MCC) proudly stands as the largest comprehensive community college and most diverse accredited institution of higher education in the state of Nebraska, serving over 40,000 students each year through credit and non-credit classes leading to career credentials up through associate’s degrees.  MCC’s three full-service campuses and five community-based centers serve four counties and 40 percent of Nebraska’s total population, extending a range of academic and student services to people across these growing urban and suburban communities.  The average age of MCC’s student population is 27.9, indicating that many of our students are far from being fresh out of high school.

**Problems**: (1) A significant percent of students come from challenging backgrounds and require considerable support services to be successful (40 percent low-income, first-generation); (2) A significant percent of students are underprepared for college-level coursework and fail to persist and graduate (graduation rate for developmental students is half the rate of students who enter college-ready); (3) MCC struggles to retain, graduate, and transfer students (33 percent graduation and transfer rate, the lowest of all Nebraska community colleges); (4) The advising program is deficient and inadequate to serve the needs of MCC’s diverse, high-need student population (according to a 2014 National Academic Advising Association [NACADA] report); (5) MCC’s inability to adequately assess the impact of its student success efforts has prevented the implementation of a comprehensive improvement strategy.

**Overall Project Goal**: Increase student success, retention, and completion by creating a culture of advising at MCC.

**Strategies**: Implement NACADA’s recommendations for a coordinated and effective advising system at MCC by:

1. Establishing a comprehensive First-Year Experience (FYE) program; and

2. Institutionalizing advising as part of the teaching and learning mission of the College.

**Objectives:**(1) Increase the fall-to-fall retention rate for first-time, full-time students; (2) increase the fall-to-fall retention rate for first-time underprepared students; (3) increase the number of students who successfully complete their program of study or transfer; (4) increase MCC’s three-year graduation rate; (5) increase the percentage of advisors reporting clarity of the advising program’s identity, mission, vision, and objectives; (6) increase the number of full-time faculty who serve as faculty advisors; and (7) increase overall student satisfaction with advising.

**Competitive Preference Priority:**MCC’s project addresses the CPP – Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.  Citation:  *Bettinger, E.P., & Baker, R. (2011).  The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring (Working Paper No. 16881).*

**Funds Requested:**$2,141,378

## Doane College

***Crete, NE***

Improving Retention through Enhanced Support

Doane College is a four-year, private institution of higher education founded in 1872.  Located in Nebraska, Doane College is divided into two schools that respectively serve traditional full-time students on the Arts and Science (A&S) campus and non-traditional adult learners on three Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) campuses.  The College offers baccalaureate degrees in 41 areas of study.  In 2014, approximately 1,850 undergraduate students were enrolled:  56 percent on the A&S campus and 44 percent on GPS campuses.  The undergraduate student-to- faculty ratio in both schools is 11:1.

**Significant Problem:**While Doane has overall retention rates that are higher than referent institutions, in response to the 2014-2015 Comprehensive Development Plan analysis, it became evident that retention rates are below the norm for particular subsets of students.  These include males and under-represented minorities on the A&S campus where heavy alcohol consumption is a barrier to retention.  On GPS campuses, students who enter with fewer than 30 credits have the greatest academic needs and are most at-risk for dropping out.  Furthermore, limited institutional data capacity restricts Doane’s ability to respond to student needs in a timely manner.

**Project Description:**Doane’s proposed Title III activity promises to improve student retention for identified at-risk students in each school.  Strategies to accomplish this include: (1) strengthening institutional data collection, analysis, and reporting capabilities; (2) developing mentoring and tutoring programs for at-risk A&S students aimed at improving social belonging and academic success; (3) improving the A&S campus climate regarding alcohol abuse, particularly among male students; (4) creating comprehensive academic support services for adult learners on all three GPS campuses.

**Project Outcomes:**The project is designed to: (1) increase A&S first- to second-year retention of males and under-represented minority students by five percent over 2014 baseline rates; (2) decrease the rate of heavy alcohol consumption on the A&S campus by 10 percentage points over 2015 baseline rates; and (3) increase retention of GPS students who enter with fewer than 30 credits by five percentage points over 2014 baseline rates.  These results will not only contribute to institutional self-sufficiency, but respond directly to the intent of the Title III Strengthening Institutions Program.

**Allocation of Budget:**The grant request: $2,225,213 over five years.  Grant funds will leverage an additional College contribution of $548,562 to the project.  

**Competitive Preference Priority:**Doane’s Title III activity addresses the competitive preference priority (CPP) of supporting strategies for which there is moderate evidence of effectiveness.  The reference citation that applies to this CPP is:

*Walton, G.M. and Cohen, G.L. (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students. Science, Vol. 331: 1447-1451.*

## Villa Maria College

***Buffalo, NY***

Located in Western New York State, Villa Maria College (VMC) is a private baccalaureate and associate degree granting institution founded by the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice.  The College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and received accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education in 2000, by the Commission on Interior Design Accreditation, and by the National Accreditation of Schools of Music in 2011.  The College currently offers eleven baccalaureate programs, eleven associate degree programs, and as of 2012 a certificate program in Historic Preservation and Restoration.

Buffalo is the fourth poorest large city in the nation (U.S. Census 2010); most Villa Maria College students (92 percent) come from a radius of 100 miles or less of the City of Buffalo.  In fall 2014, over 35 percent were residents of the city of Buffalo.  As of fall 2014 total headcount enrollment was 477; traditional students (age 22 and under) comprised 65 percent of the student body; the minority student population was 35 percent of the student body; 25 percent of whom were African American; the ratio of female to male students was approximately three to one; parents of 70 percent of students do not hold a college degree.  In fall 2014, 93 percent received need based financial aid, and 53 percent come from households with an expected family contribution of zero.  VMC has 28 full-time faculty.  Part time faculty varies by semester based on course requirements.

Goal #2 of the College’s Strategic Plan is: *To increase enrollment and retention to levels that support quality learning.*Data indicate that the College is not meeting that goal.  Retention and persistence to graduation is too low.  Students enter Villa with challenges.  In fall 2014, 48 percent of entering students ranked in the lower quartiles of their high school classes, and 13 percent have documented disabilities.

Based on a thorough analysis of its strengths, weaknesses and problems as identified from the Strategic Plan; the Self Study and recommendations from accrediting agency, the Middles States Commission on Higher Education; institutional data; and focus groups made up of College stakeholders, the College is requesting Title III funds to: 1) strengthen academic and support services; 2) improve information literacy instruction; 3) update and enhance the Villa Maria College library to increase student use, support information literacy instruction, and research; 4) provide coordination and programming to support faculty and staff development; 5) improve the College’s academic management system; 6) and increase the number of sites with presentation technology.

VMC is addressing the Competitive Preference Priority.  The study without reservations attached to this proposal is:

Castleman, B.L., Page, L.C., & Schooley, K. (2014).  The forgotten summer: Does the offer of college counseling after high school mitigate summer melt among college- intending low-income high school graduates? *Journal of Policy and Analysis Management*, 33(2), 320-344.  Doi:10.1002/pam.21743

Key measures of success will be to:  (a) increase retention of first-time, full-time students by five percent; (b) increase the persistence to graduation (at 150 percent) by 4.5 percent.  The total amount request over five years is $1,800,180.

## Mohawk Valley Community College

***Utica, NY***

Pathway to Graduation Project

Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) is a two-year open enrollment institution in Utica, New York, a region beset by economic turmoil.  MVCC currently enrolls 5,055 students (FTE).  In this low-income region, 83 percent receive needs-based aid (68 percent are Pell-eligible) and a reported 43 percent work while attending school.  As the region has become the home of increasing ethnic communities, MVCC's student body has diversified rapidly with minority enrollment rising 19 percent faster than white enrollment since 2009.  Since 2010, ESL enrollment has increased 174 percent.  Key Problem: Low student achievement, retention and graduation are critical issues for the College.  For every 10 students entering the institution, half will drop out by the end of the second semester and only two will graduate at the end of three years.  To reverse these disturbing trends, MVCC needs to rebuild the student experience from the first interaction forward, to provide just-in-time support, and to re-energize the classroom.

**Project Description:** The **Pathway to Graduation Project (PGP)****targets with laser-like precision the success and achievement of students through strong, layered analytic technologies, advanced academics with customized Gateway Courses, and wraparound support services.  The two comprehensive components that comprise the POP-the Student Success Portal and the Gateway Course Customization-introduce new initiatives to significantly increase and support student success, providing immediate and ongoing analytics with alerts, enriched and engaging learning experiences, and guidance and intervention s to motivate and support students in the achievement of their academic goals.

The Student Success Portal features the use of Ellucian Pilot, which combines predictive analytics with an early-alert tracking program, and Completion Coaches embedded in a Learning Commons--a multifunctional, flexible space that blend s proactive interventions with tailored learning support s.  This integrated, two-sphere system provides the right supports at the right time in a resource-rich learning environment.  Reflecting the POP 's focus on meeting students at their individual starting points and acknowledging the myriad factors that influence students' college success, project implementation begins with the development of a predictive and early alert analytics system that enables understanding of incoming students' risk factors and identifies those needing on-going intervention.

Customization of Gateway Courses is an essential thread that runs through the entire Project since the digital toolkits that will be developed through the customization process will anchor the teaching methodology used in Gateway classes and will be the primary support materials utilized in various Learning Commons activities that supplement Gateway Course instruction.  The faculty-driven customization process will blend instructor expertise with high-impact best practices to create revitalized Gateway Courses featuring a rich array of interactive and experiential learning materials.

**Project Outcomes:** By September 2020, MVCC will increase student retention from fall-to-fall by 10 percent and graduation by five percent through the implementation of the *Pathway to Graduation.*Budget: The $2,226,635 requested federal investment is supported by $1,822,950 in the college's investment to ensure this effort is successful and sustained.

**Competitive Priority:** MVCC cites Bettinger, E. P. & Baker, R. (2011). The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring.

## Terra State Community College

***Fremont, OH***

College:  Terra State Community College is a two-year, rural community college situated in the Northwest quadrant of Ohio.  It was founded in 1968.  It offers 63 associate degree programs, including pre-baccalaureate Associate of Arts and Associate of Science, and Associate of Applied Business and Associate of Applied Science degrees.  Numerous certificate programs are also available.  The fall 2014 credit student head count was 2,540, with 734 FTE students.  Thirty-two percent are enrolled full-time.  Eighty-six percent of Terra State’s students receive some form of financial aid, and the average student age is 26.  The student ethnic diversity is made up of 83.1 percent White, 3.8 percent African-American, 0.3 percent Asian, 8.9 percent  Hispanic, 0.5 American Indian, 1.2 percent two or more races, and 1.9 percent unknown.  There are 40 full-time faculty, and the number of adjunct faculty teaching varies from semester to semester, with 200 adjuncts on the part-time faculty roster.  One hundred fifty-one adjunct faculty taught during the fall 2014 semester.  The student to faculty ratio is 15:1.

Project: The project's major purpose is to increase student success and completion, addressing both state and federal initiatives focused on improving persistence and graduation rates.  The project includes two primary implementation strategies: (1) it seeks to streamline the total number of academic program offerings and the number of credit hours required in programs; and (2) it will build on the current fragmented approach to academic advising by creating a centralized, comprehensive, case management program of student advising.  It will hire a new Director of Advising and Student Success, a Coordinator of Data and Technology, two new full-time Academic Advisors, seven part- time Faculty Advisors and six Success Coaches.  It will provide special advising training to all project staff and will improve the current advising process with the implementation of student tracking software that will network all project participants.

This project addresses Competitive Preference Priority, “Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.” Supporting Study:

Bettinger, E.P., & Baker, R. (2011). *The effects of student coaching in college:  An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring.*

This study meets the What Works Clearinghouse standards for moderate evidence of effectiveness.

## University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

***Chickasha, OK***

Enhancing Student Achievement

The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) is a public, four-year, Liberal Arts university.  USAO is located in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

The objectives of the project focus on three interrelated components:  **a) monitoring student progress through accurate data; b) improving advisement through technology; and c) establishing the University’s Freshman/Sophomore Learning Community.**USAO serves a high percentage of students, who are traditionally underrepresented in higher education and who face significant barriers to post-secondary educational success, including: minority status, first generation, low-income status and inadequate preparation for college.  USAO proposes to improve retention efforts by hiring and sustaining a full-time Advisement Specialist, establishing a comprehensive and user- friendly Student Information System to improve data-based decision making, and creating a tutoring and mentoring program within the Freshman/Sophomore Learning Community.  The project will improve institutional capacity to monitor students and intervene appropriately, while providing stakeholders accurate and timely student information for decision making.  The Learning Community will help students transition from high school to college and will engage students in the life of the University.  The project will greatly strengthen the academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability of the University.

The project addresses the competitive preference priority, Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness related to the study described in:

*Commencement day: Six-year effects of a freshman learning community program at Kingsborough Community College (*Sommo, C., Mayer, A. K., Rudd, T., & Cullinan, D., (2012) MDRC)

Funds requested for the USAO project total $1,619,372 over the five-year period.  Endowment funds are requested at 19.8 percent of the project budget.

Contact:  Dr.  John Feaver, President, (405) 574-1201), jfeaver@usao.edu.

## East Central University

***Ada, OK***

East Central University (ECU) is a four-year, state-supported institution established in 1909 as one of six institutions formed to train Oklahoma’s teachers.  Today, ECU offers 33 undergraduate degree programs as well as four graduate degrees with 18 options.  The university is a senior regional institution in the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.  Additionally, nine academic programs are accredited by national organizations.  ECU’s faculty consists of 167 full-time faculty and 64 percent of the full-time faculty have doctorates.  ECU is located in Ada, Oklahoma approximately 90 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.  The city of Ada, with a population of nearly 17,000, is the commercial, industrial, service, educational, cultural, and medical hub of an 11-county, 7,727 square mile region.  This 11-county region corresponds to ECU's primary service area and has a population of 518,604.  Ada is also the Chickasaw Nation’s seat of government, and 17.9 percent of the population within ECU’s service area is Native American.  As of spring 2013, there are 4,584 undergraduate and graduate students attending ECU.  The undergraduate headcount enrollment of 3,039 produces a full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment of 3,462.  The graduate enrollment is 282 (full-time) and 274 (part-time) with an FTE of 1,390.  Total headcount enrollment has remained relatively level from 4,442 in 2003 to 4,584 in 2013*.*ECU’s student body reflects the rich diversity of the larger community.  The students are 60 percent female, 21 percent are part-time, and 58.3 percent are nontraditional students over the age of 22.  Minority students represent 30 percent of the student body of which Native American students represent 16 percent.  A vast majority (92.6 percent) of ECU students comes from the 11-county service area and 7.4 percent are non- residents.  The percentage of first-generation students is 33 percent.  Low-income students represent 48.5 percent of the student body, with approximately 1,844 Pell grant recipients.  

Since July 2006, the university has strategically moved toward a more student-centered philosophy.  ECU’s mission****is to foster a learning environment in which students, faculty, staff, and community interact to educate students for life in a rapidly changing and culturally diverse society, and ECU’s vision is to become Oklahoma’s premier, student-centered regional university.  

Even though ECU has made strides in achieving its vision, significant educational barriers remain for low-income, underprepared students who so far have not been dealt a winning hand in regard to acquisition of academic skills due to area school deficiencies.  For example, during the 2013 academic year, 48.8 percent of ECU’s students took at least one zero-level course to remediate academic skills deficiencies (OSRHE Remediation Report).  To remedy this situation, ECU’s proposal is to deal them a “winning hand” of all ACES**--**the Academic, Counseling, Enrollment Services Center (*ACES*Center).  The *ACES Center*will become the campus “hub” that will provide intrusive advising, individualized counseling and student support services to address identified academic barriers and will leverage existing university opportunities and resources necessary to meet the specific needs of low-income, underprepared students so they persist to graduation.

**Competitive Preference Priority:**“The Effects of Student Coaching in College: An Evaluation of Randomized Experiment in Student Mentoring.”

## Seminole State College

***Seminole, OK***

Engaging Students in Science

Seminole State College (SSC or Seminole) is a public, state-supported, open-door, two-year institution serving a vast five-county service area (3,819 square mile, population 155,931).  SSC is located in the heart of central Oklahoma’s Seminole Nation.  Nearly one in five service area residents (19.7 percent) live in poverty, and only 14.7 percent of adults hold at least a baccalaureate degree.  Native American residents are the most disadvantaged (28.7 percent poverty, 10.4 percent adult baccalaureate attainment).  Our students are a reflection of the area: 65 percent are first generation in college and 66 percent receive financial aid.  One in four represents area Native American cultures.

Today, Seminole faces obstacles in fulfilling its mission of empowering the residents of our disadvantaged region.  Key challenges include declining enrollment (down 21 percent since fall 2010), below-average persistence among first time enrolled students (49 percent, fall 2013 – fall 2014, compared to national average 59 percent) and low graduation rates (three-year rate of 21 percent for entering 2011 cohort, compared to national average 29 percent) (Institutional data, 2014, NCES 2014).  Analysis, however, has revealed significant opportunities to strengthen SSC while helping disadvantaged students access and complete academic options leading to greater socioeconomic stability.

Even as institutional enrollment has declined, enrollment in science curricula has increased 32 percent since 2010, with a 67 percent enrollment increase in life sciences courses – including biology, microbiology, and anatomy and physiology.  This trend is driven by positive long-term employment projections in science-associated careers across our area – especially in healthcare-related fields.  In fall 2014, in fact, one in four entering SSC students (25 percent) reported the intent of earning an associate and/or bachelor degree in a health or science-related field.  Institutional weaknesses – including inadequate capacity in our decades-old science laboratories, outdated lab instrumentation necessary for active instruction, and insufficient student support – hamper our efforts to take advantage of these opportunities.

SSC therefore proposes **Engaging Students in Science**, a comprehensive activity that will:  (1) increase science lab capacity through renovation/reconfiguration of (Chemistry, Biology, and A&P labs); (2) update science lab instrumentation and equipment (Chemistry, Biology, A&P, Physics labs); (3) revise science curricula to infuse current instrumentation and equipment (total of 18 courses); (4) develop and pilot proactive advising/coaching to promote persistence and academic goal completion; and (5) develop and pilot interactive tools to promote proactive advising/coaching, including Interactive Scheduling, Early Academic Alert, Degree Audit, and Career/Transfer advising.  Five-year outcomes include a 15 percent increase headcount and a five percentage point increase in both fall to fall persistence and four-year graduation rates.

Our proposal responds to the Competitive Preference Priority, with components supported by studies meeting the Department’s definition of “moderate evidence of effectiveness”:

Bettinger, E.P., & Baker, R. (2011). *The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring.*

Taylor, J., Kowalksi, S., Getty, S., Wilson, C., and Carlson, J. (2011) *The impact of curriculum-based professional development on science instruction: results from a cluster randomized trial.*

Year 1 Budget Request: $449,995

## Eastern Oklahoma State College

***Wilburton, OK***

Pathways to Success

Eastern Oklahoma State College (EOSC) is a public, accredited, comprehensive, community college.  As an open door community college, Eastern provides academic, transfer and technical degrees, along with dual-credit, adult re-entry, and online programs to increase access to education for 3,886 students annually.  Located in rural southeastern Oklahoma, its service area contains all or part of 12 counties (population 266,974) and 10,864 square miles.

The main campus is in Wilburton (population 2,843), with a second campus 30 miles away in McAlester (population 18,301), and two learning sites in Antlers (80 miles away) and Idabel (140 miles).The region’s high poverty and low rates of educational attainment (only 16 percent of adults hold a bachelor’s degree) directly affect our students.  Of the 1,707 who enrolled in fall 2014, 65 percent are low-income, and 80 percent enter college unprepared for college-level work.  Every year, high numbers of students fail developmental courses (from 27 percent to 46 percent) and entry-level or gateway college level courses (from 30 percent to 55 percent).

Eastern has many strengths, but enrollments are declining, while our inadequate student support systems mean that on average, only 42 percent of students who do enroll are retained each year.  As a result only 21 percent of the students who enter Eastern persist successfully to graduation within three years.  In addition, while we have identified programs of study that would appeal to our students and offer pathways out of poverty, limited facilities, equipment and curricula prevent us from adding these programs.

To address these real but surmountable, challenges, we propose the **Pathways to Success Project**.  The Project has two equally important components.  With the first component, we propose to increase enrollment by updating our facilities, equipment and curricula to enable us to add degrees in two fields that are in high demand across the region and offer area residents higher earnings than the current average:  ranch management and respiratory therapy.  The second component will completely transform our system of supporting students for academic success.  A Student Development Coordinator will develop Student Success Coaching services linked to courses with high failure rates, design and early intervention system to reach students in the first three weeks of the semester, equip faculty to leverage a new Early Alert/Retention module, and create Student Development Centers at Wilburton and McAlester.  Other strategies in this component include adding college success workshops and working with faculty to create “learning modules” for students to use to develop their academic skills.

Total Five-Year Budget Request:  $2,249,966

This application responds **to the Competitive Preference Priority –**Citations for studies provided in the required attachment are the following:

Rath, Peterfreund, Xenos, Bayliss, and Carnal, “Supplemental Instruction in Introductory Biology: Enhancing the Performance and Retention of Underrepresented Minority Students,” *American Society for Cell Biology,*Bol. 6 (2007).

Bettinger and Baker, *The Effects of Student Coaching in College: an Evaluation of a Randomized Experiment in Student Mentoring*(2011).

## Southwestern Oregon Community College

***Coos Bay, OR***

Pursuing Retention and Opportunity Measures and Instilling Success in Education (*PROMISE*)

**Competitive Preference Priority:***PROMISE*addresses the competitive preference priority for the Strengthening Institutions Program.

**Project Overview:**Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC) will establish *PROMISE*– a coordinated set of student success strategies for all new credit degree-seeking students.  *PROMISE*integrates research-proven strategies to improve persistence and graduation rates; increase the total number of students; improve technology for faculty and students; enhance student services and curriculum, especially for developmental education students; and improve fiscal stability.  Program strategies include: (1) student services, advising, and placement; (2) early alert and intervention systems; (3) enrichment of campus technology environment to support learning and student services; (4) course redesign in difficult “gateway” courses; (5) tutoring and supplemental instruction; (6) updated learning and instructional spaces to support changes in academic programming and to address weaknesses; and (7) improved data analysis.

To improve persistence from 55 percent to 66 percent and graduation from 19.4 percent to 28 percent, SWOCC will undertake eight strategies:  (1) establish effective structures to implement the five-year Title III grant program; (2) implement three software packages to simplify student services; (3) develop an early alert system through Jenzabar Retention; (4) redesign gateway courses; (5) enhance tutoring programs and implement supplemental instruction; (6) improve student services and advising through a Lean Audit and recommendations; (7) modernize learning spaces; and (8) upgrade technological infrastructure for greater reliability for students and faculty.

Below is a summary of SWOCC’s key demographic statistics:

**Geography Served:**Coos, Curry, and parts of Douglas counties, Oregon

**Purpose/Mission:**Southwestern Oregon Community College supports student achievement by providing access to lifelong learning and community engagement in a sustainable manner.

**Grant Purpose:**To improve persistence rates, graduation rates, and quality of services for all students through an integrated set of student success strategies.

**Public/Private:**Public

**Level:**Two-Year Community College in the State of Oregon

**Primary Service Populations:**(1) two-year community college students seeking an associate’s degree; (2) career technical students; (3) dislocated workers; (4) adults returning to school/work; (5) four-year transfer students; (6) high school students.

**Programs of Study:**(1) traditional terminal associate degrees; (2) academic transfer programs (e.g., science, social services); (3) developmental education; (4) career technical; (5) career- and enrichment-related noncredit programs; (6) customized employee training; (7) dual enrollment with high school.

**Student Characteristics (2013-14): Enrollment in Credit Programs:**8,361 (headcount); 3,150 FTE.

**Gender:  Male:**42 percent; **Female:**51 percent (7 percent undisclosed)

**Demographics:**African American, < 1 percent; Asian or Pacific Islander, < 2 percent; Caucasian, 63 percent; Hispanic, 4 percent; Multi-racial, 4 percent; Native Hawaiian, < 1 percent; Native American, 3 percent; and unclassified students, 23 percent.

**Age: <25**—60 percent; **>25**—40 percent

**Faculty Characteristics:  Full-time:**54; **Part-time/adjunct:**154; **Student-to-Faculty Ratio:**16:1

## Midlands Technical College

***Columbia, SC***

MTC CARES – Consistent Advisement to Retain and Engage Students

**Institution:**Midlands Technical College (MTC) is a public, comprehensive, two-year college with an enrollment of over 12,000 students serving Fairfield, Lexington and Richland counties in the capital region of South Carolina.  Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, MTC offers accessible high-quality education and awards associate degrees and diplomas that prepare students to succeed in the job market, to transfer to senior colleges and universities, and to achieve their professional and personal educational goals.

**Project Goals:** The central goal of MTC’s Title III project is to improve retention and success of high-risk first-time freshmen students through enhanced academic advising, emphasizing relationship building and engagement.  Enhanced services to students include increased access to faculty and professional advisors and to quality real-time academic information aided by new technologies including progress monitoring, college resources, reminders, and automated appointment scheduling.

**Project Staff:**  The MTC CARES staff consists of a Project Director, three Professional Academic Advisors, an Administrative Assistant, a Data Analyst, and release time for up to five faculty members per year.  The MTC CARES project has received tremendous institutional commitment and support, enabling goals and objectives to be accomplished in an efficient and cost effective manner.

**Cost/Benefit:** The $2,250,000 budget request is sufficient to offer proactive intentional services and provide the number and quality of staff necessary to assure achievement of the ambitious retention and student success objectives.  Cost is reasonable and adequate to support the redesign of academic advisement and intervention services as well as supportive technology to facilitate accurate and timely information for students, advisors, and management.

**Competitive Preference Priority:** In addition, the MTC CARES project will address the Competitive Preference Priority (CPP): Castleman, B.L., Page, L.C. (2014). Freshman year financial aid nudges: An Experiment to Increase FAFSA renewal and college persistence (EdPolicyWorks Working Paper Series No.29).  Charlottesville, VA: EdPolicyWorks. 

**Contact:**  Dr.  Phil Morris, Counseling and Career Services Director, 803.822.3559, morrisp@midlandstech.edu

## Chattanooga State Community College 

***Chattanooga, TN***

Focus on Completion

Chattanooga State Community College (ChSCC) serves a diverse population of urban, suburban and rural students in a ten-county region that includes southeast Tennessee, northwest Georgia, and northeast Alabama.  An open-enrollment institution, ChSCC has an enrollment of over 9,000 students, 60 percent of whom are female, 25 percent minority, and 40 percent over the age of 24.  Fifty-five percent of students are part-time, with 38 percent enrolled in some distance learning.  Of first-time freshmen, 68 percent are eligible for Pell and 64 percent are academically underprepared for college, taking at least one learning support class.

While ChSCC has many strengths, the graduation rate is unacceptably low, with only eight percent of first-time freshmen graduating within three years.  The ChSCC **Focus on Completion****project will support and sustain high-impact practices designed to improve this rate through faculty development, student engagement and student support.  The ultimate goal of the project will be to improve the college’s graduation rate by at least five percentage points, with intermediate goals of improving success rates in critical courses by five percent; improving the rate of term- to-term progression by five percent; and improving the fall-to-fall retention rate by five percent.

The key elements of the ChSCC plan are evidence-based and proven to be effective at improving student success.  For instance, the work of Colleen Sommo, Alexander K. Mayer, Timothy Rudd and Dan Cullinan, *Commencement Day: Six-Year Effects of a Freshman Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College,*provided a similar approach to student cohorts and a comparable student population that included low-income and nontraditional students.  A second study by Paul P. Fidler, the *Relationship of Freshman Orientation Seminars to Sophomore Return Rates,*compared sophomore return rates of participants versus nonparticipants in a three credit freshman orientation course similar to Chattanooga State’s freshman College Success Course.  The Sommo, et al, study has already met the What Works Clearinghouse standard for moderate evidence of effectiveness, and ChSCC believes that the Fidler study will do so, as well.  For this reason, ChSCC is addressing the competitive preference priority of “Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.”

ChSCC has already begun work on developing a robust first-year experience for incoming students, based on Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) High-Impact Practices including mandatory orientation, student success courses designed around broad “meta-majors,” and intrusive advising through completion coaches and an early alert system.  Activities of Focus on Completion will support and help institutionalize this work by providing significant resources for faculty professional development in the adoption of high- impact practices; peer mentors to help with student engagement and the development of e-Portfolio reflection; development of an online orientation module and a database of experiential learning opportunities; training and advising software to support a new completion coach model; tutors to help learning support students in co-requisite remedial courses; evaluation and improvement of online courses; an awareness campaign to build ownership of institutional strategic plan and student learning outcome goals; and building of the Chattanooga State Foundation’s endowment.

## North Central Texas College

***Gainesville, TX***

North Central Texas College (NCTC) is a comprehensive public community college with an open-door admissions policy, serving a four-county area including Cooke, Montague, and Denton Counties and a portion of Young County.  In the past ten years, NCTC enrollment has increased 38 percent from 7,359 to over 10,000 students.

The NCTC Title III project implements comprehensive student engagement programs that increase retention and completion rates of first-time, low income students, and expand faculty and staff capacity to serve students and strengthen the institution’s fiscal stability.  Major strategies include:

· Centralized Completion Centers on all campuses to address students’ academic and non- academic challenges and issues;

· A centralized career readiness and job placement program;

· Student services tracking software;

· A First Year Experience Course and block scheduling for new NCTC students;

· A professional development institute for full-time and part-time faculty/staff on providing engagement strategies; and

· A mentoring program.

Measurable objectives to be achieved by September 30, 2020:

**Objective 1.1:**The number of new students receiving coaching/mentoring will increase from three percent to 90 percent.

**Objective 1.2:**The number of new students that successfully complete (C or better) 24 credit hours or more during their first year will increase by 20 percent.

**Objective 1.3:**The fall to fall persistence rate for new students will increase from 49 percent to 65 percent.

**Objective 1.4:**The number of full-time students who graduate within three years will increase from 14 percent to 19 percent.

**Objective 2.1:**The number of faculty and staff participating in engagement-related professional development and activities will increase by 50 percent.

**Objective 2.2:**The student/faculty interaction scores on the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) will increase from 17.5 percent to 25 percent.

**Objective 2.3:**The support of learners’ scores on the CCSSE survey will increase from 44 percent to 50 percent.

This project addresses the Competitive Preference Priority: Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.  Selected study: 

Bettinger, E and Baker R. (2011). *The Effects of Student Coaching in College: An Evaluation of a Randomized Experiment in Student Mentoring*.  Stanford University School of Education.  

## Vernon College

***Vernon, TX***

Vernon College (VC) is a small, open enrollment community college serving a primarily rural twelve county area of North Texas.  The population as well as VC enrollment is declining (fall 2014 unduplicated students = 2995).  All 12 of the service area counties are below the Texas average (26.7 percent) for persons age twenty-five and above who have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher.  Committed to creating a college going culture, VC’s strategic planning process is based on data informed decision making and focused on student success as exemplified by retention, completion of a certificate or associate degree and/or successful transfer to a four year university.  VC’s one objective for the Title III project is:  Retain/persist 68 percent of the first-time, full-time credential seeking students who returned or transferred the following fall; reach a full-time fall enrollment status (12 or more credit hours per semester) of 50 percent of the students; improve first-time/full-time graduation rates to:  three year, 30 percent; four year, 35 percent; six year 43 percent; and six year graduation/persistence to 53 percent.

In pursuit of that objective, Vernon College will employ two strategies.

1. **Provide students, faculty, staff and administration with the information they need to make data informed decisions**.  The current student information system, Jenzabar PX DMS, is a legacy, modular, provides limited support, and is completely inadequate in meeting today’s data needs.  VC has researched and determined that CAMS Enterprise software most fits the needs and budget of the College.  This state-of-the-art, Web-based system will provide all stakeholders with the information they need in a user friendly format.  VC will train all users/stakeholders (students, faculty, staff and administration).  As the system is introduced as an academic-advising tool, the College will also provide them with training on using the system for proactive and intrusive advising.

2. **Increase academic support through proactive and intrusive advising**.  An intentionally structured **Student Success Pathway (SSP)**, which is an integrated set of institutional policies, practices and programs, will be designed to maximize students’ progress at each point of their experience at VC.  Student Success Specialists will provide guidance and track at-risk students’ use of support services.  Professional development designed to improve retention, completion and transfer through policies, practices, programs as well as **proactive and intrusive advising**will be provided to all stakeholders.

Vernon College has built formative, interim and summative assessments into every component of this project to ensure continuous improvement and evaluation of project objectives.

This proposal includes three pages devoted to the **Competitive Preference Priority:** Supporting Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.

**Contact:**Betsy Harkey, Director of Institutional Effectiveness Vernon College

4400 College Drive

Vernon, TX 76384

940.552.6291

bharkey@vernoncollege.edu

## Austin Community College

***Austin, TX***

Achieving Student Success through Financial Aid Education and Financial Literacy

**Institution:**Austin Community College (ACC) works to promote student success and improve communities in the eight-county Central Texas service area.  Founded in the early 1970s, ACC is a public two-year community college.  ACC enrolls more than 40,000 credit students, with an additional 15,000 students enrolled in non-credit courses.  ACC is a designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) with the percentage of Hispanic students at ACC currently at 30.25 percent (Fall 2014).

**Project Description: Achieving Student Success through Financial Aid Education and Financial Literacy****is a systematic process of providing financial education for achieving specific student success goals by: raising levels of student financial literacy; educating students about financial aid topics and requirements; and increasing awareness in the ACC community (students, staff, faculty) of the links between academic goals and financial goals.

**Project Activities:**ACC proposes to establish an Office of Student Money Management (ACC- OSMM) – the office’s mission would be *to give a stronger foundation to students’ academic and career goals and successes by helping them take charge of their financial futures*.  ACC- OSMM would provide this mission through financial education, awareness and advising.  In this Title III application, ACC will demonstrate that the activities of ACC-OSMM would be linked to improvements in measures of student success such as:  graduation rate, retention & persistence, and cohort loan default rate (CDR).  Total funding request:**$1,744,311.

The three inaugural activities of ACC-OSMM will be:

· To establish a system of sending text message information about financial aid including reminders regarding annual Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) renewal to first-year college students who are receiving financial aid.

· To enhance the main tool (Degree Map Online) that ACC advisors and counselors use to advise students to include ‘real time’ personalized financial aid information.  This will improve integration of financial aid and loan awareness into student conversations with academic advisors and counselors.

· To support financial aid and financial literacy awareness through outreach and education for students and professional development for appropriate faculty/staff members.

**Competitive Preference:**ACC’s application does address the Competitive Preference Priority.  *Report Citation:*Benjamin L. Castleman & Lindsay C. Page (2014).  “Freshman Year Financial Aid Nudges: An Experiment to Increase FAFSA Renewal and College Persistence” (EdPolicyWorks Working Paper Series No.  29). Charlottesville, VA: EdPolicyWorks.

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) conducted a single study review of this report.  The WWC Rating is:  The research described in this report meets WWC group design standards without reservations.  This study is a well-executed randomized controlled trial.  The study’s evaluation design meets the WWC Evidence Standards.

## College of St.  Joseph

***Rutland, VT***

Framework for College Completion

**Project Overview:**College of St. Joseph’s proposed Title III SIP Activity addresses the College’s need to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching, learning, and advising thus enhancing student success.  With informed faculty engagement at multiple levels, the Activity is comprised of three synergistic components:

· The **Guided Academic Pathways****initiative will address diffuse academic planning by implementing guided pathways for degree completion across all academic divisions.  A first- year course will provide proactive coaching and guided pathway orientation, promoting increases in student satisfaction and retention.

· **Enhanced Pedagogy****will address outdated instructional strategies with a technology-infused re-design of courses.  The concomitant enhancement of classroom technology and implementation of a new learning management system will support the re-design process, increasing student satisfaction, engagement and persistence.

· An **Integrated Teaching and Learning Commons (TLC)****will provide multiple resources to address student needs documented by personalized learning plans.  An early alert system will enable timely and strategic interventions that remedy student challenges.  The TLC system will enhance academic success, increasing student engagement and the graduation rate.

The College of St. Joseph proposal addresses the Competitive Preference Priority in replicating coaching elements of an advising/ coaching model meeting the What Works Clearinghouse standard for Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.  With a Title III investment of $2,239,397, **Framework for College Completion****will increase second year retention by 15 percent, third year persistence by 10 percent and four-year graduation rate by five percent while improving student satisfaction and engagement.

**Institutional Overview:**College of St. Joseph is a small, private, career-oriented institution in rural Vermont which has doubled its undergraduate population in three years.  Founded with a mission to promote personal and professional growth and service, CSJ offers 11 baccalaureate programs, small class sizes, and a culture valuing student success.  Accredited by New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the College is developing rigorous new health sciences programs, while undergoing a renaissance under the leadership of a dynamic new President.  

**Student Characteristics:**The CSJ undergraduate population includes 65 percent first-generation, 69 percent Pell-eligible, and 95 percent financial need-eligible students.  Thirty-two percent of CSJ undergraduates are students of color, with a growing percentage hailing from outside Vermont.  Given the great majority are low-income, substantial numbers enroll unprepared for college-level study, mirroring the national population of students unlikely to successfully complete a baccalaureate degree program.  

**Faculty Characteristics:**CSJ has a student-faculty ratio of 12 to 1, with 85 percent of its highly talented and student-centered full-time faculty holding a terminal degree.  Professionals in business, law, criminal justice, human services and the arts compliment the College as part-time faculty, providing students with meaningful links with service opportunities and prospective employment throughout southcentral Vermont.  

**Competitive Preference Priority**:  (Activity design element: Coaching) Bettinger, E.P., & Baker. R. The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring (2011).

## Skagit Valley College

***Mount Vernon, WA***

Project STEPS

Skagit Valley College****(SVC) is a public, comprehensive community college located in northwest Washington spanning a district of 2,118 square miles.  For most residents, SVC is the only geographically and economically accessible postsecondary education option for quality academic transfer, professional-technical certification, and basic skills instruction.  The college enrolled 1,063 new, degree-seeking students in fall 2014.  SVC served 5,873 new and returning students in the same year.  The student body is 67 percent first-generation college students, 31 percent Pell grant recipients, and 19 percent Latino.  More than 90 percent of students test into one or more developmental math or English course, and nearly half of students enter undecided on a major.

Using a comprehensive strategic planning process, SVC identified three significant problems to address through this Title III project**:** 1) Students are not progressing at a sufficient pace to achieve momentum points or graduate; 2) An underdeveloped system of advising and support services, including the lack of comprehensive student tracking system and few culturally responsive services for students, impedes student achievement and completion; and 3) Fiscal Stability is negatively impacted by low student persistence and low achievement of momentum points, which results in lost tuition, fees and FTE reimbursement, and the inability to make strategic investments to improve efficiency of operations.

To address these critical problem areas, ***Project STEPS*****(Success through Engagement, Planning & Support) will: 1) systematically structure the new student first-quarter experience, student support services, and advising model that will lead to greater retention of all students, particularly the Latino population; and 2) integrate student-centered instructional strategies and culturally responsive practices inside and outside the classroom.  The strategies and initiatives started in this grant will be institutionalized after the grant period.

***Project STEPS*Goals:**1) Increase retention and completion rates by increasing the percent of all students achieving momentum points and completing a degree or certificate; 2) Increase culturally responsive practices throughout the college and strengthen the delivery system of essential support services to improve student retention and completion; and 3) Increase revenue and the long-term fiscal sustainability of the college by increasing student transition from pre- college to college-level courses, and subsequent retention and completion rates.

**Objectives:**1) Increase the percent of Basic Skills students who progress sequentially through developmental education levels and reach college-level achievement points within four years; 2) Increase the percent of all first-year, degree-seeking students who achieve momentum points of 15 college-level credits and 30 college-level credits; 3) Increase the percent of all first-year, degree-seeking students retained from fall-to-fall; 4) Increase the percent of all degree-seeking students who complete a degree or certificate within four years; 5) Increase the percent of degree-seeking students who complete 45 college-level credits within two years; and 6) Decrease the four year completion rate gap between non-Latino and Latino students.

**Budget Request:**$2,107,806 over five years.

To addresses the **Competitive Preference Priority**, *Project STEPS*’ strategy is based on a research study by Sommo, Rudd, and Cullinan (2012).

## Bellingham Technical College

***Bellingham, WA***

Transforming Student Support Services through Implementation of Evidence-Based Strategies

**Institutional Descriptions:**Bellingham Technical College (BTC) and Whatcom Community College (WCC) are two-year colleges located in close geographic proximity in the northwest corner of Washington State.  Both offer adult basic education, community programs, professional technical certificates and degrees, and direct academic transfer options.  The institutions are open- admission and offer low-cost educational opportunities in high-demand, high-wage career areas.

In fall 2014, 75 percent of BTC students (1,558) and 56 percent of WCC students (2,732) were identified as disadvantaged.  Many of these students come to the colleges unprepared for the rigors of academic and technical college programs and do not feel a strong sense of belonging in the higher education environment.  Data from both colleges show that, compared with the general student population, these students are less likely to maintain good academic standing and succeed in precollege coursework.  These students drop out of their precollege and program coursework at a higher rate, fail to reach their graduation goals, and are unlikely to transfer to baccalaureate programs.

BTC and WCC will use Title III funds to create a project that is based on evidence of effectiveness and will transform the student support cultures of each campus, providing much needed and effective resources and services to each colleges’ disadvantaged student populations.  This Title III project will: (1) Improve retention, graduation and transfer rates of disadvantaged students through implementation of an evidence-based coaching model; (2) Improve identification of students who are at risk through institutional research (e.g., predictive analytics) and match intervention strategy/strategies to risk factors; (3) Enhance academic and other student support services and expand student engagement efforts; and (4) Provide faculty and staff professional development to increase awareness of challenges for disadvantaged students and revise curriculum and instructional delivery to increase student success.

The project also addresses tie-breaker priorities in response to: (1) faculty development; (2) administrative management; and (3) strengthening student services.  This Cooperative Arrangement Development proposal addresses the **Competitive Preference Priority**, modelling project activities based on the *InsideTrack*student coaching model that Bettinger and Baker studied in 2011.

Evidence of Moderate Effectiveness, Study Citation: Bettinger, E. & Baker, Rachel. (2011).  *The Effects of Student Coaching in College: An Evaluation of a Randomized Experiment in Student Mentoring.*Stanford University School of Education.  

**Five-Year Project Budget:**$3,250,000

**Contact Person:**Dr.  Patricia McKeown, President, Bellingham Technical College (BTC).

(360) 752-8333.  pmckeown@btc.ctc.edu. 

## Spokane Community College

***Spokane, WA***

Epic:  A Project to Engage, Prepare, and Intrusively Advise Students to Completion

Spokane Community College (SCC) is a public, open-door comprehensive community college in Eastern Washington, with a vast rural service area covering six counties of approximately 12,300 square miles.  The majority of SCC students are low-income (63 percent) and first-generation (65 percent).  SCC struggles with low retention and completion rates.  Less than half of new students (47 percent) enrolled each fall continue to their second year (47 percent), ranking the College in the bottom half among peer colleges state-wide.  Less than 24 percent of full-time degree-seeking students complete their degree in three years.  The completion rates are even lower for low- income and transfer students (21 percent and 17 percent, respectively).

SCC requests **$2,046,471**over five years for a single comprehensive activity to address its problem with low student retention and completion.  The College’s integrated activity will focuses on four strategies: (1) intrusive advising; (2) preparation of new students for college success; (3) enhanced academic support; and (4) faculty engagement in student persistence.

**Preparation of Students for College Success:**New students will be required to take a “college success” course during their first quarter that includes developing a degree plan.  The college include the College Student Inventory (and the follow-up Mid-Year Student Assessment) as a required component of the curriculum to identify and track over time barriers to student success.

**Intrusive Advising:**An intrusive advising model will be implemented to help students reach key milestones in student success (college-level math, college-level English, 15, credits, 30 credits and 45 credits).  This initiative will include an online portal to provide advisors, faculty, and students the tools to make informed decisions about individual degree plans.

**Enhanced Tutoring:**SCC will build capacity and strengthen its key academic support area – tutoring.  Students will have increased access to trained CRLA certified tutors.  Additional tutoring will be provided in subject areas such as business, technology, and health sciences.

**Faculty Engagement in Increasing Student Persistence:**A faculty-led teaching and learning center will be establish to identify, develop, and support academic innovations and high-impact best practices that lead to increased student persistence and success.

Key measurable objective:  By the end of the project, SCC will achieve at least a five percent increase in fall-to-fall retention and three percent in completion.

SCC’s Title III project is *supported by*m*oderate evidence of effectiveness*(competitive preference priority)*.*

Sommo, C., Mayer, A. K., Rudd, T., & Cullinan, D. (2012). Commencement day: Six-year effects of a freshman learning community program at Kingsborough Community College. New York, NY: MDRC.

Harackiewicz, J.  M., Canning, E. A., Tibbetts, Y., Giffen, C.  J., Blair, S.  S., Rouse, D. I., & Hyde, J. S. (2014). Closing the social class achievement gap for first-generation students in undergraduate biology. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(2), 375–389. doi:10.1037/a0034679

## Viterbo University

***La Crosse, WI***

Pathways to Student Success: An Integrated, Technology-Enhanced Approach

to Improving Student Retention and Graduation Rates

Viterbo University, a private, non-profit institution, is the only independent university in western Wisconsin.  Viterbo serves approximately 2,000 undergraduate students from primarily rural areas in west central Wisconsin, northeast Iowa and southeastern Minnesota.  The University’s mission, tradition, and practices confirm its dedication to provide higher education for traditionally underserved populations.  Forty-four percent of Viterbo students are first-generation and are largely from low or middle-income families; 40 percent qualify for Federal Pell Grants, 82 percent receive need-based financial aid, and 100 percent receive aid from any source.

**Problems:**(1) The graduation rates are below our peer groups and national norms; (2) Viterbo’s freshmen leave the university at a higher rate than the state, regional and national averages for freshmen at four-year colleges; (3) The university loses nearly one million dollars per year in revenue from the average 89 freshmen not retained; (4) The faculty receive little advisor training and most are unfamiliar with best practices for advising at-risk students or improving student retention; (5) The limited or improper coding systems limit access to retention information; (6) There is insufficient staffing to serve the needs of at-risk student population compared to other schools; and (7) The endowment per total full-time equivalency is low compared to a peer group of Wisconsin Association of Colleges and Universities.

**Implementation Strategies:**(1) Establish the Center for Student Success where unified, data-driven interventions improve student success, retention, and graduation rates; (2) Implement a technology- enhanced advising model to support retention and improve productivity; and (3) Implement program- level retention plans and academic integration strategies to increase student engagement, success, retention, and graduation rates.

**Measureable Outcomes: (**1) Increase four-year graduation rates for first-time, full-time freshmen by 6 percent; (2) Increase the fifth semester retention rate by 10 percent; (3) Increase the fifth semester retention rate for at-risk students by 10 percent; (4) Increase the percent of freshmen and sophomores supported by the VU advising model to 80 percent; (5) Increase the percent of freshmen and transfer students who have an advisor-reviewed graduation plan to 90 percent; (6) Increase the percent of programs with action plans for retention and integration to 90 percent; and (7) Increase the percent of freshmen and sophomores engaged in new academic integration strategies to 60 percent.

**Competitive Preference Priority:**This project addresses the Competitive Preference Priority for Supporting Programs, Practices, or Strategies for which there is Moderate Evidence of Effectiveness.  Studies Cited: 

Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G. & Destin, M. (2014).  Closing the Social-Class Achievement Gap: A Difference-Education Intervention Improves First-Generation Students' Academic Performance and All Students' College Transition.  *Psychological Science*25.4: 943-53. 

Molina, A. & Abelman, R. (2000). Style Over Substance in Interventions for At-Risk Students: The Impact of Intrusiveness.  *NACADA Journal*20.2: 5-15.

**Funds Requested:** $1,999,814

10/16/2015

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