Student Retention Consulting Service Flyer

STUDENT SUCCESS
PROVIDING MEANINGFUL APPROACHES TO STUDENT RETENTION AND SUCCESS

Student retention and improving student success are becoming increasingly important as state and federal agencies require more accountability from colleges and universities. Even without external requirements, the pressures of the market compel more institutions to pay attention to improving student success. At the institutional level, it makes good business sense to improve student retention because every student who walks away from your campus represents lost revenue.

Our research-based retention service is based on a model of student retention that focuses on three fundamental factors:

1. What students bring to the campus in terms of academic skills, knowledge, and ability;
2. What students bring to the campus in terms of social ability;
3. What the institution provides to students to help them compensate for weakness in their academic and social domains.

Improving student success demands attention by the whole institution. At the same time, meaningful improvements need to be consistent with the institutional mission and resources. At EPI, we work with institutional administrators and faculty members to assess current institutional efforts to increase student retention and achievement, providing support in planning, implementing, and monitoring the effects of new programs. The long term goal is to reduce the number of students leaving school and improve student achievement.

Our Student Success team will design a systematic approach to identify and address your unique challenges through three main components:

A. Perform an Institutional Audit

1. Baseline Data Collection. We collect baseline data on student achievement and persistence. This provides a standard against which progress is measured. We also provide external comparisons with peers on critical student outcome measures.
2. Site-Based Assessment. We assess the current academic and social resources/programs on your campus.
3. Information Assessment. We look at the various data collection mechanisms on your campus to determine if you have the necessary information to make critical policy and programmatic decisions.
4. Data Collection. We can provide an inventory of student perceptions of your various campus services and programs, or about college life in general. We do this through our own inventories or work with others that your institution may already use, including the NSSE and CIRP inventories. In addition, we can use the Student EQi Inventory which measures the emotional quotient (EQ) of students on your campus. This measure predicts future persistence and performance.
5. Focus Groups Analysis. We employ focus groups with students and faculty to identify issues that influence student achievement and persistence.

B. Building a Meaningful Student Success Plan

1. Strategic Planning. Based on results from the audit, we work with you to develop realistic plans and implementation strategies.
2. Team Building. Student success is everyone’s job. Building a team that cuts across traditional operational lines leads to a successful plan.
3. Program Development. We help you to assess your current programs, determine where to make improvements, and plan new programs to increase student success.
4. Budget and Planning. We work with you to identify the budget trade-offs and reprogramming of resources necessary to support the new approaches.
5. Program Implementation. We will help you develop successful strategies for obtaining commitment from faculty, staff, and students. Our team will work with you to find efficient and effective techniques for implementing the plan.

C. Monitor Student and Program Success

1. Student Monitoring Systems. We work with your existing management information system to develop reports that track student’s academic and social progress. At EPI we utilize the FIT system (Freshman Integrated Tracking System), developed by Dr. Peter Dietsche of Mohawk College and a senior scholar at EPI. This system collects information from freshman students (and others if warranted) and tracks their academic and social progress, providing early warning opportunities with students in need.
2. Program Monitoring. We will develop a plan for monitoring your student success programs over time so you can measure progress toward your goals.
3. Model Best Outcomes for Your Students. Our statistical models will help identify students at-risk early in their educational career.
4. Continual Improvement Process. A student success plan changes over time and requires regular review and adjustment. We help develop a schedule and review process that will keep your institution on track.

Student Success is unique in the breadth and scope of services we offer:

Research-Based Solutions. Our efforts are based on years of research on student retention and persistence, which provide an encyclopedic knowledge of what works as you assess and address your retention needs.

Campus-Wide Expertise. Our team of consultants includes nationally-recognized experts in financial aid, student support services, academic services, curriculum and instruction, and institutional research. We provide a team of experts with skills that match your institutional needs.

Technical Expertise. Our team has developed database and student monitoring systems for a number of states and institutions across the U.S. We develop systems incorporating standard and web-based interface structures.

A Custom Approach for Your Institution. We understand that what works at one campus may not work at your institution. We work with you to assess your resources and institutional culture to develop a unique approach to cultivating student success.

For more information, please contact EPI at 757-271-6380 or info@educationalpolicy.org.

We’re Non-Profit. We’re here as a service to institutions across the U.S. and Canada.