Initiative Impact Analysis to Prioritize Action and Resource Allocation

Presenters

Virginia Fraire, VP of Student Success, Austin Community College District
Laura Malcom, VP of Product, Civitas Learning Inc.
Angela Baldasare, Asst. Provost, Institutional Research, The University of Arizona
partnerships@civitaslearning.com
civitaslearning.com

Goal: improve 1st year retention rate from 81% to 91% by 2025
How do we find and integrate good data to make good decisions that help our students?
When I came on board, I found out that we never had a centralized student academic support office
SALT office (Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques) – used to support students with learning disabilities. How can we adopt and adapt some of the techniques that worked there?
We were using siloed participant data that was not very helpful. It was not transformative and it didn’t tell us much.
We came to Civitas for help.
In 2009, U of A opened doors to the “Think Tank” to streamline and centralize a number of academic support services offered by nationally certified tutors; mission is to empower UA students by providing a positive environment where they can master the skills needed to become successful lifelong learners.
In one year, nearly 11,000 students make more than 70,000 visits and spend 85,000+ hours with support staff.

Illume Impact used PPSM to measure 2.7%(pp) overall life in persistence for students using the writing center
3.4% (pp) increase for 1st year students
Less than 10% of 1st year students taking advantage of this service!
These results will inform strategic campaigns to offer Think Tank services to students as part of first-year experience.
8.2% persistence increase for students who were most at risk

Sharing impact findings with academic colleges to discuss the need for increased referrals to Think Tank.
PPSM has changed the conversation with faculty who want rigorous data.
Bolstering credibility and validity to Think Tank services.

Highland Campus is home to the ACCelerator, one of the largest high-tech learning environments in the country.

Provides access to 600+ desktop computer stations spread over 32,000 square feet, surrounded by classrooms and study rooms.
Offers redesigned DevEd math courses powered by learning software with an onsite faculty members, tutors and academic coaches to increase personalization and engagement
Additional support services are offered, including non-math tutoring, advising, financial aid, supplemental instruction, and peer tutoring.
During the 2015-16 year, the ACCelerator served over 13,000 unique students in well over 170,000 interactions.

Students who visit the lab at least once each term persist at a higher rate.
4x persistence impact found for DevEd students.
Part-time DevEd students and DevEd students with the lowest persistence predictions had even better outcomes.
6.15% increase in persistence for students visiting the learning lab.
Results are informing strategic decisions about creating similar learning spaces at other campuses.
Impact results have helped validate ACC data and in-house analyses
Discussions with math faculty continue to strengthen the developmental math redesign
Persistence results leading to further investigation of other metrics related to accelerated learning, particularly for DevEd students.
For this kind of approach to work, silos need to be broken down.