{"365741":{"#nid":"365741","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Staying Power: Tech Makes Student Retention, Graduation Top Priorities","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EEvery Georgia Tech student who stays and graduates is a success story. These days, Tech is taking new and innovative steps to make sure there are even more of them.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EThese efforts are part of the University System of Georgia\u2019s Complete College Georgia (CCG) initiative, launched in 2011 as an offshoot of the Complete College America program. The program, as its name implies, hopes to ensure that students who get into college also get out \u2014 the right way.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EMany of Georgia Tech\u2019s retention and persistence programs have been in place for years, taking the Institute\u2019s first-to-second-year retention rate from 85 percent in 1993 to 96 percent in 2013. The Institute\u2019s six-year graduation rate has risen from 69 percent in 1993 to 82 percent in 2013 \u2014 one of the highest in the state.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EThe closer Tech gets to 100 percent, the harder it is to move the needle; still, Tech\u2019s CCG steering committee has been working with the campus community to phase in a number of actions and interventions that promise to further close the gap.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cIt would be easy for Georgia Tech to write up a report each year of things we\u2019re already doing and tracking, but we\u2019re investing a lot of new resources into CCG,\u201d said Steven Girardot, associate vice provost for Undergraduate Education and co-chair of the committee with Sandi Bramblett, executive director of Institutional Research and Planning. \u201cWe think it\u2019s important for every student we admit to have the resources to be successful.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EIn November, the committee released a CCG progress report for the 2013-14 academic year, outlining key accomplishments and strategies for moving forward.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p4\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch6 class=\u0022p6\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERamping Up Resources\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EOf the many factors that may stand between a student and graduation, the big three appear to be fit, finances, and grades. But which students are affected by which factors, and why, and what can be done to help them?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EThese questions now land on the desk of Georgia Tech\u2019s new retention and graduation coordinator.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cCommittees come and go,\u201d Girardot said, \u201cso we really wanted to make sure there was some permanence and longevity behind the infrastructure we\u2019re creating around retention, persistence, and graduation.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EDebbie Pearson, formerly a co-op program coordinator with Tech\u2019s Center for Career Discovery and Development, moved into the new position in April 2014.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re coming at CCG from a risk modeling approach, where we\u2019re identifying students with risk attributes and recommending appropriate resources,\u201d Pearson said. \u201cWe\u2019re also looking at impact modeling \u2014 observing which programs impact large numbers of students and have high correlations with student success and graduation rates.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EPearson\u2019s leaving no stone unturned to help student populations that are traditionally underserved and underrepresented in postsecondary education, and she even calls students who have left of their own accord to find out why.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EThese surveys have been done in the past, Bramblett said, but Pearson is making them more robust and systematic. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s really good about this,\u201d she added. \u201cWe can identify trends and find out what we can help with.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p4\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch6 class=\u0022p6\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMaking It Mandatory\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EOf course, given Georgia Tech\u2019s rigor, the committee does not need a survey to tell them that academic performance is the No. 1 reason students don\u2019t make it to graduation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EBecause of this, the Center for Academic Success (CAS) has developed a new required course for students who return from academic dismissal \u2014 GT 2100: Seminar for Academic Success.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EFiona Brantley, associate director of the CAS since July, said she can\u2019t take credit for initiating the course, but she has been involved as a facilitator. One aspect of GT 2100 that distinguishes it from similar courses at other universities is mandatory academic coaching.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cStudents meet in a class setting but they also get help individually,\u201d Brantley said. \u201cThe coaching piece makes it hard for them to avoid dealing with what their specific issue is.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s also a push to get more students into academic coaching before they run into trouble.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cI say at FASET (orientation), we wouldn\u2019t have all these services and programs, we wouldn\u2019t have the Clough (Undergraduate Learning Commons), if our students didn\u2019t need to take advantage of these resources,\u201d Girardot said. \u201cI show them the statistics of their entering class, and their SATs and average GPAs are as nearly close to perfect as you can get, yet the successful students are the ones who use these services proactively.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p4\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch6 class=\u0022p6\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFaster Forward\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EFortunately, helping students maintain their grades is a one-two punch that also knocks out many financial issues, since students who perform well get to keep their scholarships and financial aid.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003ERegardless of grades, however, many types of aid time out in four years, so Tech\u2019s CCG plan also includes strategies like expanding the number of online undergraduate courses offered in the summer to reduce time to degree completion.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cThat\u2019s definitely one area of focus,\u201d Pearson said. \u201cShrink the time to graduation, save tuition dollars, and get students into the workforce faster.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EEven so, as research from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning bears out, there are some good reasons why it often takes the Tech student more than four years to graduate \u2014 co-curricular reasons such as internships, co-ops, study abroad, and undergraduate research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cOur students get here and realize they can do all these really cool things,\u201d Bramblett said. \u201cAnd it helps them in the job market, it helps them develop skill sets they\u2019re going to need if they\u2019re going to graduate school. So there are some good reasons why it takes a while to graduate, and there are some not-so-good reasons.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EStatistically, students who participate in co-curricular programs have better grades and are more likely to graduate, even if it does take them longer. The key thing is that they do graduate. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cI think student engagement is at the heart of all our goals and strategies,\u201d Pearson said. \u201cYou get the student engaged, you help the student learn how to persevere, how to network, how to make use of all the resources at Georgia Tech, and that student\u2019s going to be successful.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThese efforts are part of the University System of Georgia\u2019s Complete College Georgia (CCG) initiative, launched in 2011 as an offshoot of the Complete College America program.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"These efforts are part of the University System of Georgia\u2019s Complete College Georgia (CCG) initiative, launched in 2011 as an offshoot of the Complete College America program."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2015-01-20 14:28:33","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:54","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-01-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-01-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"367471":{"id":"367471","type":"image","title":"Academic Coaching","body":null,"created":"1449245827","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:17:07","changed":"1475895105","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:45","alt":"Academic Coaching","file":{"fid":"201741","name":"acadcoaching.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/acadcoaching_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/acadcoaching_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":791448,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/acadcoaching_0.jpg?itok=xoUaakfu"}}},"media_ids":["367471"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.irp.gatech.edu\/publications\/complete-college-georgia-plan\/","title":"Georgia Tech Complete College Georgia Plan"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.usg.edu\/educational_access\/complete_college_georgia","title":"Complete College Georgia"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"115101","name":"CCG"},{"id":"13593","name":"center for academic success"},{"id":"43051","name":"complete college georgia"},{"id":"629","name":"graduation"},{"id":"4184","name":"retention"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:margaret.tate@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMargaret Tate\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}