Student Success Team: Collaboration at Community College of Philadelphia

The Student Success Team, established in Fall 2015, focuses on increasing student achievement by promoting student persistence from semester to semester, and retention from year to year with an ultimate goal of increasing rates of graduation. The Student Success Team brings together faculty, staff, and administrators from multiple units within the Division of Academic and Student Success, in addition to other divisions. Student Success Team members represent units that work with students as they enter, continue and complete higher education. The following units demonstrate the breadth of areas collaborating on student success:

• Dr. Samuel Hirsch, Vice President for Academic and Student Success (Chair)
• Kathryn Birster, Assistant Professor, Academic Advising
• Sharmon Bryant, Associate Director, Title III Grant
• Dr. Joan Bush, Dean of Educational Support Services
• Dr. Woosly Calixte, Pathways Student Success Coordinator
• Dr. Carmen Colón, Associate Professor and Department Head, Counseling
• Laura Davidson, Associate Professor, Dietetics and Allied Health
• Robert Forest, Director, Financial Aid
• Paula Godwin, Associate Director, Financial Aid
• Dr. Sandy Harrill, Director, Academic Connections
• Kimberly Harris, Associate Professor and Department Head, Academic Advising
• Tameka Jackson, Director, Single Stop
• Mamadou Kane, Associate Professor and Department Head, Foundational Mathematics
  
• Richard Kopp, Interim Dean of Students/Assistant Dean of Students
• Michael Krasulski, Assistant Professor and Department Head, Library
• Dr. Darren Lipscomb, Associate Vice President, Enrollment Management
• Madeline Marcotte, Associate Professor, English
• Dr. Myla Morris-Skeiker, Associate Professor and Department Head, English
• Dr. Girija Nagaswami, Professor, English and FCTL Facilitator
• Dr. Aubria Nance, Associate Director, Catto Scholarship
• Wataru Nishida, Assistant Professor, Counseling
• Derrick Perkins, Director, Student Transition Success Programs
• Charletha Porter, Associate Director, Academic Records
• Dr. Jennifer Roberts, Associate Vice President for Academic and Student Success
• Anna Seixas, Assistant Professor and Department Head, Learning Lab/Student Academic Computer Centers
• Dr. Eric Shannon, Director of Institutional Research
• Dr. Lynne Sutherland, Director, Student Success Initiatives

Under the leadership of the Vice President for Academic and Student Success, the Student Success Team meets regularly to discuss various initiatives and activities across the College and monitor progress made on these projects. Members of the team are then able to communicate such information to their respective units. In addition to providing information to units across the College, members of the Student Success Team also collaborate with colleagues who are not on the team. This could include additional faculty, members of the Information Technology Systems unit, Financial Aid, Records and Registration, and other offices. Moreover, the assessment of student success is not limited just to the Institutional Research office, but has been shared across units with faculty, staff, and administrators proficient in continuous improvement efforts. By expanding the reach of student success initiatives, such work can gain momentum, be sustained, and impact the greatest number of students.

Four Interconnected Areas of Focus, Work, and Action

The work of the Student Success Team focuses on four areas: Data and Technology, Equity, Communication and Policies and Practices. A more detailed description of these areas is below. Members of the Student Success Team are assigned to one of the four focus areas allowing work to progress at a relatively quick pace.  All activities and outcomes of each group are monitored and discussed by the larger team.

 Data and Technology (Lead: Eric Shannon):

Focus on collecting, assessing, analyzing and using data to drive decisions, identify lead indicators and determine effectiveness in support of student success.

 Equity (Lead: Derrick Perkins):

Focus on identifying and implementing strategies to improve opportunity gaps for low income students, students of color and other at-risk student populations with regard to access, success and campus climate.

 Communication (Lead: Dr. Lynne Sutherland):

Focus on identifying and implementing strategies and actions to engage stakeholders across the College to participate in the College's efforts to improve the student experience and student outcomes.

 Policies and Practices (Lead: Charletha Porter):

Focus on institutional policies and practices that hinder student success by examining and aligning policies and practices to remove barriers and foster student completion.

Student Success Team’s Recent Activities

 The College has instituted several changes that stemmed from evidence-based analysis undertaken by the Student Success Team. Examples of such efforts include:

• Evaluating withdrawal practices and developing a withdrawal statement to be included on syllabi.
• Identifying “buckets” of students to contact, with specific College units/staff responsible for the outreach efforts.
• Reviewing Starfish data to determine effective practices, including raising flags, sending kudos, and referring students to support services.
• Encouraging some students taking one course per semester to increase to two or three courses.
• Contacting students from recent fall cohorts with few remaining credits to encourage them to complete their degree in the coming semesters.
• Encouraging students placed into developmental education courses to make steady progress through those courses early in their studies to enter into their program of study sooner.
• Examining pass rates for the highest enrolled courses to find further ways to support student success.

 The Student Success Team is constantly reviewing its work to ensure continuous improvement. As the Student Success Team continues to make progress in supporting student achievement, additional information will be communicated on a college-wide basis and will always be posted here.