Goals

Strategies

Activities

Outcomes

Individuals Impacted

Develop centralized
coordination of academic support functions

Develop centralized academic support functions which
provide formal means of communication & referral and foster collaboration

Establish formal ongoing programming to address student
transition and success

Established Office of Student Academic Success Hired Student Success Specialist (SSS) to liaison with colleges to enhance retention services of colleges

Developed system for tracking non-enrolled students

Established transfer transcript request tracking

MAPWorks

Mid-Semester Check

Destination Graduation

Financial Cents

Soup & Success

Four-Year Degree Paths

Graduation Success Research Collaborative to establish software for identifying students at risk
for leaving

13,000 SSS contacts in Spring 2011

MAPWorks participants:

• 8% higher cum. GPA
• 12% more credits earned
• 27% lower probation rate
• 12% higher reenrollment rate

Student satisfaction surveys indicated

• 92% of students contacted found services helpful
• 97% would recommend services to others
• 93% will participate again

Persistence rates to following semester after participation in Mid-Semester Check = 98%-99%

Students

• 13,000 - SSS
• 1,879 – MAP Works
• 802 - Mid-Semester
  Check
• 108 - Destination Graduation
• 413 - Financial Cents
• 42 - Soup & Success

Faculty/Staff

• 103 faculty & staff - MAPWorks

Develop a formal process to identify at-risk
students and implement
early intervention

Establish a form of academic success advocacy to aid students who are at risk of academic difficulty

Expand and coordinate Early
Alert referral system

See above

Identified problematic/challenging courses

Contacted faculty teaching courses for referral of students who are struggling

Students contacted by SSS

Moved alert system from mid-semester to week 4

Consolidated faculty contacts made by 4 different offices

Developed absence tracking program to use in ENGL and COMS

See above re SSS

Initiated tracking of persistence for those having contact

Identification of students through early alert by
students has increased 53% (801 to 1222)

Student surveys reveal high degree of student
satisfaction

Spring 2010 to Fall 2011 persistence rate = 63%

Students

- 2023 in Early Alert

Faculty/Staff

- 32 courses, 154
sections

Develop a coordinated
system of development
al advising for students

Using academic advisors and
transition specialists, create a system of intentional, intrusive
advising, counseling and referral for students in transition

Created Office of Student Academic Success

Hired 5 Student Success Specialist (expanding to 8 in 2011-2012)

Developed four-year degree plans

Participating in Graduation Success Research Collaboration

Held Academic Advising Summit

In process of participating as alpha test site for
development of tracking software to identify students at risk

64 faculty and staff advisors participated in first Academic Advising Summit

Advising Summit received positive feedback

To be repeated Fall 2011

Faculty/Staff

- 64 participants in Advising Summit

Goals

Strategies

Activities

Outcomes

Individuals Impacted

Increase the positive
culture at NIU that
leads to a more welcoming student-centered, safe, and
integrated environment

Participate in Foundations of
Excellence in First College Year

Complete a comprehensive self- study of the first year experience

Completed the self-study Final Report contains specific recommendations for improving the first-year experience

Faculty/Staff

- 352 participated in survey
- 102 participated in self-study

Goals

Strategies

Activities

Outcomes

Individuals Impacted

Increase student retention and student success

Increase the number of underrepresented minority students &/or students from educationally or economically disadvantages background who meet NIU’s admission requirements

Increase the number of middle and high school students and their parents who are knowledgeable about college

Recruit/select 11th grade students from Aurora, Rockford, Elgin & DeKalb to participate

Conduct academic enrichment sessions

Conduct campus visits

Select students for participation in summer programs at NIU

Conduct summer residential program at NIU

Conduct college preparation workshops at middle schools

50 students per year have participated in program activities

18 students have completed NIU courses during summer sessions

30 of 60 students have been admitted to NIU

Parent/student workshops were held in 23 target middle and high schools

P-12 Students

- 50 participated each year

- 30 were admitted to NIU

- 475 middle school students & their parents

Goals

Strategies

Activities

Outcomes

Individuals Impacted

Increase Student Retention & Success

Provide native and transfer students with sustained and discipline-specific development in writing proficiency (WP) beyond the 1st-year composition requirements

Expand University Writing Center Staff Develop specialized staff for Foreign Languages and Literature Establish Undergraduate Writing Proficiency Committee

Establish Writing proficiency course guidelines Recruit faculty for proficiency program

24 additional staff hire

Addition of 2151 tutorial sessions in FY10

Addition of 2667 tutorial sessions in FY11

University Writing Center at 80-85% capacity

Faculty/Staff

- 30 faculty trained to implement best
practices and design writing-intensive
courses

- 34 faculty in FLAL Collaborative