Do you sometimes cringe when you see students lined up outside of Admissions and Records after the first day of class? As student development professionals we know that the chances for success are reduced when students are late registrants. Unfortunately we are often too busy as practitioners to do the necessary research for program improvement. We do the best we can with the resources we’ve been given and hope the student at least finds a class in which to enroll.
When AB 3, or the matriculation bill, was first passed, all of us in California had to learn a new definition of matriculation as defined by the legislation. We learned the components of matriculation: admissions, assessment, orientation, follow-up, prerequisites (added later) and research. For most campuses, if not all, the admissions, assessment, and orientation components were fairly easy. The prerequisites and research components were fairly straightforward. But the follow-up component was more difficult. It required leadership and cooperation with our instructional colleagues and suddenly things got bogged down. I don’t think my experience was unique.
Cerritos College developed an “early alert system” that consisted of mid-semester rosters being sent to instructors. Their task was to identify students who were in need of intervention due to poor attendance, missing assignments, or poor test scores. Over the years the number of faculty that returned rosters dwindled and quite frankly, a roster sent after the sixth week was too late for any meaningful intervention.
Last October I attended the National Council for Student Development (NCSD) annual conference in Tucson, Arizona. It was there that I heard the presentation by Michael D. Summers on his dissertation “Enrollment and Registration Behaviors as Predictors of Academic Outcomes.” NCSD selected this work as the Dissertation of the Year. The dissertation focuses on student behaviors on the master student records. The students’ transactions such as late registration, withdrawals, and number of drops were correlated with student achievement. This notion was exciting because it was not based on student characteristics such as ethnicity, age or participation in such activities as athletics. Rather it was a look at any student’s behavior or transactions on the system. It seemed plausible that this research could be applied to Cerritos College and the early alert system. Hopefully, it would make it early (what a concept) and meaningful for students.
It was an interesting notion and the Dean of Counseling and I met to discuss how to move this idea forward. We were fortunate to have a graduate student from the University of Southern California (USC) in need of a project! We asked him to gather data from the past year based on the dissertation. We wanted to know the number of students that fit into the different categories. We also wanted recommendations for a new and different early alert system.
A group of counselors worked with the graduate student and the Dean of Counseling. The preliminary data was reviewed and a set of recommendations was made specifically, within budgetary constraints, how Cerritos College might develop methods to follow up with students. It was decided to follow up with those students who registered late (after the first day of class) and who had never been to college. This population was determined to be especially at risk. There were approximately 2,000 students who met these criteria which is 8% of the student population.
The counselors developed two important tools. The first one was a simple postcard sent immediately after the registration period. It provided a couple of tips for student success such as seeing the instructor during office hours. It also introduced the second tool: An Action Workshop. Students were invited to attend an Action Workshop. This workshop addresses the steps necessary to facilitate an easy registration including the development of an education plan. Let’s face it; an Action Workshop as opposed to a Probation Workshop is more fun for students and the counselor.
The benefits of this intervention were several. First, it identified students very early in the semester. There was a specific reason why we reached out to targeted students, not based on their personal characteristics but what we already knew about them. They registered late. Second, it eliminated a cumbersome procedure. Finally, it eliminated the dependence on instructors to identify students.
Will our new early alert system make a difference? Time will tell. The Action Workshops have started and we will track the student’s progress. But I no longer have to cringe or worry about those students in line after the first day of class.
Acknowledgements:
Carol Patrick, Administrative Dean of Counseling and Matriculation for her willingness to put into practice an idea from her Vice President.
Michael Summers for his dissertation documenting some of our hunches and for his contribution to the student development field.
George Zottos, the graduate student from the University of Southern California, who pulled the data together and kept the project going.
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