Clayton State University Campus Plan Update 2015

Undergraduate Total

6,632

Full-Time

59%

Part-Time

41%

Adult Learners

37%

First Generation

30%

Pell Recipients

62%

Underserved Minority

65%

Dual Enrollment

8%

High-impact strategy

Advise students within a centralized structure that capitalizes on predictive data analytics to promote deeper student advisor connections and uses consistent advising practices.

Related Goal

Implement an intrusive advising that is informed by predictive data analytics to keep students on track to graduate.

Summary of Activities

In January 2015 Clayton State hired a Director of Advising to lead the implementation of the new advising model.

Clayton State is in the process of moving toward centralized advising system. By August 2015, the majority of students will be advised in a one-stop advising center. Based on a graduated timeline, the center will serve all students from the first year to graduation, providing a continuity of service.

The First-Year Advising and Retention Center (FYARC) continues to advise first-year students using an intrusive advising model. Key components include multiple required advising sessions each semester and use of assessment tools including MAP-Works, a student retention management system, and MajorFOCUS, a career assessment to inform advising conversations.

Advisors are increasing the use of DegreeWorks and the EAB Student Success Collaborative (SSC) to monitor student progress.

Baseline Status

Recent changes to our advising structure first began in fall 2011 with the establishment of the FYARC. Baseline data for retention and graduation rates are shown below for the cohort year prior to the intervention.

Baseline Retention and 4 – Year Graduation Rates

Historical baseline data (F05 – F09) shows that the six-year graduation rate is at 30.0%.

Six-Year Graduation Rate*

*Six-year graduation rate data is not yet available for the 2010 cohort (pre-intervention).

Interim Measures of Progress

Increasing Use of Predictive Analytics:  Over the past two years, Clayton State implemented DegreeWorks and the Student Success Collaborative (SSC) as additional advising tools. Utilization of these tools is increasing. For example, during the last half-year, advisors have logged into the SSC an average of 200 times. This is a large increase compared to initial use of the system by advisors. As described above, the University is still in the process of restructuring advising and implementing guidelines to ensure consistent advising practices.

Retention and Graduation Rate:  

Because the addition of predictive analytics occurred in 2013, Clayton State will monitor the 2013 FTFT cohort to determine the overall success of the new strategy.

Retention rates from 2013 to 2014 were 68.3% and suggest preliminary success with the strategy as compared to prior years (above).

Retention Rate FTFT Cohort

Graduation rates for the intervention cohort will not be available until May 2017.

Measures of Success

In the coming year, Clayton State will define measures of success with the new advising structure. To facilitate this process, an assessment committee was assembled and charged with development of more specific assessment measures under the new advisory model. Institutional data workbooks have been produced using the SSC software. This preliminary data will help guide the assessment process.

Lessons Learned

Integration of the SSC opened the doors to conversations campus-wide around intentional advising and student success. In August 2014, Provost Dr. Kevin Demmitt charged an advising task force to explore advising structures that would capitalize on the capabilities of the SSC platform. The task force recommended centralizing all professional advisors under a new director of advising and transitioning faculty from an advising to mentoring role. Clayton State is currently in the process of moving to a centralized advising system.  For fiscal year 2015 Clayton State received from the state three new advising lines to support the transition of advising responsibilities from faculty to professional staff.  Even with these new positions, advising loads for professional advisors remain above 400 students within certain colleges, which limits the scope and ability for advisors to fully adopt an intrusive advising model.

High-impact strategy

Participation in dual enrollment or joint enrollment programs for high school students from local counties.

Related Goal

Shorten time to degree completion through programs that allow students to earn college credit while still in high school and by awarding credit for prior learning that is verified by appropriate assessment.

Summary of Activities

Clayton State’s dual enrollment program serves students in Henry, Clayton, Fayette, and Coweta Counties. Enrollment has shown increases each year for the past five years, with the latest increase from 430 in fall 2013 to 544 in fall 2014.

Most recently, Clayton State’s dual enrollment program has been restructured under the umbrella of the Move On When Ready (MOWR) program. Under the revised structure, dual enrolled or MOWR students are no longer required to pay for tuition, books, or mandatory fees. This change in policy is expected to contribute to further enrollment increases.

Baseline Status

The dual enrollment program (or MOWR) has been active, in some form or another, for over five years. In 2012, the University began a concerted and focused effort to increase the number of dual enrolled students through collaborative efforts with the local high schools. One of the primary focuses of the program has been the credit hour completion rate of the dual enrolled students. The completion rate figures provide an interim measure of how successful the students are as they progress through the program. Baseline data for the year prior indicates a credit hour completion rate of 94.8%.

Fall 2011 Credit Hour Completion Rate*

*All MOWR students

Fall 2011 MOWR to Clayton State University Enrolled Degree-Seeking Students

*Awarded credit hours and attempted credit hours are from the cohort's first semester.

** Number of MOWR students who subsequently enroll as degree-seeking University students are counted for any semester after original cohort term.

Interim Measures of Progress

Clayton State has increased dual enrollees and credit awarded to dual enrollment students over the past three years. Significant growth occurred beginning with the fall 2012 cohort, which grew from 225 students in 2011 to 270 in fall 2012 (20% growth).

From fall 2012 to fall 2014, the University monitored the credit hours awarded vs. the credit hours completed to determine successful completion rates for the dual enrollee/MOWR students. A total of 2143 credit hours were awarded in fall 2012 compared to 3887 in fall 2014. These figures represent an 81.3% increase in the number of credits awarded. The successful credit hour completion rate increased to 96.1%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points, during this same time period.

As above, these completion rates provide an interim measure of students’ progress through the program and towards potential admission to and graduation from Clayton State.

Credit Hour Completion Rates For Continuing MOWR Students*

*Figures include all dual enrolled/MOWR students whether they were first time enrolled or continuing.

**Successful completion rates were calculated based on attempted credit hours compared to completed credit hours.

Measures of Success

Clayton State’s primary success goals are:

successful college-level credit completion by dual enrollment/MOWR students,

conversion of dual enrollment/MOWR students to Clayton State enrolled degree-seeking students, and

Clayton State University on-time graduation for previously enrolled MOWR students.

A total of 2864 credits were awarded, which represents a successful completion rate of 98.2% for the most recent fall.

Credit Hour Completion Rates for New MOWR Students

* Awarded credit hours and attempted credit hours are from the cohort's first semester.

MOWR Conversion Rates

Beginning in fall 2015, Clayton State is switching to using a conversion rate to track the number of MOWR students who matriculate to the University. The fall 2014 semester conversion rate of 5.0% (n=20) will be used as baseline.

Of the 415 new MOWR students (fall 2014), 134 students were retained within the MOWR program. Factors impacting conversion trends will continue to be examined and the program would like to increase the conversion rate by 20%.

Lessons Learned

The main challenge for the MOWR program is student, family and the high schools’ awareness regarding the advantages of dual enrollment compared to AP. Clayton State dual enrollment students have a 95% success rate compared to the Georgia AP average pass rate of 55% for 2014. There can be resistance by local schools as well. To address these challenges, Clayton State works closely with the schools and counselors to facilitate the registration process. To mitigate transportation issues in Henry County, Clayton State offers courses at the Henry County Academy for Advanced Studies.

The SAT eligibility requirements are also suspected to have an impact on the distribution of student participation from within the region. An analysis of the SAT scores of MOWR students from Henry, Fayette, and Clayton counties will yield data that may elucidate this question. Further focus will be directed to MOWR students who subsequently transfer to other USG institutions. Specific efforts will be geared towards reducing the MOWR transfer numbers and increasing MOWR student enrollment at Clayton State University. As the program continues to move forward efforts will continue to address advisement and course selection for students in the program. Effective advisement processes will better drive students’ success and enrollment and on-time graduation at Clayton State.

High-impact strategy

Enroll most students in need of remediation in gateway collegiate courses in English and mathematics, with co-requisite Learning Support. 

Related Goal

Increase the likelihood of degree completion by transforming the way that remediation is accomplished.

Summary of Activities

Clayton State piloted co-requisite math and English remediation in fall 2014 and spring 2015.

For fall 2015, all students are being placed according to revised guidelines with co-requisite remediation placement.

Baseline Status

The baseline data on remediation is the percentage of students who successfully completed remediation in fall 2013 (87.5% for English; 65.9% for Math) and then went on to successfully complete the entry-level math course the subsequent 2nd, 3rd, or 4th+ semesters. For English, 50% of students completed the college level course the next semester. For math, 25.4% successfully completed the college course the next semester (spring 2014), 38.3% by three semesters (summer 2014 and fall 2014), and 42.3% by the fourth semester (spring 2015).

Baseline (Standalone) Remediation Completion Rates

Interim Measures of Progress

During the pilot implementation year, 11.0% of all learning support math students were placed in the co-requisite remediation track; the remaining 89.0% were enrolled in the stand-alone learning support courses. Of the 20 learning support English students, all were enrolled in the stand-alone/traditional learning support course.

Co-requisite and Stand-alone Math & English Placement

*Total students includes first-time, full-time & all students (including non-traditional & transfer)

Standalone Remediation Measures: For fall 2014, the pilot implementation year for co-requisite remediation, math remediation completion rates improved to 74% for those students enrolled in “traditional” remedial courses (i.e., non co-requisite requirements). The percentage of students in standalone math remediation completing a college course within two semesters improved 10% (from 25.4% in fall 2013 to 35.9% in fall 2014).

Standalone Remediation Completion

Implementation of Co-requisite Remediation:  Thirty-seven students were placed into co-requisite math remediation. Of those, 54.1% passed college-level math within a semester and 56.8% in two semesters.

Co-requisite Remediation Pilot Year Completion

Measures of Success

As indicated in the section above, standalone math remediation completion and completion of a college course within two semesters following remediation have shown improvement. In addition, co-requisite remedial track completion rates for the most recent fall data indicate about half of the students are successfully completing these course requirements within 1 (54.1%) or 2 semesters (56.8%).

Lessons Learned

In 2015-16, the University transitioned to placement guidelines emphasizing co-requisite remediation. As the number of students enrolled in the co-requisite courses increases further comparisons can be made on success rates with a goal of increasing completion by 5% in the next 2 academic years.

High-impact strategy

Expand completely online opportunities.

Related Goal

Reconfigure instructional delivery to support educational excellence and student success.

Summary of Activities

Three new fully online degrees were added in the 2014-2015 academic year bringing the total number of undergraduate programs available 100% online to 11. An e-tuition rate has been established for our 100% online programs that save students, money on fees that would normally be paid if they were an on-campus student. This allows students a potentially cheaper, more flexible, option to complete their degree. 

Baseline Status

Clayton State has offered online programming for several years but has focused on expanding online opportunities in the last three years. Baseline metrics for Fall 2012 are in the next section.

Interim Measures of Progress

Online course options have experienced growth and course completion success over the past three falls. In Spring 2014, the first SPOC, POLS 1101, was launched with a total of 19 students. Of the 19, 17 (89.5%) passed the class with A’s and B’s.

Online Course Offerings and Completion Rates Fall 2012 to Fall 2014

To date no statistical comparison of success rates have been made between face-to-face and online classes. This is due to variation in instructors and the 3.0 GPA requirements for the SPOC classes.  The tables below show the success rates in both types of online courses.

Online Course Offerings and Success Rates

(n is the number of students enrolled in the course sections)

Measures of Success

The main measure of success for our online programming is student graduation from 100% online programs and the increase in 100% online credits awarded to students.  The program would like to see a 3% increase in the number of degrees awarded to 100% online students year over year, and a continued increase in success rates in online courses.

Lessons Learned

A challenge has been ensuring that students enrolling in online programs are best suited for that delivery format. SmarterMeasure, a student readiness assessment, has been implemented to direct academic advising to students enrolled in online programs that exhibit risk factors that could challenge their completion and success. Information and data will be collected on how this intervention tool contributes to outreach to at risk students and their subsequent success rates. Comparison across the different types of course offerings is an area that needs further refinement. In the coming academic year, we will be developing a better method of normalizing the data across the different groups.