South Georgia State College Campus Plan Update 2019

Institutional Mission and Student Body Profile

South Georgia State College, a state college of the University System of Georgia, is a multi-campus, student-centered institution offering high-quality associate and select baccalaureate degree programs.  The institution provides innovative teaching and learning experiences, a rich array of student activities and athletic programs, access to unique ecological sites, and residential options to create a diverse, globally-focused, and supportive learning environment.

(SGSC Mission Statement, approved 2012)

In academic year 2018-2019 SGSC offered three associate degree programs (AA, AS, and AS in Nursing) with a total of twenty academic pathways, as well as three bachelor’s degree programs (BS in Nursing, BS in Biological Sciences, BS in Management).  The college’s completion priorities focus primarily on attainment of the associate’s degree, at which level 94% of students were enrolled in fall 2018.

SGSC’s mission, completion priorities, and student body demographics clearly align.  SGSC consistently enrolls primarily “traditional” students (85% fall 2018).  However, a variety of student-support services for all students is extremely important at SGSC, where over one-half of all students have been Pell grant recipients (55% average, fall 2014-fall 2018), one-third of entering freshmen have remedial mathematics requirements (32% fall 2018), and one-fourth (25% average, fall 2014-fall 2018) have been first-generation college students.  Such student demographic data has led SGSC to select, in addition to Momentum Year strategies, four college completion strategies focusing on helping students to succeed and earn a degree. 

The “Enrollment and Demographic Trends” and “Underserved Enrollment Trends” tables (Appendix Tables A and B, respectively) provide a good look at the SGSC student body’s characteristics. 

 In addition to the data in the tables, it is noteworthy that in the fall of 2018 SGSC enrolled students from 111 of the 159 Georgia counties, from 17 other states and 4 other countries, and from 375 high schools.  The students represented in these enrollment figures help “to create a diverse, globally-focused learning environment” (SGSC mission statement). 

Momentum Year Update

South Georgia State College has implemented the following aspects of the Momentum Year:

Purposeful Choice

Element 1: Seven Focus Areas have been established, and information on each focus area has been made available to students in the catalog and on the website under academic pathways. The Focus Areas on the website are split between STEM and non-STEM options. General Studies was removed as a pathway option in order to move undecided students into appropriate focus area options.

All Focus Areas (Arts, Business, Education, Health Professions, Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM) have easily accessible pathway maps and clear statements that the student should move from a focus area into a pathway by their first 30 hours. The advising corps have been instructed to work with students in Focus Areas to move them into an appropriate pathway.

Element 2: The Banner solution for recording Focus Areas was implemented by IT in summer 2019.

Element 3: The transition plan for students to engage in the inform-discern-affirm process prior to course registration was initially implemented in summer 2018. Sessions have been added in the orientation process to introduce students to programs of study available at SGSC and to answer student questions about the programs prior to registration.

SGSC created detailed pathways replacing the old pathway maps as described in the “Clear Pathways” section below.

Advising tip sheets mentioned in our earlier report are in use by advisors, and updates to these sheets are being made by the professional advisors.

Clear Pathways

Element 1: As mentioned above, program maps with term-on-term course sequences have been published for all programs, including all bachelor’s programs. Milestones are included on the pathways.

SGSC created detailed pathways replacing the old pathway maps. The new pathway maps are designed to be user-friendly and incorporate graphic elements that point out important information to the students, such as focus courses and the requirement to finish Area A courses in the first 30 hours. Each pathway map includes a link to mynextmove.org, which takes the student directly to career opportunities related to that pathway. This resource provides the student with information related to needed knowledge, skills, abilities, personality, technology (software) typically used in that career, education required, and job outlook. It also allows the student to explore related career paths.

Element 2: SGSC implemented the corequisite model in fall 2018 for freshman English and mathematics. We use 1-hour corequisite sections in a lab-style format to accommodate students with variable needs in these sections. As much as schedules allow, the individual teaching the credit-level course also teaches the corequisite section.

Element 3: As noted above, SGSC has implemented new program maps that clearly indicate that students are required to complete core English and math in the first 30 hours. Academic advisors are trained to emphasize the need to complete these courses in a timely manner. We continue to audit completion rates in this area via reports that have been built manually.

Element 4: SGSC conducted an audit of all programs of study to make sure that the appropriate first math course is listed in the pathway. Corrections have been made to any maps that appeared ambiguous regarding the choice of math course and ensured all programs are aligned with the appropriate first math course for STEM and non-STEM programs.

Element 5: As mentioned above, program maps in all pathways identify three focus courses for that pathway and encourage completion of those courses within the first 30 hours.

Element 6: All SGSC program maps include 30 credits in the first year.

Element 7: SGSC has been monitoring student enrollments in courses and course availability to ensure that students are able to register for courses that align with their academic focus areas. SGSC has been able to provide courses as needed, but as noted in the previous report, this situation remains an ongoing concern due to limitations with staffing.

Element 8: This area is currently under development. The Academic and Student Affairs leadership team has been charged with working on expansion of co-curricular experiences for our students, particularly those that fall in alignment with the high impact practices as defined by the System.

The cluster model of advising is implemented.

Other Institutional High-Impact Strategies, Activities & Outcomes

(All tables and graphs referenced are in the Appendix.)

Other High-Impact Strategy #1:  Increase dual enrollment offerings at high school and SGSC campuses

Related Goal:  Shorten time to degree completion through programs allowing students to earn college credit while still in high school

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact:  This strategy aims to provide opportunities for academically-qualified high school students to earn college credits while still enrolled in high school, thereby shortening their time to a college degree.  The strategy also positively impacts enrollment at SGSC, both while students are still in high school and as a recruitment strategy/incentive to maintain SGSC enrollment after high school graduation.  Significantly, dual enrollment also facilitates and encourages transfer into SGSC’s baccalaureate programs and those of senior USG institutions.

Summary of Activities: (1) Dual enrollment (DE) is promoted to high school students and their parents through mail, recruiters at college fairs, high school counselors, and direct contact from the SGSC Dual Enrollment Specialists.    (2) Students are supported by the SGSC Academic Success office, tutors, Enrollment Services office, and high school counselors.  Tutoring is available onsite at the Academic Support and STEM Centers on both campuses, as well as online.  However, DE students constituted only 8% of all students utilizing these resources fall semester 2018.   (4)  When OER texts are not available, DE students are offered free use of loaned textbooks and receive information on the textbook process at least one month prior to the beginning of classes.  (5) Students are provided information on continuing enrollment at SGSC after high school graduation, as well as on transferring to other USG institutions (see measure #5 below).  (6) DE students matriculating both on campus and at high schools are offered personalized campus tours.

Measures of Progress and Success:

Baseline Measures: (1) The enrollment baseline is 96 students enrolled in fall 2013.  (2) The credits awarded baseline is 2535 in FY 2014.  (3) The course success rate baseline is 94.03% percent success for fall 2013.  (4) The DE course success rates compared to non-DE success rates is 94% (DE) versus 73% (non-DE) for fall 2013.  (5) The college enrollment post-high school graduation baseline is 90%.

Interim Measures of Progress: (1) The fall 2018 dual enrollment of 369 is a 284% increase over the baseline enrollment of 96 in fall 2013 (Table C).  (2) In FY2019 SGSC awarded 6,529 dual enrollment credits, a 158% increase over the baseline credits awarded of 2535 in FY2014 (Table D & Graph E).  (3)  The fall 2018 DE course success rate of 94.56% is an increase of .53% over the baseline rate of 94.03% for fall 2013 (Table F & Graph G).  (4) The fall 2018 DE/non-DE course success rate ratio of 95%:67% is close to the ratio for the fall 2013 baseline semester, as expected at SGSC.  The data for all interim measures demonstrates that the DE strategy at SGSC has been quite successful.  (5) SGSC tracks continuing college enrollment of DE students after high school graduation.  Table H demonstrates that for all five high school graduating classes shown, over 90% of SGSC’s former DE students continued their college careers after graduating from high school (a figure that could be higher if all students could be tracked).  Also, on average 80% of those continuing college chose to do so at either SGSC or another USG institution.

Measures of Success: (1) Maintain or exceed a DE enrollment of 350 through fall 2020.  (2) 5000 DE credits awarded for FY2020.  (3) A DE course success rate of at least 92% each semester through fall 2020.  (4) A DE/non-DE course success rate ratio of approximately 92:75 is expected through fall 2020.  (5) We continue tracking data on continuing college.  While SGSC has no control over this data point to establish a measure of success, we are using 90% of DE students continuing in college as a target.  Every measure of success was already met for fall 2018.

Lessons Learned: (1) Area high schools are eager to have their better students participate in dual enrollment.  (2) Availability of tutoring online and in Academic Support and STEM Centers on both campuses continues to be promoted vigorously.  (3) Freeing up full-time faculty and recruiting part-time faculty to teach DE courses on high school campuses continues to be a challenge to continued growth in DE enrollment. 

Other High-Impact Strategy #2:  Increase student academic success by providing Student Support mechanisms for academic achievement.

Related Goals:  Increase the number of undergraduate degrees awarded; shorten time to degree.

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact: (A) “Strategies to Emerge, Progress, and Succeed” (STEPS) is an effort to increase the persistence and retention of residential students.  The profile of those students is as follows: First-year residential students enrolled in at least one Learning Support course at SGSC and/or who had a high school GPA of ˂ 2.5.  These “at risk” students who reside on campus are targeted because of underperformance among SGSC’s residential student population, proximity, ease of staff contact, and high percentage of Pell-grant recipients and learning support requirements.  Of the first-time freshman residential students enrolled fall 2017, over a third (37%) were STEPS-eligible.  Significantly, for fall 2018 the percentage STEPS-eligible had increased to 56.4% (N=110).  While about half of those eligible had a HSGPA of 2.5 or greater, the number required to enroll in Learning Support courses increased—probably due to new LS criteria.  (B)  Early Alert, reported this year for the first time, is a system implemented fall 2017 for faculty to input electronically course-at-risk student grade concerns between the third and sixth weeks of classes each semester so that the Office of Student Success, as well as professional advisors, can contact students about their grades and plan strategies for students to obtain help.  (C) Learning Center tutoring is available on both the Douglas and Waycross campuses.  Each campus has an Academic Support Center and a STEM Center, as well as the availability of 24/7 online tutoring. 

Summary of Activities: (A) Strategies to Emerge, Progress, and Succeed (STEPS): (1) STEPS involves student success workshops, Academic Support Center tutoring, STEM Center tutoring, academic coaching provided by faculty and staff members, course grade monitoring throughout the academic year, a STEPS-student-specific SGSC 1000 orientation/first-year experience course, and other intervention practices.  (2) For fall 2018 the number of STEPS student sections of the SGSC 1000 first-year experience course increased from two to three.  The STEPS FYE/orientation class differs from other sections of the course in that it is a skills-driven class for at-risk students focused on student resources, goal setting, studying, note taking, testing, time management, financial literacy, student policies and procedures, academic planning, career planning, and “soft skills.” It also focuses on academic advising, academic standards, grade point average calculation, and other topics related to student success.  Resources used in developing and delivering the course include “Open Forum for Learning Assistance Professionals” (https://lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html),  a listserv for those teaching this type course, as well as other online sources and publications.  In addition, the Academic Success Director researched Open Educational Resource texts to utilize for the fall 2017 and fall 2018 cohorts.  (3) STEPS cohort student achievement for each fall semester is compared to the non-STEPS but STEPS-eligible fall 2013 baseline cohort achievement for data reporting purposes. STEPS students are not “visible” as such to faculty other than their orientation class instructor.

Measures of Progress and Success, STEPS:

Baseline Measures, STEPS:  Baseline measures for all eight metric/data elements come from the performance of the fall 2013 entering cohort of non-STEPS residential students—those students whose academic performance was not affected by the STEPS strategies initiated with the fall 2014 entering cohort.  All baseline data can be found in Table J. The baseline measures are as follows:  (1) fall 2013 to spring 2014 baseline persistence rate:  87.50% persisted; (2) fall 2013 to fall 2014 baseline retention rate: 48.96% were retained; (3) the fall 2013 baseline grade point average is 1.85; (4) a baseline of 78.13% of students were in good standing at the end of fall term 2013; (5) the baseline course success rate for fall term 2013 is 67%; (6) the spring term 2014 baseline grade point average is 1.51; (7) a baseline of 46.43% of students were in good standing at the end of spring term 2014; (8) the baseline course success rate for spring term 2014 is 50.13%.

Interim Measures of Progress, STEPS:  All progress data can be found in Table J.  

• The most recent fall to spring persistence rates for the STEPS cohorts are 89.47% (fall 2017) and 84.04% (fall 2018), the latter indicating a slight decrease, which is being reviewed.
• The fall 2018 to fall 2019 retention rate for the STEPS cohort is 38.30%, 10.66% percent lower than that of the non-STEPS baseline cohort and 26.7% below the target.
• The most recent fall grade point averages for the STEPS cohorts are 1.64 (fall 2017) and 1.49 (fall 2018), both of which are lower than the 1.85 average for the non-STEPS baseline group and vastly needing improvement.
• STEPS students remained in good standing at rates of 65.79% (fall 2017) and 38.30% (fall 2018), both below the rates for the non-STEPS baseline cohort (78.13%). 
• The most recent course success rates for the STEPS cohorts are 55.93% (fall 2017) and 52.66 (fall 2018), both lower rates than those for the non-STEPS baseline cohort (67%). 
• The most recent spring term grade point averages of STEPS students are 1.83 (spring 2018) and 1.41 (spring 2019), well above that of the non-STEPS baseline cohort (1.51) for spring 2018 but below the baseline for spring 2019. 
• The percent of STEPS students in good standing at the end of a full academic year is 55.88% for the fall 2017 cohort and 32.98% for the fall 2018 cohort. The significant decrease for the fall 2018 cohort is under review. 
• The most recent course success rates for STEPS students at the end of a full academic year are 62.37% for the fall 2017 cohort and 47.60% for the fall 2018 cohort.  The significant decrease for the fall 2018 cohort is under review. 

Measures of Success, STEPS:  “Success” for each of the eight measures of progress above is defined as follows:  (1) a fall to spring persistence rate of 85% for the fall 2020 STEPS cohort; (2) a fall to fall retention rate of 65% for the fall 2020 STEPS cohort; (3) a fall term grade point average of 2.00 for the fall 2020 STEPS cohort; (4) 65% of the fall 2020 STEPS cohort in good standing at the end of the fall 2020 term; (5) a fall 2020 course success rate of 60% for the fall 2020 STEPS cohort; (6) a spring term 2020 grade point average of 2.00 for the fall 2019 STEPS cohort.  (7) 65% of the fall 2019 STEPS cohort in good standing at the end of spring term 2020; (8) a spring term 2019 course success rate of 65% for the fall 2020 STEPS cohort.  No targets are currently being met, although the fall to spring persistence rate is only 1% below the target.

Lessons Learned, STEPS: (1) The SGSC Directors of Student Success and of Institutional Effectiveness are analyzing data to identify potential causes of the current trend in STEPS cohort course success, retention, and fall grade point average rates, as well as poor performance in academic standing, in order to develop an action plan in fall 2019 to be implemented in the 2019-2020 (current) academic year.  (2) During AY 2018-2019 the SGSC Director of Academic Success resigned; therefore, a portion of that year, leading into the current academic year, was a period of transition and may account for a downward trend in the success of this strategy; however, we are confident that the strategy is picking up and providing positive results.  (3) The STEPS FYE/orientation course is definitely scalable to other communities/institutions.  In fact, portions of the course have been used in academic success workshops offered campus-wide, and components of the course have been inserted into the FYE/orientation course for the general student population.  (4) For the current academic year, we have employed a Residential Hall Academic Advisor and Coach who also now teaches the STEPS FYE orientation course sections.

Summary of Activities: (C) Early Alert:  Between the third and sixth weeks of classes for each semester faculty record grade information on students about whom they are concerned.  Student Success staff and professional advisors contact students to plan intervention strategies.

Measures of Progress and Success, Early Alert: 

Baseline Measures, Early Alert: Baseline measures for two metrics/data elements come from the fall 2017 implementation semester and are as follows: (1) The fall 2017 percentage of students contacted showing improvement after intervention is 22.83% (Graph K). (2) The fall 2017 number of students identified by early alert and communicated to via student email and/or telephone is 177 (Table L). (3) The fall 2017 number of participating faculty is 12.

Interim Measures of Progress, Early Alert: (1) The fall 2018 percentage of students showing improvement is 33.40%, an increase of 10.57% above the baseline (Graph K). (2) The fall 2018 number of students identified and communicated to is 431, an increase of 143.5% over the baseline.  The fall 2019 number of students identified and communicated to is 757, an increase of 327.7% (Table L).  An important contributor to the huge increase in numbers of students identified and communicated to is that participating faculty increased from 12 (fall 17) to 31 (fall 18) to 58 (fall 19— 51% of the entire faculty, full and part-time—58/113, Table L). Appendix Table M reveals that for each of the past three semesters, in courses alerted when students were at high-risk, over 50% of students triggering early alert ended up being successful.  Table N reveals that of students failing at mid-term for the past three semesters an average of 28% achieved a passing final grade.

Measures of Success, Early Alert: (1) for fall 2020 a student improvement rate of 35%.  (2) for fall 2020 a student identification and communication number of 800. (3) for fall 2020 a faculty participation rate of 70%.

Lessons Learned, Early Alert: (1) Faculty and advisor participation is the key to the success of this strategy. (2) Student follow-through with prescribed intervention strategies is imperative.

Summary of Activities: (C) Learning Centers Tutoring: (1) Tutoring takes place in the four SGSC Learning Centers—a STEM Center on each of the two campuses and an Academic Support Center (ASC) on each campus—as well as through the 24/7 online tutoring services of tutor.com.  Ongoing activities include the day-to-day operations of the tutoring centers and online tutoring.  In addition, SGSC has extended tutoring from our Academic Support and STEM Centers into the residence hall as of spring 2018. Day-to-day operations include the following: (a) Providing peer tutors for tutoring, (b) inventorying and tracking resource utilization, (c) managing Center facilities, (d) tracking Center utilization, (e) facilitating group study, (f) marketing support services, (g) and generally supporting students and faculty.  At the beginning of every semester Student Success provides classroom presentations for faculty and participates in any presentations requested.  (2) Student Success is part of the collaborative programming team hosted by Campus Life. (3) Student Success is on the STEM Grant committee housed within the School of Sciences and the Housing Task Force. (4) Throughout the academic year, Student Success proctors exams in the testing centers located within the Academic Support Centers.   (5) During convocation week of fall semesters, Student Success trains residential assistant (RA) staff on tutoring services available to the SGSC student body.  (6)  Programming activities of the SGSC tutoring centers for the past academic year include the following:

• July 20, 2018, Academic Success staff supported the Hawk Connect re-enrollment event.
• Academic Success provided support throughout the academic year during peak student advising and open registration periods by offering peer advising and Learning Center locations for student advising.
• Sept 11, 2018, Club Showcase table set up with Academic Support and STEM Centers info
• Sept 13, 2018, Nuts About Learning Workshop; tutors gave out PB&Js to students.
• Sept 17, 2018, Smart Cookie Series: Notetaking
• Sept 19, 2018, Smart Cookie Series: Successful Student
• Sept 20, 2018, Smart Cookie Series: Successful Student
• October 31, 2018, Tutor Gone Missing Educational Escape Room
• November 27, 2018, HAWK Connect communication workshop
• November 26, 2018, Nursing test review
• January 22, 20`9, Club Showcase table set up with Academic Support Center and STEM info
• Jan 28, 2019, Biology 2107 test review I
• Jan 29, 2019, Taco Tuesday
• Jan 30 – Mar 6, 2019, Chemistry Workshops
• Feb 1, 2019, Academic Support Centers staff served as Science Fair judges
• Feb 8, 2019, HESI Bootcamp: Anatomy &Physiology
• Feb 20, 2019, Biology 2107 test review II
• April 12, 2019, Academic Support Centers participated in SGSC Preview Day with ASC and STEM information table for prospective students.
• April 13, 2019, Biology 2107 test review III
• April 29, 2019, Nursing Test Review
• May 2, 2019, Nursing test review
• June 5, 2019, Smoothie Event: Get to Know the Summer Tutors.
• June 24 – 28, 2019, GRE sessions: study sessions for GRE and simulated test day

Measures of Progress and Success, Tutoring:

Baseline Measures, Tutoring:  Baseline measures for all seven metric/data elements come from the performance of the fall 2013 students—those students whose academic performance was not affected by the strategies initiated with the fall 2014 entering cohort. The baseline measures are as follows: (1) fall 2013 residential status: 76.89% non-tutee commuter, 5.78% non-tutee residential, 10.39% tutee commuter, and 6.94% tutee residential; (2) fall 2013 mid-term grade baseline course success rates: 75.49% for non-tutees vs. 73.32% for tutees; (3) fall 2013 final grade baseline course success rates: 74.34% for non-tutees vs. 76.79% for tutees; (4) fall 2013 to spring 2014 baseline persistence rate: 73.36% for non-tutees vs. 82.55% for tutees; (5) fall 2013 to fall 2014 baseline retention rate: 46.76% for non-tutees vs. 58.17% for tutees; (6) fall 2013 average institutional cumulative GPA: 2.60 for non-tutees vs. 2.62 for tutees; (7) a baseline of 80.63% of non-tutees vs. 83.89% of tutees were in good standing at the end of fall 2013 term.

Interim Measures of Progress, Tutoring (All Interim Measures of Progress Data can be found in Graphs or Tables O-U):  (1) fall 2018 residential status: 72.21% non-tutee commuter, 7.39% non-tutee residential, 16.89% tutee commuter, and 3.51% tutee residential; (2) fall 2018 mid-term grade course success rates: 70.77% for non-tutees vs. 73.66% for tutees; (3) fall 2018 final grade course success rates: 72.62% non-tutees vs. 77.09% for tutees; (4) fall 2018 to spring 2019 persistence rate: 77.68% for non-tutees vs. 83.76% for tutees; (5) fall 2018 to fall 2019 retention rate: 51.19% for non-tutees vs. 64.36% for tutees; (6) fall 2018 average institutional cumulative GPA: 2.66 for non-tutees vs. 2.73 for tutees; (7) good standing at the end of fall semester 2018: 78.29% for non-tutees vs. 81.58% for tutees.  For all measures, those students engaging in tutoring clearly achieved greater success than those not receiving tutoring.

Measures of Success, Tutoring: (1) Maintain at least 15% of student population receiving tutoring each fall through fall 2020.  (2) Mid-term course success rates for tutees will exceed non-tutees each fall through fall 2020.  (3) Final course success rates for tutees will exceed non-tutees each fall through fall 2020.  (4) Fall to spring persistence rate for tutees will exceed non-tutees each fall through fall 2020.  (5) Fall to fall retention rate for tutees will exceed non-tutees each fall through fall 2020.  (6) Average institutional cumulative GPA for tutees will exceed non-tutees each fall through fall 2020. (7) The percentage of tutees in good standing will exceed that of non-tutees each fall term through fall 2020.  Currently, with the exception of measure #1 (student participation in tutoring), all measures of success are being met.

Lessons Learned, Tutoring: (1) The Douglas Campus Academic Support Center specialist is full-time;

however, that position on the Waycross Campus is part-time.  A fulltime specialist in Waycross would have an even greater impact.  (2)  Because data shows that student participation in tutoring clearly improves success, we need to find ways to involve more students in tutoring, particularly at-risk students—but also the better students, such as those dually-enrolled.

Other High-Impact Strategy #3:  Use academic advising as a means of increasing student progression, retention, and graduation

Related Goal:  Keep students on track to graduate; encourage shortening of time to degree by emphasizing “15 to Finish”; decrease excess credits on the path to completing a degree.

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact:  SGSC’s significant at-risk and Pell grant student population needs a solid grasp of the advising process as a learning tool for success.

Summary of Activities: (1) It is important to note that many, but not all, aspects of the advising strategy are now part of the Momentum Year initiative discussed in Section Two of this report.  (2) An academic advisement session is a feature of the college’s first-year experience course, SGSC 1000, a course in which all first-time, full-time students enroll each semester.  The session uses academic program maps from senior institutions to match with SGSC academic pathway maps to help students complete an assignment to plan their entire course of study at SGSC while also emphasizing “15 to Finish” as the best means to achieve academic goals.  Another focus of the advisement session is to help students understand their own roles and responsibilities in degree completion.    (3) Advising “tip sheets” for advisors have been created for academic programs in specialized areas, such as pre-nursing, STEM pathways, and education, as well as on learning support policies and rules.  Tip sheets include points to remember, comments on program maps, potential impediments to graduation, and FAQ.  (4) Training and mentoring opportunities in advising for faculty members have been established, including opportunities prior to orientation and registration sessions, as well as throughout the academic year.  (5) During academic year 2017-2018, SGSC had in place two professional academic advisors, one on each campus, to assist students, train and collaborate with faculty advisors, assist with advising assessment, and maintain student records and reports. SGSC now has in place a cluster advising model, adding a professional advisor for each academic school and an advisor for residential students. (6)  During academic year 2018-2019 professional advisors engaged in the following activities:

• aided in SGSC’s Early Alert program pilot
• conducted hands-on advising training for new faculty.
• Student Orientation and Registration (SOAR) orientation at SGSC Entry Program at Valdosta (June 1, 2018)
• SOAR for athletics programs (June 14, 2018)
• SOAR for Douglas campus (June 19, 2018)
• HAWK Connect recruitment event (June 20, 2018)
• SOAR Douglas campus (July 24, 2018)
• SOAR for late registration on the Americus campus entry program (Aug. 2, 2018)
• B. S. in Management orientation on the Waycross campus (Aug 2, 2018)
• SOAR for late registration for Douglas campus (Aug 7, 2018)
• SOAR for Biology on Waycross campus (Aug 7, 2018)
• SOAR for Douglas (Nov 13, 2018)
• SOAR for Waycross (Nov 17, 2018)
• HAWK connect (Nov 27, 2018)
• HAWK connect (Nov 28, 2018)
• In fall 2018 and spring 2019 the newly-developed team of professional advisors participated in a series of trainings conducted by departments from across campus on the following topics: registration forms and policies (Nov 29), Early Alert (Nov 30), assessment (Dec 3), DegreeWorks (Dec 7), Banner9 (Dec 18) Scheduling software (Dec 18), Early Alert (Jan 15), Momentum Year (Jan 18), graduation (Jan 22) and campus police functions (Feb 27)
• SGSC Entry Program at Valdosta State University SOAR (Jan 10, 2019)
• Conducted student workshops on preparing for advising appointments  

Measures of Progress and Success: 

Baseline Measures: (1) The baseline one-year retention rate for FTFT freshmen is 48.63% for fall 2013.  (2) The baseline percentage of students enrolling in 15 or more credit hours is 21.33% in fall 2013.  (3) The baseline percentage of students successfully completing 15 or more credit hours is 46.99% for fall 2013.  (4) The three-year graduation rate baseline is 9.99% for the fall 2011 cohort.  (5) The baseline for degrees conferred by degrees offered is 266 for FY2014. 

Interim Measures of Progress: (1) The one-year retention rate for FTFT freshmen for fall 2017 is 41.02%, a 7.61% decrease from the fall 2013 baseline (Table V).  (2) The percentage of students enrolling in 15 or more credit hours for fall 2018 is 24.58%, a 3.25% increase over the fall 2013 baseline (Table W).  (3) The percentage of students successfully completing 15 or more credit hours for fall 2018 is 35.40%, an 11.59% decrease from the fall 2013 baseline (Table X).  (4) The three-year graduation rate for the fall 2015 cohort is 13.19%, a 3.2% increase over the fall 2011 cohort baseline (Table Y).  (5) The number of degrees conferred by degrees offered is 374 for FY 2019, a 40.6% increase over the FY 2014 baseline and a 3% increase over the FY 2018 number of 364 (Table Z). 

Measures of Success: (1) a one-year retention rate for FTFT freshmen of 55% for fall 2020; (2) 30% of students enrolling in 15 or more credit hours for fall 2020; (3) 60% of students successfully completing 15 or more credit hours for fall 2020; (4) a three-year graduation rate for the fall 2018 cohort of 18%; (5) a number of degrees conferred by degrees offered of 360 for FY 2020.  While the target is already met for number of degrees conferred, targets are not yet met for other measures.

Lessons Learned: (1) The USG Momentum Year initiative complements this SGSC strategy.  (2) Our adoption of a cluster advising model fully implemented for AY 2018-2019 should have a positive impact on retention and graduation rates. (3) Average excess credit hours per fiscal year for each SGSC degree program can be determined using data in Table AA to assist us in addressing that issue.

Other High-Impact Strategy #4:  Implementation of Gardner Institute/USG Gateways to Completion (G2C) Collaborative to improve student performance in foundational high-enrollment, high-risk courses through course redesign, use of predictive analytics, and improved teaching and learning pedagogy.

Related Goals:  Increase number of degrees awarded; shorten time to degree; use predictive analytics; restructure instructional delivery to support educational excellence and student success.

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact:  G2C provides faculty with processes, instructional and curricular guidance, and analytics tools to redesign teaching, learning, and success in high-risk gateway courses.  The USG is invested in G2C through commitment to and application of the G2C process at ten USG institutions, among them SGSC.

Summary of Activities:  (1) SGSC is one of 10 USG institutions partnering with the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate education to improve teaching and learning in gateway courses.  (2) After the “analyze and plan” and course redesign components of years 1 and 2, the redesigned BIOL 2107K course (Cohort I) was launched spring semester 2018 as a pilot to be replicated. (3) Consequently, there are four new redesigned Gateways courses in Cohort II, to be implemented fall 2019 (ENGL 1101, MATH 1111, HIST 2112, POLS 1101) in the “act and refine” academic year 2019-2020.  (4) Analysis of fall 2019 Cohort II course assessment data will facilitate making course changes for spring semester 2020. Cohort II concludes its G2C work at the end of spring semester 2021.  The “official” conclusion of G2C work with the BIOL 2107K course (cohort I) was at the end of spring semester 2019.  That G2C course is the only one producing progress data thus far; thus, all G2C measures of progress and success reported here apply only to that course.

Measures of Progress and Success:

Baseline Measures (all baseline data is for FY2015 and is in Table BB): (1) The baseline overall DFWI rate for BIOL 2107K is 44.2%.  (2) The baseline DFWI rates by gender for BIOL 2107K are 54.3% (male) and 38.2% (female).  (3) The baseline DFWI rates by full-time and part-time status are 46.8% and 36.1%, respectively.  (4) The baseline DFWI rates for the most at-risk race/ethnic groups are 50% (Hispanic or Latino) and 64.4% (Black or African-American).  (5) The baseline DFWI rate for Pell-eligible students is 49.4%.  (6) The baseline DFWI rate for first-generation students is 41.7%.  (7) The baseline DFWI rate for non-first-generation students is 44.8%.  NOTE: All G2C measures are selected by the Gardner Institute. 

Interim Measures of Progress (all measures refer to BIOL 2107K): (1) The FY18 DFWI rate is 36.2%, an improvement of 8% from the baseline percentage.  (2) The FY18 DFWI rates by gender are 44.8% (male) and 30.1% (female), a 9.5% and 8.1% improvement respectively compared to the baseline rate.  (3) The FY18 DFWI rates by full-time and part-time status are 37.9% and 29.3%, respectively—8.9% and 6.8% improvements over the baseline.  (4)  The FY18 DFWI rates for at-risk ethnic groups are 46.7% (Hispanic or Latino) and 47.1% (Black or African-American), improvements of 3.3% and 17.3%, respectively.  (5) The FY18 DFWI rate for Pell-eligible students is 41.6%, a 7.8% improvement from the baseline rate. (6)  The FY18 DFWI rate for first-generation students is 46.2%, a decrease of 4.5%.  (7)  The FY18 DFWI rate for non-first-generation is 34.8%, an improvement of 10%. The only measure not showing improvement over the baseline is the DFWI rate for first-generation students.

Measures of Success:  (1) Reduce overall DFWI rate by 10 percent by FY19 compared to the FY15 baseline.  (2) Reduce DFWI rates for males and females by 10 percent FY19 compared to the FY15 baseline.  (3) Reduce DFWI rates for full-time and part-time students by 10 percent FY19 compared to the FY15 baseline.  (4) Reduce DFWI rates for Hispanic or Latino and Black or African American students by 10 percent FY19 compared to the FY15 baseline (This success outcome has been met for the past two years).  (5) Reduce DFWI rates for Pell-eligible students by 10 percent FY19 compared to the FY15 baseline.  (6) Reduce DFWI rates for first generation students by 10 percent by FY19 compared to the FY15 baseline.  (7) Reduce DFWI rates for non-first-generation students by 10% by FY19 compared to the FY15 baseline (This success outcome has been met).

Lessons Learned: (1) Course teaching release time or a stipend for course team leaders is essential to the success of the G2C strategy because of the faculty teaching load at SGSC, a state college. (2)  With the first G2C course (BIOL 2107) the strategy has produced good results in student success progress, as the data indicates.  Consequently, SGSC looks forward to implementing four additional new G2C course designs (ENGL1101, MATH 1111, HIST 2112, POLS 1101) fall 2019. Baseline data for G2C cohort II courses is in appended tables CC through FF. No interim measures of success data for cohort II courses is yet available from the USG.

Observations and Next Steps

Reflections:

(1) While there is need for improvement in some strategy areas, our data demonstrates that all of our ongoing college completion strategies continue to be effective. We continue to monitor, analyze, and plan based on data results.

Observations:

One challenge to SGSC’s college completion efforts is the institution’s need for additional technology and research personnel to support the generation and analysis of data needed to assess and inform completion strategies, particularly as SGSC strives to develop a predictive analytics model. We recently purchased a limited number of licenses for Tableau Online, a dashboard software which is currently being implemented. Key SGSC personnel will have access to real-time data. Additional licenses are to be purchased when budgetary resources are available.

Next Steps:

(1) For much of Momentum Year work, AY 2019-2020 is year-one of implementation.  We will be collecting and analyzing data, developing action plans, implementing actions, and assessing as we move forward. We currently need to expand co-curricular activities.

(2) We are adopting some new academic advising assessment metrics for academic year 2019-2020, all of which will impact both our Momentum Year and Academic Advising strategy efforts. The quantitative and qualitative metrics are as follows:

(3) For academic year 2019-2020, the G2C strategy will include four additional Gateways high-risk courses—ENGL 1101, MATH 1111, HIST 2112, and POLS 1101. The course redesigns completed by spring 2019 are to be implemented fall semester 2019.  We anticipate that students affected will flourish.

Student Success and Completion Team