When administrators at Zane State University started using a survey instrument to identify students who were at risk of dropping out, at first they just invited students to meet and discuss ways to improve their chances of staying in school.
But when those invitations and even pizza parties didn’t work, officials at the community college in Zanesville, Ohio, started employing a more aggressive approach known as “intrusive advising,” wherein they would suggest more strongly that students meet face to face with advisers.
It would start with a letter and an e-mail message asking the students to come in for a meeting, and if students failed to respond, advisers would show up in class and ask the students to meet in person.
“It was implied as a mandatory meeting,” said Stacie Mahaffey, director of the Student Success Center at Zane State College. “We didn’t say you had to come in, but it was implied.”
Subsequently, retention rates rose — 77 to 82 percent from 2006 to 2009 among at-risk students — and students in developmental education began to complete their English and math courses at higher rates as well.
Zane’s success with “intrusive advising” is one of several such experiences featured in “A Matter of Degrees: Promising Practices for Community College Student Success” — a new report released recently by the Center for Community College Student Engagement, or CCCSE.
Besides “intrusive advising,” the report highlights a dozen other “promising practices” that community colleges can employ to potentially boost their retention and completion rates, particularly among students who show up academically underprepared.
