Connecting Policies and Practices to

Strengthen a Culture of Completion

Erin Barzen, South Seattle College

Hilary Loeb, Puget Sound Educational Service District

Mary Ellen O’Keeffe, Seattle Colleges

Kristi Wellington-Baker, Walla Walla Community College

League for Innovation Conference

March 13, 2016

Presentation Overview

• Introductions and small group discussion

• Rationale for creating a completion culture on our

campuses

• Project Finish Line overview

• Communications and outreach planning for completion

• Lessons learned and discussion

Small Group Discussion

• What are the needs and barriers of different populations that

are close to completion on your campuses?

• What strategies do you utilize to address these barriers?

• How do you gauge the success of these strategies?

• What are challenges that impact your work?

Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC

Rationale for

creating a

completion

culture on our

campuses

Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC

Completing a Degree or Transferring to a

4-Year College within Three Years

Innovation at Seattle Colleges:

Introduction of Technology

• Advisor Dashboard

• Education Plan

• Civitas ILLUME

Innovation at Seattle Colleges: Connecting

Student Success Initiatives

• Pathway to Completion

• Project Finish Line

• IPASS

• Guided Pathways

Innovation at Seattle Colleges: Impact on

a College System

• Seattle Colleges –three independent colleges

• Need for collaboration

• Need for professional development

• Need for Change Leadership

What is

Project Finish

Line?

Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green River

Community College

• Walla Walla Community College award winning model

• Reengagement of “potential completers”

• Changes to infrastructure, policies and practices

• Gates Foundation funding for one coach/campus with college match

• Goal of return on investment=69 FTE students/Completion Coach

Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green

River College

Results Years One

and Two

8,016

3,809

2,193

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

Students Identified forCompletion Coaching

Students Responding toCompletion Outreach Efforts

Students Agreeing to Workwith Completion Coaches

Completion Coaches at Seattle Colleges and Green

River College

Results Years One

and Two

230

91

1,009

1,330

1,147

-

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

Completes aShort TermCertificate

Completes aCertificate (not

short-term)

Earns a Two-Year or a BA

Degree

Total CredentialsCompleted

Total UniqueStudent

Completions

Puget Sound Coalition Learning

Community

• Open to college staff and community based organizations

• Expert counsel in adult learning design

• Co-designed by college representatives

• Stipends for groups of represented personnel at all Coalition

Colleges

• Collaboration with Dr. Rob Johnstone of National

Center for Inquiry & Improvement

• External evaluation led by Professor Bob Hughes

• Changes in infrastructure, policies, practices aimed at

supporting completion

Harsh Realities

“In spite of our collective belief that education is the engine for climbing the socioeconomic ladder- the heart of the “American dream’ myth-colleges are now more divided by wealth than ever.”-Why Poor Students Struggle by Vicki MaddenNew York Times, 9/21/2014

Completion Culture:

A Responsive Systems Approach

Completion at South

Staffing:

• A unique and sustainable approach

Critical attributes of successful coaches:

• Self-starters, problem solvers, systems navigators

• Data analysis skills and knack for connecting dots

• Breadth versus depth of college/campus knowledge

Completion at SouthGoals:

• Increase retention and completion rates

• Identify barriers

• Analyze data collected to make policies and procedures recommendations

• Provide seamless support services for students

• Address equity gaps

• Further a campus culture of completion

Completion at South

Common barriers to completion:

• Systems navigation

• Financial

• Personal

• Academic

• Institutional

Completion at South

Completion at South

Early successes:

• Awareness raising

• Support amongst our colleagues

• 17% increase in completions in 2015-2016

• 30% increase in graduation ceremony attendance

• PFL students 35% completion rate compared to overall 21%

rate

Completion at South

Lessons learned:

• Partnerships are absolutely critical

• Cooperation with IR and IT

• How to share the story – a culture of completion

• Financial Education an essential component

• Small fixes and more systemic recommendations

Completion at South

What’s next:

• An iterative process – Coaching 2.0

• Work is naturally aligned with

Guided Pathways initiative

• Further analysis of data collected to

inform policy & practice

Data Sources: WA OSPI student level database, WA SBCTC data warehouseAll data provided to CCER by WA ERDC

Communications

and Outreach

Planning

Why Plan for Communications and Outreach?

• Engaging stakeholders is critical for student success

• Different audiences have varied needs

• Just in time information can make a difference in

students’ lives

Why Plan for Communications and Outreach?

• Strong communication can…

• Shift consciousness to change culture: Colleges need to be student

ready rather than students need to be college ready

• Early program adopters can nurture partnership

• Critical communications resources:

• Compelling completion stories

• Clear completion data

Communications and Outreach Planning

for Student CompletionAudience Assumptions

What do we know about

them?

Research

What else do we need to

know?

Key Messages

What need will this fill for

them?

Strategies

How will we reach them?

Students Priorities: achieve

academic goals,

contribute to family,

take care of finances

Needs: help navigating

systems, access to

resources, sense of

success

Info: email, website,

phone, in-person

Who: Info Desk,

Financial Aid, advisors,

counselors peers,

student leaders

How best to reach

students-limited

success with email.

What unexpressed

needs do we not know

about? Any use for

focus groups?

Need to know which

systems-level barriers

are most frequent

and/or most

challenging

You are so close and

we’re here to help you

get over the last

hurdles. You can do it

& it’s worth it.

We’re here for you just

as much at the end of

your college

experience as we

were at the beginning.

There’s a resource for

that.

Having a degree will

make a tangible

difference in your life.

Be visible on campus

– staff at events & in

classrooms, signage,

and online presence

Referrals from staff &

faculty

ID programs, classes,

and student

meetings/events to

target

Use social media

Create systems to

anticipate & thus

mitigate barriers for

students

Individual or Small Group Exercise

• Complete the Communications and Outreach Planning for

Student Completion Tool individually or with a member of

your campus or organization team

• Large group debrief

• What opportunities does this spark for future work?

• What questions does this exercise raise?

Lessons Learned and Discussion• Completion is a system-

level endeavor

• Student services

• Institutional research

• Financial aid

• Technology

• Key Project Finish Line

supports

• Executive sponsorship

• Communication and

celebration of early

easy wins

• Collaboration across teams

on five campuses

A shared commitment to exploring and addressing issues of

equity helped us support students’ individual needs.

Resources

• Presentation and Materials: https://coalition.psesd.org/resource-repository/

• Road Map Project Community and Technical College Report http://www.roadmapproject.org/data-center/reports/

• Project Finish Line Website https://coalition.psesd.org/project-finish-line/

• AACC Completion College Fact Sheet http://www.aacc.nche.edu/About/completionchallenge/Documents/Completion-

Fact_Sheet.pdf

• Bailey, Thomas R., Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Davis Jenkins.

Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student

Success. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015. .