Dr. Byron McClenney Community College Leadership Program University of Texas at Austin

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Dr. Byron McClenneyCommunity College Leadership
ProgramUniversity of Texas at Austin

• Transformation for Student Success and Completion

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Sources

• 33 Coaches in Achieving the Dream reflecting on
  over 1,200 visits to 130 colleges in 24 states
• Bridges to Opportunity (Ford Foundation) working
  in six states (2003-2008)
• California Leadership Alliance for Student
  Success (Current)

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Completion

• College Board
• National Governors Association Complete to
  Compete
• Lumina Foundation for Education
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Complete College America

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RULE OF THE UNIVERSE
Every course, every program, every college is
perfectly designed to get the results it is
currently getting.
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RULE OF THE UNIVERSE
We cant get better at what were not willing to
look at.
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RULE OF THE UNIVERSE
STUDENTS DONT DO OPTIONAL!
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BETTER IS POSSIBLE
It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It
takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And
above all, it takes a willingness to try. -
Atul Gawande
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WHAT MATTERS MOST (GOOD NEWS!)
Focused, sustained efforts, targeted to
significant numbers of students, can produce real
improvements in student engagement, learning,
persistence, and academic attainment.
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PERSISTENCE THE LIVES THEYVE TOUCHED
Large, multi-unit, complex, and diverse college
settings.

• Broward F to S from 75 (04) to 85 (09)
  F to F from 58 (04)
  to 68 (08)
• Valencia F to S from 79.2 (04) to 85.1 (09)
  F to F from 60.3 (04)
  to 67 (08)
• Houston F to S from 69.8 (04) to 74.8
  (09) F to F from 48.2 (04) to 53.6 (08)

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Building a Culture of Evidence
Take nothing on its looks take everything on
evidence. Theres no better rule. Charles
Dickens (1812 1870) Great Expectations
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Top Ten Reasons for Progress in Achieving the
Dream
Byron McClenney and the Coaches November 2, 2010

• Leaders, including board members and faculty, are
  engaged in, and pay continuous attention to,
  progress on the student success agenda.
• A sustained focus on student success is practiced
  by the institution and demonstrably influences
  the development of policies, procedures, and
  practices.
• There is broad and continuous faculty/staff/studen
  t/community engagement and collaboration in
  support of a student success agenda.
• Planning and budgeting (including reallocation of
  resources) are aligned with the vision,
  priorities, and strategies of a student success
  agenda.
• A culture of evidence and inquiry is pervasive in
  the institution (including cohort tracking of
  disaggregated data) with strong support from IR.

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Top Ten, Continued

1. A sense of urgency drives a shared vision and
   communications around a student success agenda
   with internal and external stakeholders.
2. Professional development efforts (inclusive of
   board members, CEO, leadership throughout the
   institution, full-time and adjunct faculty, and
   staff) are aligned with the priorities and
   strategies of a student success agenda.
3. A systemic student success agenda is integrated
   with other significant initiatives such as
   accreditation, strategic planning, and Title V.
4. An equity agenda is integrated in the efforts to
   improve learning and college completion outcomes.
5. Student success interventions are informed by and
   adapted from demonstrably effective practices.

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Make Effective Practice Mandatory

• Stop Late Registration
• Math Refresher Before Assessment
• Assessment
• Placement
• Orientation
• Student Success Course For Those Not College
  Ready
• Advising (Leading to a Plan)
• Learning Lab Participation

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Encouraging/Promising Practices

• Learning Communities (Dev. Math Linked with
  Student Success Course)
• Basic Skills Imbedded in Career Programs
• Supplemental Instruction
• Active and Collaborative Learning (Cooperative
  Learning)
• Fast-Track Math/ Modular Math
• Summer Bridge Programs (Boot Camps)
• Case Management (Incorporated in Learning
  Communities?)
• Course Redesign/Curricular Alignment

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Making the Grade How Boards Can Ensure Academic
Quality

• Active board interest in the reality behind
  graduation and retention statistics may help busy
  presidents keep student success near the top of
  their agendas.
• Make reviewing evidence of academic quality and
  improvement a regular and expected board-level
  activity.
• Expect and demand a culture of evidence.

Peter F. Ewell AGB 2006
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Transformation for Student Success

• 1. Create processes to inform and involve
  constituent groups in planning and budgeting.
• 2. Develop teamwork across organizational
  boundaries.
• 3. Identify critical or strategic issues through
  a careful analysis of
• appropriate data.
• 4. Identify a limited set of priorities for
  2011-2012 out of an understanding
• of the strategic or critical issues.

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Transformation for Student Success, Continued
5. Place student success priorities at the
core of institutional priorities for
2011-2012. 6. Allow the priorities to inform
and drive planning for operations in
2011-2012. 7. Allow operational plans to
significantly influence the allocation and/or
reallocation of resources for 2011-2012. 8.
Create a way to learn from the assessment of
outcomes and to apply the understandings to
alter processes and practices. 9. Create an
emerging collective vision about student success.