Tackling the Attendance Problem in Learning Communities and Other First-year Courses: The Administrative Withdrawal Policy at IUPUI

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Tackling the Attendance Problem in Learning
Communities and Other First-year Courses The
Administrative Withdrawal Policy at IUPUI

• Jeff Watt, Associate Dean
• School of Science
• Gayle Williams, Assistant Dean
• University College

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Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

• Urban campus
• Public comprehensive four-year institution
• Enrollment 28,342
• First-time, full-time 2,269

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Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

• Large number of commuter students
• High first generation rates 59 of entering
  students
• Large number of working students
• High DFW rates
• Poor retention rates

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Brief History of the Administrative Withdrawal
Policy

• Concern about poor attendance expressed in
  Gateway meetings and in other campus arenas
• Assumed association between poor attendance and
  high DFW rates
• Research indicating some association between
  attendance and course grades

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Brief History of the Administrative Withdrawal
Policy, Cont.

• Agreement reached by a small group of faculty
  members in mathematics, English, psychology, and
  learning communities to pilot an Administrative
  Withdrawal attendance policy in fall 2001
• The policy was designed to help freshmen
  establish good class attendance habits during
  their first college semester

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Brief History of the Administrative Withdrawal
Policy, Cont.

• The faculty determined that Administrative
  Withdrawal would take place after the full refund
  period
• The policy was stated in the syllabus for all
  participating courses

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Assessment of the Pilot

• Assessment of the policy was conducted at the end
  of the pilot semester
• In fall 2001, 137 students were administratively
  withdrawn
• Just over three-fourths (77) of the students who
  were administratively withdrawn from at least one
  course during fall 2001 failed or withdrew from
  all courses attempted for the semester

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Assessment of the Pilot, Cont.

• In addition, faculty reported that attendance,
  even in classes where the policy had not been
  implemented, appeared to improve that semester.
  The faculty speculated that the word was out
  among students IUPUI would no longer tolerate
  poor attendance habits

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Assessment of the Pilot, Cont.

• The pilot policy was continued the following
  semesters with similar results
• In spring of 2003, the IUPUI Faculty Council
  approved the implementation of the Administrative
  Withdrawal policy in all undergraduate courses

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Administrative Withdrawal Fall 2001

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How does the policy work?

• Faculty in participating courses receive an Early
  Warning roster with an option check box for
  Administrative Withdrawal
• Students identified for Administrative Withdrawal
  are sent a letter by registered mail
• Students have approximately 10 days to appeal

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How does the policy work? Cont.

• After the deadline, students who are identified
  for Administrative Withdrawal are removed from
  the course. A W appears on their transcript
• Students who are administratively withdrawn are
  not eligible for a fee refund

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IUPUI Faculty Council Regulations concerning the
application of the Administrative Withdrawal
Policy

• Policy may be applied in any undergraduate course
• A statement of the policy must appear in the
  syllabus for each participating course
• All sections of participating courses must adopt
  the policy
• Policy is stated on the Registrars website
  http//registrar.iupui.edu/withdrawal-policy.html

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Additional Policy Administration Information

• Although the policy must appear in every section
  of participating courses, applying the
  Administrative Withdrawal option is the decision
  of the faculty member in the course
• An official list of participating courses is
  maintained in University College
• Departments may remove a course from the list,
  but thus far, no courses have been removed

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Additional Policy Administration Information,
Cont.

• The number of courses on the Administrative
  Withdrawal list has increased steadily over the
  last five years
• The faculty in 108 courses, representing
  approximately 713 sections, had implemented the
  policy for fall 2006
• The campus has begun to look more closely at the
  students on financial aid who reenroll after
  having been administratively withdrawn

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Schools/Departments Participating

• Kelley School of Business
• Herron School of Art
• Department of English
• Department of Communication Studies
• Department of Psychology
• Department of Mathematics
• Department of Computer and Information Technology

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Schools/Departments Participating, Cont.

• University College
• Department of Sociology
• Department of World Languages and Cultures
• Department of Biology
• School of Science
• Department of Political Science

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Schools/Departments Participating, Cont.

• Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  Technology
• Department of Technical Communication
• Department of Interior Design Technology

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Administrative Withdrawals fall 2005
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Math 001 Introduction to Algebra
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Math 001 Introduction to Algebra, Cont.
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Math 001 Introduction to Algebra, Cont.

• The time of day that the class met did have a
  significant effect on the DFW rate
• Start times between 1100 am and 200 pm had, on
  average, a 2 higher DFW rate
• Despite the fact that the campus enrolls more
  female students, more males enroll in remedial
  mathematics

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Math 001 Introduction to Algebra, Cont.

• Those students missing less than 5 of the 45
  class meetings of the course accounted for 78.6
  of the grades of A on the departmental final
  examination
• Establishing clear expectations regarding class
  attendance from the start of the course has a
  significant effect on student success despite
  the fact that the Adm-W Policy is applied during
  the first four weeks of the semester

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Questions?

• Jeff Watt, Associate Dean
• School of Science
• jwatt_at_iupui.edu 317-274-4070
• Gayle Williams, Assistant Dean
• University College
• gawillia_at_iupui.edu 317-274-8923