Texas Pathways
Institute #2
MAPPING PATHWAYS THROUGH THE INSTITUTION
Short-Term Action Plan
Institution Name: South Texas College
Part I-A: ENROLLMENT/GRADUATE ANALYSIS BY PROGRAM – LAUNCHING THE WORK
ADVANCE WORK: TO BE COMPLETED BY COLLEGE BEFORE THE INSTITUTE
Instructions: Complete the attached spreadsheet for analysis of college enrollment by program area. Following completion of the college analysis of enrollment by program, the Institute team – and ideally, broader groups of people at the college – should consider as a group the following questions and provide responses in the second column.
To be reviewed and augmented during College Team Strategy Session #1 at the Institute
*** Indicates that this question will be provided to the instructional departments during the College-Wide Organizational and Professional Development day for their feedback.
Guiding Questions: Enrollment by Program / College Responses to Guiding Questions /1. How do we currently track students’ programs of study?
How accurately do the counts in this report reflect what programs students are actually in (or think they are in)? *** / South Texas College tracks students’ declared program of study through Banner. This information is also available in DegreeWorks. Students first identify a major as part of the application process through Apply Texas; students have the opportunity to change their major at the Admissions Office if needed.
The counts appear to be accurate for most part, with the exception of a few key areas including competitive entry programs (examples – Nursing and Allied Health and Bachelor’s Programs). A student may select this major though that does not indicate that they are officially accepted into the program. Also, students may be in these programs but their majors may still show something else (for example Associate Degree majors for students who are already in Bachelor programs).
Additionally, many students select a major even if they are unsure of their path in order to remain eligible for financial aid. Students often change their majors without notifying the Office of Admissions and thus the degree program that they are following is not the one listed in Banner and Degree Works.
Student Success Specialists and Advisors assist students to choose the right path. Students are advised for their intended major and a note reflecting this is placed in the Degree Works Educational Planner.
In some cases students are encouraged, through the Degree Progress Report Assignment, to log on to JagNet to check whether they are enrolled in the correct program of study, and monitor their progress.
2. How well do each of these program designations reflect students' goals--particularly for further education and employment? *** / South Texas College’s Associate of Science and Associate of Art degrees have clear transfer pathways to four-year institutions. All of the Associate of Arts and Associate of Science programs are highly transferrable so that students who look to transfer are competitive with the native students. Efforts are currently in place to re-establish 2+2 agreements with UTRGV.
South Texas College’s Associate of Applied Science degrees and certificates are aligned with local workforce occupations. The programs have taken great care in creating certificate and Associate of Applied Science programs that are driven by their advisory boards and that are tied to workforce needs.
Information on possible career tracks are provided to students through departmental orientations.
3. What is our current process for monitoring student progress through their program requirements?
How closely do we monitor how far along students are toward completing their program requirements? *** / Student progress through program requirements is monitored through several processes, which are described below. At this time, a systematic process does not exist which ties the various monitoring efforts together. Students are monitored at various points of the pathway by different college departments. The lack of coordination among the departments may cause students to fall through the cracks. The exceptions to this are the selective entry programs. Students that have been accepted into Selective Entry programs are tracked very closely by the department faculty and support staff from the point of acceptance to program completion.
Advisors work with FTIC students during their first year to monitor their progress and meet with students four times during the semester (FTIC Case Management Program). Students can access their progress towards program completion through Degree Works at any time.
The Office of Admissions also conducts audits to determine which students are close to completion, using DegreeWorks. For this reason, it is extremely important that there are no undeclared majors (as much as possible). Majors should be up-to-date and correct (reflect their current intent), and INDS should not be used as pseudo-undeclared.
Monitoring efforts within Academic Affairs differ by program. In our smaller programs, program chairs are able to monitor the progress of each student. Other programs rely on faculty advisors, though it may be necessary to formalize this process by officially assigning students to the faculty advisors.
South Texas College recently invested in a Constituent Relationship System (CRS), Radius, and an Early Alert System, called Starfish. These systems expand our institution’s capacity to expedite the identification of at-risk students and to increase efficient use of time in engaging them in interventions to increase student success and retention. Starfish is designed to increase student course completion rates and retention by collecting information and managing concerns about student academic success. The system detects at-risk students and requires that faculty and advisors intervene. This system mines student performance data and interacts electronically by triggering notifications which may prompt corrective action, acknowledge successes, or help faculty prioritize areas of concern.
4. Do students have easy access to information on exactly what progress they’ve made and what they have to do to complete their program?
Can students currently do degree audits?
What other information is available to help students track their progress?
How accessible and user friendly are they? *** / Students can easily view the progress that they have made towards their declared major using DegreeWorks, which is available easily through the student information portal, JagNet.. If a student wishes to pursue a different major, they can check to see how their coursework will apply by using the ‘What-If Analysis’ feature in DegreeWorks. Students can also view their financial aid status.
Students are able to conduct degree audits through DegreeWorks. They can easily view when they have registered for classes that do not pertain to their chosen program of study.
The information provided is comprehensive, but may not be easily understandable to students who are unfamiliar with higher education terminology (examples – core curriculum, field of study, gpa, etc.)
5. What is our current process for keeping track when students change programs?
How well do we keep track of changes in students’ program choices? / Students can change their program choices using the “Change of Information” process that the Admissions Office oversees. Students submit a form in person at the Admissions Office.
The student will become part of a new major list and for smaller programs, the change will be picked up by the chair.
6. Which department is responsible for monitoring the progress of students in each program listed in the report? / As stated in question 3 above, students are monitored at various points of the pathway by different college departments. At this time, a systematic process does not exist which ties the various monitoring efforts together. The lack of coordination among the departments may cause students to fall through the cracks. The exceptions to this are the selective entry programs. Students that have been accepted into Selective Entry programs are tracked very closely by the department faculty and support staff from the point of acceptance to program completion.
Responses Submitted by the Core Team Leaders:
Ideally it should rest both on academic departmental level, and on student services. Though the roles and responsibilities of each of these divisions should be mapped out and documented with clear roles and expectations for each of the departments.
The instructional department in which the program falls under. The department faculty receive help from Student Success Specialists to monitor progress.
The Advising Department works closely with Developmental Students and first time in college students in all programs of study. These students are offered advising for priority registration earlier than the other populations. Students in developmental courses and college success courses are scheduled for advisement during their class time and are their faculty walks them over to the advising center.
To my knowledge, the advisors, the faculty advisors (if they are currently being assigned, of which I am not sure) and the students themselves are responsible for monitoring the students’ progress. I am not sure who takes what steps to assure that students stay on track or who contacts students when they are off track.
Program chairpersons in consultation with the appropriate academic deans review student-level and program-level learning outcomes and course completion rates. Planning and Development Council (PDC) reviews retention rates each semester and graduation rates annually. During these reviews, any interventions or changes are discussed and approved. In addition, the Board Education and Workforce Committee also review the data. Based on these reviews, the College implements necessary changes to programs.
7. Are there students whose progress in a program is not tracked by any academic unit—for example, students taking developmental education courses, pre-nursing students, non-credit students? / Students that have been accepted into Selective Entry programs are tracked very closely by the department faculty and support staff from the point of acceptance to program completion. Students enrolled in other programs are tracked at different points of the pathway by different programs, as noted above.
There are also some gaps in tracking students in developmental studies, though there has been some work in this regard to address these gaps. For example, STC is currently planning on implementing FTIC Mandatory Advising, and through the ESSI institute, these issues have been identified and work is being undertaken to address these issues.
Developmental students are exposed to the need for a degree plan through their College Success or EDUC1300 course.
Guiding Questions: Graduates by Program / College Responses to Guiding Questions /
1. Comparing this report to the previous report on program enrollments, how well do the fields in which the college is awarding credentials reflect the programs in which students were enrolled?
How well aligned are the credentials the college awards in each program area with jobs in demand in your region?
How do you know whether or not these programs are aligned with local employment needs? / There are some discrepancies between the number of declared majors in some programs and the number of graduates that complete the program.
Examples – There were over 1,800 declared ADN majors, but 193 students graduated with this degree in 2014-2015. There were over 2,000 Criminal Justice majors, with 293 graduates.
Workforce programs are well aligned to local employment needs. The College subscribes to the Economic Modeling Specialists Incorporated (EMSI) data software, which identifies regional trends, number of job postings, earnings information, and projections for the future. Once a workforce program has been identified and approved to be developed, College leaders work collaboratively with Program Advisory Committees, which include industry partners and local employers, to develop the program curriculum. The curriculum is reviewed and adjusted with guidance from the Committees, to insure alignment with local workforce needs. Program advisory committees review the program learning outcomes frequently to determine if they are aligned with local employment needs. Additionally, STC has contracted with EMSI to conduct a ‘gap analysis’ which will identify any programs that we do not currently offer which are needed in our region.
Academic programs, which are meant for transfer to 4-year universities, may be less aligned with specific skills. The Core objective requirements of quantitative reasoning, communication, and critical thinking can be applied to a variety of professions. These are the skills that local employers have indicated are important.
Additionally, South Texas College has various student support services in place, such as career counseling, advising and academic planning to prepare students for the job market and meet the region’s employer needs.
One challenge at the CIP-code level is that we have in some cases many programs under one CIP-code. This makes it impossible to differentiate when the outcomes are tied to employment, etc.
2. How well aligned are transfer degrees with major requirements in bachelors’ programs offered by four-year institution (or by your college where applicable)?
How do you know how well aligned your programs are with transfer requirements in specific major fields? *** / Many of our degrees are well aligned with major requirements at four-year institutions. In most of our majors, all of the courses transfer to the field of study at our largest transfer partners. Transfer agreements that were in place with UTPA and UTB are now being revisited and re-written due to the merger of the two institutions into UTRGV.
For our largest transfer partners, the transferability of the courses is not an issue. For some of the “elite” institutions in the state of Texas transfer of courses is more of an uphill battle, although I would add that the universities are becoming more proactive in their approach to transfer by creating transfer plans and guides that state what their recommended/required coursework is and how it will transfer. UTSA, TAMU and Texas State University are great examples of this.
In some cases, the specifics of the articulations agreements may not have reached everyone at the transfer institutions because sometimes students report discrepancies.
We know whether our programs are well aligned to transfer requirements by researching these requirements at the receiving institution(s). Our top transfer institutions are UTRGV and TAMUK.
3. Does the college monitor the employment and further education outcomes and success of students in each of these programs?
If so, how is this information used? If not, how might you do this? / South Texas College does monitor the employment and educational outcomes of our graduates, but these processes can be improved. STC relies on state reports for this data. It is a challenge to stay in touch with students after they leave the college, and it is difficult to determine their status.
Every technical program has placement standards embedded into their annual program review, which is also included in their Institutional Effectiveness Biennium plans. For academic programs, transfer rates are also tracked through program review and IE Plans. Each program that fails to meet designated targets in relation to such outcomes, must develop action plans for Program Review and IE Plans.
One way that we could improve the tracking of graduates is through the creation of a very robust alumni association that students would want to be a part of. All of the colleges that I attended have one and produce quarterly magazines to keep people in touch and letting people share what is happening in their lives. We could also create communities in Social Media to help people connect. The power of an alumni network could only strengthen the South Texas College brand.
4. Do excess credits seem to be a problem among associate degree recipients in particular fields?
If so, in which fields? *** / Excess credits seems to be a problem for the majority of programs, especially in competitive entry fields and students earning AAS degrees.
Programs in which the mean college-level credits earned towards an associate degree were over 100, include: Associate Degree Nursing, Emergency Medical Technician, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapist Assistant, Radiologic Technology, Respiratory Technology, Deaf Support Specialist, Sign Language Interpreter, Law Enforcement, and Precision Manufacturing.
It is notable that Biology is near the bottom of the list as it is a high enrolled, high graduate program with a mean of 82.9 attempted college hours and a mean of 76.1 completed hours.
© 2015 This planning tool was adapted for Texas community collegs by the Texas Success Center from a template that was developed by the Community College Research Center and the American Association of Community Colleges’ Pathways Project, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.