Student Success Academy Experience
The Student Success Academy is a structured, mentor-facilitated three-year program aimed at evaluating and improving institutional factors that affect student success. Applications are now closed for the fall 2020 cohort of the Academies.
Framework
The Academy framework consists of live webinars, on-campus inventories, in-person roundtable events and virtual consultations that help institutions methodically and holistically approach their student success challenges and opportunities.
The program is built around the investigation of four key factors to help institutions identify their current realities and discover areas of opportunity for improving student success:
- Data: Who are the institution’s students? What does the institution know about them?
- Initiatives: What is the institution doing to support student success?
- Infrastructure: How do the institution’s processes, policies and procedures affect student success?
- Engagement: Who is engaged in student success efforts? How is student success promoted and recognized?
Program Structure
Orientation: HLC presents a two-part webinar series providing (1) an overview of the Academy’s framework and guidance on building an effective Academy team and (2) information to prepare the team for conducting the Data Inventory.
Data Inventory: The team conducts an inventory of available data on the institution’s student populations and an assessment of its capacity for managing those data, together with a survey on perceptions at the institution of what student success means.
Data and Initiatives Roundtable: At this in-person, multi-day event, Scholars and facilitators guide the team in analyzing the Data Inventory and provide a protocol for the Initiatives Inventory.
Progress Updates and Responses (ongoing): The team documents its findings and plans and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.
Initiatives Inventory: The team conducts an inventory of current initiatives at the institution that are designed to support student success, the resources they require and their documented impact.
Initiatives and Infrastructure Roundtable: Scholars and facilitators guide the team in analyzing the Initiatives Inventory and provide a protocol for the Infrastructure Inventory.
Infrastructure Inventory: The team conducts an inventory of the institution’s processes, policies and procedures that considers how they may be inhibiting or promoting student success.
Engagement Webinar: HLC presents information on how to create institution-wide engagement in student success efforts.
Engagement Inventory: The team conducts an inventory of personnel engaged in student success efforts, means of promoting and recognizing student success at the institution, and resources allocated to supporting engagement.
Second-Year Mentor Consultation: The Primary Mentor consults virtually with the institution to review the information gathered in the inventories and identify challenges and opportunities.
Planning Webinar: HLC provides direction on constructing an integrated Student Success Plan that supports the institution’s strategic priorities.
Student Success Plan: The team creates a draft plan to address gaps in the institution’s data, initiatives, infrastructure and engagement that will guide the institution in systematically improving student success.
Implementation Webinar: HLC presents methods for communicating the Student Success Plan to various stakeholders and fostering institution-wide engagement.
Third-Year Mentor Consultation: The Primary Mentor consults virtually with the institution to help translate the plan into a series of recommendations for action that can be delivered to institutional decision makers.
Stewardship Forum: The team shares its accomplishments and findings with other institutions, compares practices and benchmarks, and defines strategies to sustain its student success efforts.
Impact Report: The team submits a culminating report detailing the potential impact of the Student Success Plan on various dimensions of student success and outlining next steps for execution and ongoing management of the plan.
For institutions in the Open Pathway: The Impact Report validates the institution’s completion of the Academy and serves as the Quality Initiative Report.
Academy Teams
Institutions participate by creating teams to attend Academy events and carry out the on-campus activities. A team is made up of five to eight individuals and should include members of the faculty, staff and administration. The Academy Orientation webinars provide guidance on selecting members and leaders of institutional teams.
Each team is assigned a Primary Mentor and a Scholar who provide support for the duration of the Academy experience.
Optional Activities
Academy members may choose to take part in optional services and activities to further support the development of their student success initiatives.
Online Collaboration
In addition to posting required progress updates and receiving mentor feedback through SparQ, team members can take part in topic-based discussion groups with fellow Academy participants and receive additional guidance from program leaders through blogs and Q&A forums.
HLC Annual Conference
Institutions taking part in the Student Success Academy are encouraged to participate in HLC’s annual conference. Time slots are reserved during the General Program for institutions to showcase their Academy work and discuss common concerns with other Academy members. Additionally, there is Academy-specific programming for current Academy members and the opportunity to meet with the institution’s Primary Mentor for a consultation.