The goal of student success initiatives at Spelman College is to support academic excellence and to sustain student enrollment by enhancing advising, supplemental instruction, and using predictive analytics to inform decision-making.
Interventions are targeted at specific student populations to improve retention and graduation based on the identified needs of those students. The College has used Title III funds to supplement its efforts to maintain first-to-second year retention rates, decrease the number of students on academic probation, and maintain retention and graduation rates of students majoring in STEM disciplines.
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In 2015, Spelman engaged with the Educational Advisory Board (EAB) to create the Student Success Collaborative and began utilizing their advising platform based on data analytics (Navigator). The use of data analytics tools informs advisers’ knowledge of where to focus resources for maximum benefit, helps faculty advisers provide student-centered services, and provides insight about the effectiveness of success strategies for various groups of students. The use of data analytics to identify and support students who are at greatest need of intervention services has been an important element in enhancing support services that promote student retention and graduation.
Title III support has been instrumental in strengthening the skills and knowledge of tutors and advisers to effectively support student success initiatives. These efforts are intended to increase student satisfaction with advisement and to ensure the success of Spelman students. During the 2019-2020 academic year, the term GPA for students who received academic counseling increased by 7.4% compared to a 1.9% increase of students who did not receive academic counseling. The term GPA for students who received tutoring increased by 7.9%, compared to a 4.8% increase of students who did not receive tutoring.
With support from Title III, the College re-established a summer bridge program to prepare students for success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The Women in STEM (WiSTEM) Summer Bridge program includes a project module facilitated by personnel from the U.S. Department of Defense Army Research Labs (ARL) who introduce students to artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).
The program also incorporates community-building features to help students bond with each other as a mutually supportive cohort and continues to enrich students’ learning experiences during the academic year by pairing students with faculty to work on research projects that involve the use of AI/ML.
The success of students who participated in the WiSTEM Summer Bridge program over the last four years is noted in the table above which demonstrates the program’s four-year retention (92%) and STEM major retention (75%). These outcomes exceed that of the College and have precipitated a close examination of the WiSTEM program components for the purpose of scaling these successes and program elements to the larger student population.