Lesson Learned: Student Success Does Not Arise by Chance

1. Lesson Learned:Student Success Does Not Arise by Chance Regional Symposia on Student Success Cape Town, South Africa August 23, 2013 Vincent Tinto vtinto@syr.edu

2. Lesson: Improvement in rates of student success requires intentional and structured action that is systematic and coordinated in nature involving many people across campus. 2

3. Intentional Action: • Development of a long-term course of action with clearly defined and measurable goals • Data driven decision-making • Allocation of resources to action • Evaluation of effectiveness of action • Investment in improvement of those actions found to be effective 3

4. Structured Action: • Clear organizational structure with defined lines of responsibility • Office or person(s) to guide, coordinate, and/or oversee action • Linkage to other offices, programs, and persons 4

5. Systematic and Coordinated Action: • Addresses all facets of student experience over time • Involves all key “players” in the organization • Coordinates the actions of those offices, programs and persons • Promotes collaboration among offices, programs, and persons (e.g. information sharing, joint meetings) • Sharing of information and data • Collaborative decision-making 5

6. Working Together for Student Success: • Sharing of information and data • Learning better together • Collaborative decision-making 6

7. Restructuring to Promote Coordination and Collaboration Restructuring Academic Affairs and Student Support Services: A Case Study 7

8. Institutional Policy: Building Effective Programs • Read, visit websites, and talk to other people and institutions • Start small and pilot test (three-year) • Quantitative and qualitative evaluation • Expand and revise as necessary 8

9. Institutional Policy: Sustaining Institutional Action • Evidence of outcomes • Institutional commitment for continued support • Expanding ownership beyond initial group of reformers • Planning for one’s replacement • Institutionalization of action 9

10. Institutional Policy: Scaling-Up Institutional Action • Expanding circle of adopters across the university • Evidence of outcomes across groups/programs • “convincing others” • Institutional commitment to the scaling up of action and a mechanism for its improvement over time • Ongoing evaluation and improvement 10

11. Closing Thoughts:Closing Thought Improvement in rates of student success does not arise by chance. It requires intentional, structured, and proactive action that is systematic in nature and coordinated in application. 11

12. Closing Thoughts:Closing Thought Improvement in rates of student success does not arise by chance. It requires intentional, structured, and proactive action that is systematic in nature and coordinated in application. Substantial improvement in rates of student success requires collaboration within and among universities across South Africa. 12

13. Closing Thoughts:Closing Thought Improvement in rates of student success does not arise by chance. It requires intentional, structured, and proactive action that is systematic in nature and coordinated in application. Substantial improvement in rates of student success requires collaboration within and among universities across South Africa. Improving student success takes time. Stay the course! 13

14. Thank You Please feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance. vtinto@syr.edu 14