The Student Success Initiative at Owens Community College

1
The Student Success Initiative at Owens Community
College

• Owens Community College
• Northwest Ohios 1 Choice

2
Challenges

• Like many large comprehensive community colleges,
  Owens sometimes struggles with student success
• It is difficult to coordinate efforts to work on
  this important need (effort silos)
• Student needs differ by demographic group and
  situation, complicating matters

3
Solutions at Owens Community College

• Federal Title III Strengthening Institutions
  grant, which both forced and allowed us to make
  some changes
• More work on indentifying the needs of the
  students
• Comprehensive, intrusive First Year Experience
  for students with less than 30 credit hours
  completed

4
A special feature of Owens

• First Year Experiences 121 (FYE 121)
• A college success class on steroids
• A two credit course designed to help students
  transition to a successful college experience,
  whatever their goals

5
Key aspects of FYE 121

• An in-depth orientation to college and to Owens
  Community College
• An introduction, review, and practice of
  important college success skills
• An introduction to our four Core Competencies
• An introduction to and practice of critical
  thinking and problem solving skills

6
Desired Outcomes

• Increased student success by any measure
• An increase in student persistence to the third
  semester
• Residual or down the road success in other
  classes
• Increased monitoring and measuring of these
  success indicators