H.A.R.P. Clara Mae Barnhart & Soyuz Shrestha Binghamton - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

H.A.R.P.

Clara Mae Barnhart & Soyuz Shrestha Binghamton University

Academic Recovery through Incentivized Programming

What is H.A.R.P.?

The Harpur Academic Recovery Program is a Harpur Advising intiative that uses incentivized programming to build a community of support for students who are facing academic difficulty at Binghamton University. Offering multiple events and structured advising appointments, H.A.R.P. aims to help students identify and address the root issue of their academic difficulties by improving their academic, social, and emotional well-being.

Response to P2S (Pathways to Success)

• Invitation through email to meet with advisor and create a plan for success
• All advisors assigned random list of probation students to contact
• No incentives
• No outreach events catered specifically to probation students
• Inconsistent methods and frequency of outreach between advisors
• Data showed no correlation between student success and frequency of

advisor contact Wah wahhh

The H.A.R.P. team is born…

• Studied the principles of proactive and appreciative advising
• Researched probation programs/policies of the top 25 public universities

(Niche report)

• Reviewed theory and methodology in current Academic Advising Literature

Soyuz Shrestha Clara Mae Barnhart Kevin Curry Jill Seymour

What are other schools doing?

• 13/25 schools offer grade forgiveness in some form
• 24/25 have course retake policies that are more forgiving than ours
• 15/25 have required programming for all students who are on probation
• Increase in Academic Success Centers nationwide
• Schools with programs that inspire us:

○

Purdue, assessment survey and targeted mailings

○

University of Florida, Success in the Swamp program

○

University at Buffalo, Life & Learning Workshops

○

University of Georgia, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, UGA CARE(S), STEP, TPAS, STAR

Literature Highlights

• “To foster a sense of acceptance and belonging, students on probation need

a mentoring program to encourage strong interpersonal connections to

• ther students. The researchers recommend a group that might include

former probation students who have achieved good academic standing. These students could serve as mentors to help develop a social support network.” (Damashek 2003) “...two important contributors to student satisfaction and retention are for an advisor to demonstrate knowledge and concern. By engaging in proactive advising, academic advisors can consistently reinforce both characteristics. (Ohrablo 2017) “...research has shown that the more actively engaged students are in all aspects of college life, the more likely they are to learn and stay in school. It sounds like one of the keys to retention is finding ways to engage and connect the students with the school. Proactive advising may be used to help students find these connection points, beginning with their connection to the advisor. Through the use of proactive outreach and a relationship- based approach to advising, students learn that their advisor can be their main connection to the school.” (Varney 2012)

Goals of H.A.R.P.

• Increase retention of first time probation

students

• Allow for an individualized approach
• Maintain consistent advisor/student

relationships (Habley, 2004)

• Provide supportive programming for all

probation students

• Build a community of students with

similar issues

• De-stigmatize academic difficulty
• Increase collaboration with other offices
• n campus
• Increase appreciative advising outreach

efforts

Program Structure

Step 1: Self Assessment Survey Step 2: Attend orientation and sign contract Step 3: The H.A.R.P. Circuit Circuit A: minimum one monthly advisor meeting + one workshop/event Circuit B: minimum one monthly advisor meeting + one additional advisor meeting Minimum of seven engagement options attended per semester and student must improve semester GPA from prior fall/spring term

H.A.R.P. Contract

Why make them sign?

• Clear communication
• Accountability
• Professionalization
• Records/Data

Advising Appointments

• Monthly required appointment to

reflect on circuit and make adjustments

• Second appointment bi-weekly

circuit

• All appointments structured with

H.A.R.P. Advising Cycle

Workshops = academic skill building Events = involvement in healthy campus initiatives

Academic Reset

Celebration

Celebration Semester-end celebration brunch for all those who completed the program Wah wahhhh Small gifts to all who finish the program; congratulatory emails!

Challenges

So many gray areas… Balance office and HARP needs Scheduling, scheduling, scheduling Advisor burnout Communication fall out Enforcement Problems: maintaining consistency, student no shows

Assessment

What is the criteria for success?

○ Academic Performance (Semester GPA)

Factors that affect Academic Performance

• Sample (N) = 35,767 student-semesters (all Harpur students who were

enrolled in Fall 2017)

• Panel data; random-effects GLS regression
• Variables associated with increased likelihood of being on academic

probation

Exploratory students International students Off-campus students Transfer students Taking gateway courses First gen students EOP students

Data

• Sample (N) = 123 first-time probation students
• 70 students participated in the HARP program

○

43 students finished the HARP program with at least 7 engagements completed

○

36 students increased their term GPA to get the “academic reset”

Main Issues

• Study Skills
• Time Management
• Health and Well-being
• Registration/Scheduling
• Major Selection

9 3 1 4 6 2 26 1 11 15 16 19 86 5 59

Number of Engagements

• Engagements

○

One-on-one appointments

○

Workshops/Events

• Hypotheses

○

Participation in HARP = Better GPA

○

Higher no. of engagements = Better GPA

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 Mean Term GPA Number of engagements Appointments Workshops/Events

Students on Academic Probation

HARP Not-HARP Off-campus 40 37 International 3 7 Transfer 28 22 Gateway courses 28 20

Linear Regression Models

• Model 1: y (fa17gpa) = α + β1 (harp) + β2 (sp17gpa) + β3 (int’l) + β4

(offcampus) + β5 (transfer) + β6 (gateway) + ɛi

○

Model 1a: y (fa17gpa) = α + β1 (harp_complete) + β2 (sp17gpa) + β3 (int’l) + β4 (offcampus) + β5 (transfer) + β6 (gateway) + ɛi

• Model 2: y (fa17gpa) = α + β1 (num_engage) + β2 (sp17gpa) + β3 (int’l) + β4

(offcampus) + β5 (transfer) + β6 (gateway) + ɛi

○

Model 2a: y (fa17gpa) = α + β1 (num_appts) + β2 (sp17gpa) + β3 (int’l) + β4 (offcampus) + β5 (transfer) + β6 (gateway) + ɛi

Data Results

• Model 1 – Participated in HARP (at least one engagement)

Fall 2017 GPA HARP SP17 GPA Off- campus International Transfer Gateway +0.3271* +0.5690***

• 0.8117***

+0.4966 +0.2250 +0.0169 * p < 0.10, ** p <0.05, *** p <0.01; R2 = 0.29

Data Results

• Model 1a – Completed HARP with at least 7 engagements

Fall 2017 GPA

Completed HARP

SP17 GPA Off- campus International Transfer Gateway +0.3398* +0.5661***

• 0.7233***

+0.3993 +0.2006 +0.0119 * p < 0.10, ** p <0.05, *** p <0.01; R2 = 0.29

Data Results

• Model 2 – Number of engagements

Fall 2017 GPA

• No. of

engagements

SP17 GPA Off- campus International Transfer Gateway +0.0389 +0.5655***

• 0.7722***

+0.4275 +0.2097 +0.0289 * p < 0.10, ** p <0.05, *** p <0.01; R2 = 0.29

Data Results

• Model 2a – Number of appointments

Fall 2017 GPA

• No. of

appointments

SP17 GPA Off- campus International Transfer Gateway +0.0571* +0.5642***

• 0.7738***

+0.4431 +0.2119 +0.0233 * p < 0.10, ** p <0.05, *** p <0.01; R2 = 0.29

Predicted Values

“I wanted to take the time to send you this email to thank you for everything you’ve done for me this past semester, with the academic reset and the H.A.R.P program. As planned, my grades improved dramatically (an A, 2 B+ and one C+, the latter I am still not totally thrilled about.) and pushing my cumulative G.P.A .4 points higher than where it was. With luck it can only go up from here.” “Meeting with my advisor just really kept me on track and made me feel like I was going in the right direction.” “I benefitted from each meeting, I’m not sure it can get any better than that!” “The most helpful thing was having someone to talk to and know your schedule/plan and kind of hold you accountable for it.” “Inspired me to do better; personally wants to see me graduate.” “The most helpful aspects were the recommendations for the various ways of getting academic help

• n campus. This definitely helped me towards academic recovery because I am doing much better in

my classes.” “Stop I'm going to tear up, you guys really helped me so much. The support was exactly what I needed, I can't thank you enough. I'll stop in and catch up I promise.”

New for Spring

• Larger team
• Set max number of participants
• Contract updates
• Volunteer event
• Orientation/scheduling event
• Chill with Jill De-stress event
• Dr. Larry Greenfield

Val Carnegie Corey Konnick Karen Cummings Ben Luhrs Celeste Lee

Future of H.A.R.P.

Phase 2: H.A.R.P 2 credit class, Academic Success Skills H.A.R.P. MVP Mentors

Future Tracking

• More data points; a better fitting data model
• GPA trend after H.A.R.P. -- Do students on H.A.R.P. continue to recover

academically in the subsequent semesters? Or, do they go back on probation?

• Students who earn the reset with a very low GPA, will we need to set a

minimum threshold?

• How does HARP impact student retention?

Future Outreach

• With the change in requirement to particpate in more workshops and events,

how does that impact academic performance? Do we need to emphasize appointments over workshops/events?

• Can we incorporate more one-on-one student/advisor interaction within our

workshop models?

• Consider developing targeted programming to help off campus students

engage more with the campus community.

Conclusions

• We made a difference!!
• Preliminary data analysis shows that

incentivized programming for first-time probation students does improve academic performance.

Questions

Works Cited

• Varney, J. (2012, September). Proactive (Intrusive) Advising! Academic Advising Today, 35(3). Retrieved

from http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/Proactive-Intrusive- Advising.aspx

• Habley, W.R. (Ed.). (2004). The Status of Academic Advising: Findings from the ACT Sixth National Survey.

(Monograph No. 10). Manhattan, KS: NACADA.

• “2018 Top Public Universities in America.” Niche, www.niche.com/colleges/search/top-public-universities/.
• Damashek, Richard. “Support Programs for Students on Academic Probation.”Education Resources Information

Center, 29 Mar. 2003.

• Ohrablo, Sue. “The Role of Proactive Advising in Student Success and Retention.” The EvoLLLution, 3 Feb. 2017,

evolllution.com/attracting-students/retention/the-role-of-proactive-advising-in-student-success-and-retention/.

• Swecker, Hadyn K., et al. “Academic Advising and First-Generation College Students: A Quantitative Study on

Student Retention.” NACADA Journal, vol. 33, no. 1, 2013, pp. 46–53., doi:10.12930/nacada-13-192.

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