Last Autumn Quarter, Raymond Walters College participated in the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE), as a way of helping us evaluate our effectiveness in student success. The SENSE compares two-year colleges of similar size on six benchmarks; overall, more than 120 institutions from 30 states participate in the SENSE study. This tool provides information about effective educational practice in community colleges and helps institutions enhance their student support services, especially those that may impact students’ earliest college experiences. For the participating colleges, the survey results indicate what’s working and a challenge to continue improving.
Research has shown that a student’s first year experience can help build a foundation for ongoing academic success, educating the student about and connecting them to college resources and services. Studies show that without a solid first year experience students may struggle, sometimes so much that students drop out.
For the Autumn 2009 survey, RWC was grouped with small colleges based on our previous year’s enrollment. The survey was administered through randomly-selected classes; 635 RWC students completed the survey, of which 374 (59%) were new students.
In three areas-engaged learning, high expectations and aspirations, and academic and social support network-RWC scored slightly higher than the SENSE cohort. However, three categories noted for improvement are early connections (defined as “a strong early connection to someone at the college”); clear academic pathway (the way the college helps students create an academic “road map” that helps them stay on track); and effective track to college readiness (effective assessment, placement of students into appropriate course and strategies to build students’ academic skills). In each of these sections, RWC scored just under the SENSE cohort and/or below the average for the small college category.
The SENSE findings are now being shared with academic departments as we continue to brainstorm ways to improve our outreach to and interaction with all students, particularly those in their first-year. RWC is sending a team to the upcoming SENSE workshop to develop an action plan, which will be implemented in the fall. We also will continue to seek student input as we strive to provide a strong early college experience leading to more student success.