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Program Awareness Inventory Partners in Education Inventory Academic Readiness (Accuplacer)
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Questions & Answers |
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1. What is Access for Success? Access for Success (AFS) is a provincial strategy designed to address issues and processes related to student success. It involves the assessment of students’ strengths and needs, the development of personal career plans, a student success tracking computer program (called the Personal Career Plan or PCP), and structured academic advising interviews. The AFS teams, in developing protocols and processes, consulted with other college teams, outside agencies, and conducted a literature review. These protocols and processes were piloted and evaluated at three CNA campuses in September 2003. 2. When did the program begin? Research and development of the program began in September 2001. The Access for Success strategy was first piloted at three campuses for a year, starting in September 2003. 3. What prompted you to start the program? The AFS strategy flows from the college’s commitment to more effectively meet its educational mandate within the province. The purpose of this project was to establish a protocol that clearly defines how CNA would more effectively meet the access and success needs of students. A structured response to meeting new client demands has grown from widespread stakeholder consultation. In February 1999, for example, an access forum brought together students, instructors, counsellors, administrators, employers, Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and Human Resources Labour and Employment (HRLE) representatives, as well as representatives from the Department of Education, to explore, define, and develop a framework for the provision of access programming services. From this initiative, a proposal under the title Access for Success was submitted to and accepted by HRSDC to develop processes to address access and success needs of students. 4. Where did you get the funding for the program? Funding in the amount of $2.5 million over approximately three years was provided under the federal/provincial Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA) to support this initiative. Throughout the implementation phase of this initiative and the evaluation of campus pilots, it became evident that resources to support this strategy would be required to ensure its continued success. The college, realizing that these resources play a key role in the success of the strategy, committed to continuing the initiative (i.e. staffing, student help centres, etc.) after project funds were exhausted. 5. How many students does it serve? Once fully implemented, the Access for Success strategy will serve all students (approximately 8,000 full-time). The college is currently rolling the initiative out to campuses using a phased-in approach. Currently, nine campuses and approximately 1,000 students are participating in AFS activities. 6. Who is in charge of the program and which department administers it? The Manager of Student Recruitment and Enrollment Services takes a lead role in overseeing the AFS strategy from a provincial perspective. Team Leads for each of the main components of AFS provide continued support and direction to campuses where the strategy is implemented. Each campus is then responsible for setting up an AFS team (led by the Campus Administrator) to ensure AFS activities are fully implemented and monitored at the campus level. 7. Is the student success tracking program a proprietary one or is it off the shelf? The student success tracking system is a web enabled software package developed in-house to track and monitor a student’s progress from pre-entry to post graduation. Known as the Personal Career Plan, it also tracks the assessment and advising components used within the AFS strategy. The software has the capability to generate reports on a student’s progress at any time throughout his or her program. 8. When are the pre-enrollment inventories administered and can you tell us a little bit about them? Following an enrollment management model of continuous applicant engagement, the assessments are administered prior to or during registration. Reports generated for the student and college officials are stored on the Assessment Page of the PCP and may assist with interventions by the student, advisor, or campus team. The primary goal of the three pre-enrollment computerized inventories/assessments is for early identification of “at risk” issues leading to interventions for applicants and students. Each assessment/inventory is computer-based and has a specific cut score (high, medium or low risk/need. The cut scores vary between the three assessments/inventories assigned to it.) Applicants/students who score below this cut score will be identified as “at risk” on the PCP and contacted by a program representative. Program Awareness Inventory (PAI) is a college-developed career inventory that includes 30 program-related questions, multiple choice answers, and instructor responses to a particular question. The individual will learn more about a college program upon completion of the inventory, whereas the college, through the use of cut scores, will identify “at risk” applicants in terms of program information (facilitating interventions). Partners in Education Inventory (PEI) measures student perceptions of academic and career related skills, and allows for intervention by identifying barriers to learning. Some of the eight areas measured include financial preparedness, study skills, test-taking skills, child care, and stress management. Accuplacer is an online assessment of actual student achievement in Math and English skills. It is used for advising and course placement. 9. How many students were involved in the pilot program? AFS protocols were piloted in September 2003 in three programs with approximately 120 students from three college campuses. 10. What has been students’ response to the program? They identified that:
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