This is a great approach, Sara, but I am not sure that it addresses the core issue raised by Marcia. After all, of all the data you cite below, which of them is supposed to serve as a proxy measure for personal motivation or stick-to-it-ive-ness or gumption or whatever? Because attendance rate at tutoring (including SI) is, at least in part, a proxy measure of such traits/skills.
The difficult question remains, how much of the effect from ANY "opt-in" intervention is due to the intervention itself, and how much is due to the proxy measurement of certain psychological traits captured by the act (and rate) of opting in?
I believe that I have seen some people (maybe even you?) try to address this in the past using personality-inventory-type assessments. This might work, if you had a baseline score for non-participants as well as participants...
Jered Wasburn-Moses
Math Center Coordinator
Success Skills Coordinator
Learning Assistance Programs
Northern Kentucky University
http://lap.nku.edu
University Center 170F
(859) 572-5779
# -----Original Message-----
# From: Open Forum for Learning Assistance Professionals [mailto:LRNASST-
# [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sara Weertz
# Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:15 AM
# To: [log in to unmask]
# Subject: Re: ROI on Academic Support Services? -- Different Take
#
# Ah, I love this question...one I think I can answer because this used to be a
# typical response to Supplemental Instruction (SI) which has a history of
# empirical evidence indicating that students who use SI on a regular basis get
# better grades. Faculty often opine that SI students would have gotten
# successful grades no matter what; they argue that SI students (or those who
# self-select) are already the "good" students. Faculty continued their
# criticism of the numbers even after I added qualitative data--feedback from
# the students themselves, in their own words, saying they excelled in their
# coursework because of SI.
#
# It was, however, more difficult to be critical of my interpretive report, which
# pulls the following data on students enrolled in SI-supported classes:
#
# * GPA (at the beginning of the term)
# * ACT/SAT scores
# * Classification
# * Ethnicity
# * Residency (on/off campus)
# * Major/Minor
# * Academic Standing
# * Cohort attributes such as athletics, provisional status, international student,
# etc.
#
# If I run the interpretive reports at the beginning of the term, I get a bird's-
# eye view of the class, which allows me to also create individual student
# profiles.
#
# The beauty of the interpretive report is its use as a tool to make predictions
# about the students in our SI-supported classes. An example would be to
# examine how a freshman with several at-risk factors and low ACT scores
# (which tests science acumen) might fare in a traditionally difficult biology
# class. Since our SI support focuses on traditionally difficult classes where
# many students struggle, we then make predictions on success (A, B, or C)
# depending on whether the less proficient students and those considered at-
# risk attend SI, how often they attend, and when they attend. The
# interpretive report allows us to compile some fascinating reports for variety
# of departments and student services. Our measurements consistently show
# that no matter how many at-risk factors a student may have, the more SI
# visits, the higher the final grade.
#
# While something like an interpretive report is more difficult to generate with
# tutoring, it can be done.
#
# sal
#
#
# Sara Weertz, M.Ed.
# Executive Director, First Year Experience ASU Station #10915 Angelo State
# University San Angelo, TX 76909
# (325) 942-2595
# [log in to unmask]
#
# CRLA President-Elect 2013-2014
# www.crla.net
#
# ****************************************************
#
#
# -----Original Message-----
# From: Open Forum for Learning Assistance Professionals [mailto:LRNASST-
# [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marcia Toms
# Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2014 8:32 AM
# To: [log in to unmask]
# Subject: Re: ROI on Academic Support Services? -- Different Take
#
# That is great, Leonard.
#
# One question, though: Do students voluntarily come to your center? If so,
# how do you address the motivation issue? In other words, who is to say that
# these students wouldn't have higher retention rates anyway?
#
# Best,
# -Marcia
#
#
# On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 9:06 AM, Roberta Schotka
# <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
#
# > Leonard,
# >
# > That is brilliant, especially since it is so difficult to link grades
# > directly to tutoring, given all of the other contributing factors.
# >
# > -Roberta
# >
# >
# > On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 4:52 PM, Geddes, Leonard G.
# > <[log in to unmask]
# > >wrote:
# >
# > > Melissa and any others who are interested,
# > >
# > > I have attached part of a report that I sent up to the "powers that be"
# > > about the influence our services are having on the bottom line --
# > > retention. In the past, we communicated how we were affecting
# > > academic performance. However, when it seemed like reporting how
# > > students were improving academically was not generating the traction
# > > that we thought it deserved, I decided to speak the administration's
# > > language by adding a retention element to the report. In short, we
# > > compared the re-enrollment rates of students using our services to
# > > general student retention,
# > athletic
# > > teams, etc. Our numbers rocked! (I've attached an abbreviated
# > > report since I don't think the administration would like us to share
# > > financial info publically.)
# > >
# > > In the actual report, we put figures to the report by factoring in
# > > the "real" revenue that is generated per student. For example,
# > hypothetically,
# > > if the overall retention rate was 70%, but our numbers were 86%,
# > > then we showed numerically how much revenue 16% more students
# added
# > > to the bottom line, thus showing that we are revenue generating.
# > >
# > > As a result of changing to reporting this way, our reports have been
# > going
# > > all the way up the chain to the Board. Recently, they specifically
# > > referenced our center and services in the new strategic plan! We
# > > are now preparing for a significant budget increase as well -- yay!
# > >
# > > I hope this is useful.
# > >
# > > Leonard Geddes
# > > Associate Dean of Co-Curricular Programs Director of the Learning
# > > Commons Division of Student Life Lenoir-Rhyne University www.lr.edu
# > > [log in to unmask]
# > > (828) 328-7024
# > > (828) 328-7702 (fax)
# > >
# > > The LearnWell Projects Blog:
# > http://www.thelearnwellprojects.com/thewell/
# > >
# > >
# >
# > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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#
#
#
# --
# Marcia Toms, Ph.D.
# Associate Director
# Undergraduate Tutorial Center
# Division of Academic and Student Affairs North Carolina State University
# Campus Box 7118 / 101 Park Shops Raleigh, NC 27695-7118
# 919.513.7829
# http://www.ncsu.edu/tutorial_center/
#
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