As a college of technology, Alfred State students are admitted directly into their major, with each major having a clear pathway to the degree. The question for us was to determine how we could better support students in their program and ensure early success. We began by surveying students about what they believed would best support them for success. While we were initially veering toward class times and creating “blocks” for classes, we learned that students also sought cohorts, academic support, and other services.

Talking with faculty and chairs, we realized that another important component of student success is ensuring that students are placed in the correct first semester classes, math and English being amongst the most important.

In addition, a significant effort was made to look at past student outcomes at the course and program level. The College’s data-driven approach includes a combination of data on past student outcomes, and faculty insight which encourages each department chair to adapt strategies to increase student success in their programs, with many being implemented this past year which included adding student support directly in the students’ schedules based on certain criteria.

Our project is now called “supportive scheduling” and looks at a 360 degree approach to the first-year experience in specific programs. One year into piloting this approach, the college has collected data that supports success with this work based on information from student surveys, course grade distribution, course completion, credits attempted vs. credits earned, and program retention.

Finally, in the past, students were provided with placement recommendations during summer orientation as they were completing their scheduling. The college used multiple measures to make effective placement decisions for Math and English. This summer, the college moved to pre-scheduling all first-time students, incorporating the multiple measures assessment and student supports (structured learning courses) when creating student schedules. Data will be collected this fall to see the impact of this new initiative.