The result – substantial increases in student success. More students are staying in school and graduating. ASU awarded 18,045 degrees in FY12, up 60 percent from FY02.

On average, only 31 percent of students at public colleges earn their bachelor's degrees within four years, and 56 percent graduate within six years. A national challenge is getting students to complete their degrees in a timely fashion, and ASU is making strong headway in this area, topping these two statistics as well as many other indicators of student success.

Freshman retention in fall 2010 increased to 84 percent, a 9.5 percent increase from fall 2002. The six-year graduation rate for the freshman cohort entering 2004 was 58.7 percent, up 19.3 percent from the 49.2 percent rate for the fall 1995 cohort. The four-year graduation rate also increased from 33.2 percent to 37 percent since 2007 when several of ASU’s new student-centered initiatives began to take hold – in particular, the university’s online advising system, eAdvisor.

Priming the pipeline

ASU’s commitment to student success begins before they become Sun Devils. Access ASU was created to help educate and support students, parents and K-12 teachers and administrators with essential college readiness through innovative programs and resources.

The American Dream Academy is a nine-week program under Access ASU that teaches parents who may not have experience with higher education how to navigate the education system and create a positive learning environment for their young scholars. Classes are offered in the morning and evenings to accommodate schedules, and are taught in both English and Spanish to represent the populations in Arizona.

Since 2006, the program has reached 19,956 parents who in turn have influenced more than 51,066 students about the importance of education. The support does not stop once the families “graduate.” Students are invited to other summer programs and events held by the university, where they can mingle with fellow future Sun Devils. Children are constantly surrounded by university life, making the dream of attending college a reality.

To help prepare Arizona’s growing population of children, the university created the ASU Preparatory Academy, an innovative K-12 charter school that provides academic programs to empower young scholars to attend and excel in college. Based on a tuition-free model, each academy consists of an elementary, middle and high school, all in one designated community.

This unique charter allows for close interaction with ASU faculty members and projects at an early age. The ASU Preparatory Academy at the Polytechnic campus, for example, has a robotics program that is directly tied to the College of Technology and Innovation. The students in both academies work closely with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Learning Sciences Institute, among other ASU units.

“All the students wear maroon or gold polo shirt to school every day. There is a great spirit within the schools about ASU and ultimately enrolling in the university,” said James Rund, senior vice president for educational outreach and student services.

Finding a major that fits

In addition to providing educational opportunities for future students, the university has strengthened efforts to increase freshmen retention and accommodate the distinctive learning needs of its students. These efforts include an online student advising system, courses in career exploration, innovative technology-assisted programs in math and English, shorter course units and online course delivery.

The online advising system, called eAdvisor, was developed by Provost Phillips in 1996 when she was at the University of Florida, where it resulted in a 20 percent increase in the university’s graduation rate. It maps out and monitors progress of a complete degree plan for students based on their academic major.

“eAdvisor is premised on the idea that students can succeed if they are in the right major,” Provost Phillips said. “ASU has 290 majors, which can be bewildering to administrators as well as students. The system also ensures students are taking the correct classes in the correct order to obtain their degree on time. When we started eAdvisor, only 22 percent of our students were on the correct course path for their majors. Now, 95 percent are.”

eAdvisor allows students to search potential majors by entering general terms such as “I like working with people,” “I am good with computers” or “I want to put my art talent to use.” While students still meet with human advisors, the online system produces a list of appropriate majors and maps out the courses needed to complete each degree. The critical courses diagnostic of success in a major are added early in the sequence, so students can discover early on if they are in an unsuitable major.

A student who did poorly in a diagnostic course can still meet with an advisor and decide to retake the course, or switch majors to a program where the troublesome course is not required. The intent is to prevent students from investing two or three years in a major, then having to switch majors late in their academic career, adding additional years of coursework or prompting them to give up and drop out.

eAdvisor also monitors progress toward degree completion by informing students when they are off track. If a student is considering changing majors, eAdvisor will enumerate how courses already taken fit into the new major and what additional courses are needed to complete the new major. With a clear course roadmap for each student, eAdvisor also enables university administrators to ensure that the proper number of seats is available in each course.

For students who are unsure of their career path, the University College has adopted a major and career exploration program that allows students to take courses in areas such as academic success, time management and critical reading and thinking. Through the classes, students learn to strengthen their leadership skills, define their professional career goals, identify appropriate majors and utilize the resources that ASU has available to all students.

“We believe that if students find the right academic home, they are more likely to succeed. Through this very carefully designed program, students explore possible majors in conjunction with exploring career possibilities,” said Frederic Corey, vice provost and dean of University College.

Designing courses for diverse learners

To further ensure that freshmen are successful from the start of their academic career, Arthur Blakemore, senior vice provost and chair of the Department of Economics in the
W. P. Carey School of Business, and Philip Regier, executive vice provost and dean of ASU Online, began working together to tackle a problem area within schools of every level: math. Why is math so important? Student retention and graduation are highly dependent on success in a student’s first math class. For example, students who have earned below a “C” in developmental math have a 49 percent retention rate and only a 20 percent six-year graduation rate. Students who earned a “C” or better have an 81 percent retention rate and a 50 percent six-year graduation rate.

Incoming ASU freshmen are now required to take an online math placement test to determine their levels of competency. Based on their scoring, they are then placed in a corresponding level class. Those in need of a little extra help are positioned in Enhanced Freshmen Math, a self-paced learning environment that provides each student with the personalized learning tools needed to succeed. The system, created by the educational technology start-up company Knewton, has given the university a fresh way to educate students in college math. Data have shown that the portion of students withdrawing from math courses fell from 13 percent to 6 percent, and pass rates rose from 66 percent to 75 percent.

“The unique component to the math lab is that both the student and the instructor know how the student is doing at a given time. The teacher can pinpoint what the student understands and what he or she is struggling with so that more attention can be placed on that area,” said Blakemore.

“Similar to the math program, our English program is student-centered and not one-size-fits-all,” Provost Phillips said. “All ASU freshmen are placed in first-year writing courses based on standardized test scores. However, students in redesigned sections of freshman writing – Writers’ Studio – also have the opportunity to work at individualized rates, finishing the course when they have demonstrated mastery of nationally developed learning outcomes.”

Redesigning course delivery

In the spring of 2012, ASU revamped the traditional academic calendar and created a three-term semester (spring, summer and fall), each consisting of three components (sessions A, B and C). Both the A and B session are seven and half weeks and, now, only session C is the traditional 15-week course plan.

The calendar change was introduced in response to students voluntarily choosing seven-and-a-half week classes when available. Many students have said they prefer to concentrate on one or two courses and successfully finish them before moving on to additional courses. There is another advantage, as well. Students can take six courses in two seven-and-a-half week modules at the same price as taking five courses in one 15-week module, allowing them to graduate faster and at a lower tuition cost.

Non-traditional students and those looking for flexible class schedules have turned to ASU Online. Created in 2009, ASU Online currently offers a total of 56 undergraduate and graduate degrees with additional programs under consideration. The typical online student already has several hours of transfer credit and is working toward her or his degree while maintaining a job or caring for a family.

Although traditional face-to-face classes will never be replaced, there has been an increase in online options as well as hybrid courses that combine both online content and instruction with in-person interaction and engagement with the professor and classmates.

Since fall 2011, the academic colleges have graduated 505 students through ASU Online-managed programs with support from companies such as Pearson and Academic Partnerships. Looking ahead, the university would like to enter the international marketplace by providing an additional opportunity for foreign national students who are interested in an American university with an alternative learning option. A strong focus will also be placed on military personnel who may be considering a college degree.

Creating a culture of transfer

Approximately 9,000 students transfer to ASU every year – many from Arizona’s 10 public community college districts. Yet that represents only a small percentage of all community college students who identified earning a bachelor’s degree as their goal.

“ASU has been busy building curricular pathways that are web-accessible and understandable to students as part of its commitment to help more students with associate’s degrees attain their bachelor’s degrees,” said Maria Hesse, vice provost for academic partnerships. “The university has signed agreements with every public community college in Arizona and we are working together to promote strong academic preparation for student success.”

Two of ASU’s signature community college collaborations are the Maricopa to ASU Pathways Program (MAPP) and the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program. The MAPP and TAG programs provide a clear path for community college students to earn a degree at ASU, requiring them to obtain their Arizona General Education Curriculum and the appropriate associate degree before transferring. The MAPP and TAG programs are available at all public community colleges in the state.

There are now more than 11,000 students signed up for the MAPP, the TAG program, or a Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing pathway. Benefits of these programs include guaranteed admission, reduced tuition and access to ASU advisement and support while a student is still at their community college.

Two additional programs have created seamless pathways for students to work through their associate’s degrees at the community college and go on to earn their bachelor’s degrees from ASU. A partnership between ASU and Phoenix College allows students to earn their Bachelor of Applied Science degree in medical laboratory science on-site at Phoenix College.

To meet the workforce needs of the communities of Graham, Gila and Greenlee Counties, ASU and Eastern Arizona College (EAC) have formed a unique partnership that allows students to earn their bachelor’s degrees on-site at EAC. Two degree programs, organizational studies and nursing, were available in fall 2012. In subsequent fall semesters, additional programs will be added. EAC offers all of the coursework for the first two years of these programs, while ASU will teach the remaining courses.