Providing one-on-one coaching to students has helped Onondaga Community College (OCC) improve student retention rates.

In 2018, OCC launched a five-year initiative primarily focused on Guided Pathways for Success (GPS), which included the creation of program pathway maps and the deployment of accelerated developmental pathways in English and math. The initiative was funded with a U.S. Department of Education Strengthening Institutions Program grant.

With the help of nonprofit InsideTrack, the college identified student success coaching as one key strategy to create a personalized support system for all learners with an emphasis on underrepresented student support.

A report released Thursday shows that integrating student success coaching into its advising process is paying off. Student retention increased from 48% in 2020 to 53% in 2022.

“These results reflect our long-term commitment to removing barriers to college access, completion and upward mobility for students from underserved backgrounds by ensuring that students feel supported each step of the way,” OCC President Warren Hilton said.

A model that works

Coaches from InsideTrack began working with students in January 2020 and, despite the pandemic, produced positive results. The partnership started as a pilot program to provide coaching to improve retention among 400 students who were academically at-risk, members of historically underserved groups and others randomly selected to receive coaching, according to a press release.

The torch was then passed to OCC staff, who received training and certification in coaching. They took over the work full-time in 2021. Key staff can certify new coaches and ensure quality control, making the OCC coaching system sustainable, even after the federal grant funding ended.

A five-year study commissioned by OCC and conducted by Social Policy Research Associates revealed positive results. Students who received at least one coaching session successfully completed the college’s English gateway course at a rate of 54% as compared to 46% of those students who did not receive coaching.

The bigger picture

The coaching is just one piece of the college’s overhaul of student support services. Looking more broadly at Onondaga’s whole reform efforts, the work is paying off.

From fall 2020 to fall 2022, completion rates for the English gateway course increased from 59% to 64% among all first-time, full-time students. Fall-to-fall retention rates for these students who took the English gateway course increased from 48% to 53%.

For students enrolled in first-year English composition courses, the fall-to-spring retention rate increased by 4 percentage points (from 72% to 76%) while the fall-to-fall retention rate grew by 6 percentage points (from 47% to 53%), according to the report.

In addition, students are earning more credits. The average total credits earned grew from 14.7 to 15.8. There were noteworthy gains among Black students (from 8.5 to 11.8 credits) and first-generation students (from 12.8 to 13.6 credits).

And the percentage of first-time full-time students who earned at least 15 credits per semester increased from 50% to 55%.

“During a period of uncertainty and change for community colleges across the country, forward-thinking institutional leaders can double down on student success by making strategic investments in student support that can meet the needs of the whole student and unlock their full education and career potential,” InsideTrack President Ruth Bauer White said.

This article originally appeared in CC Daily.