Talking Stick - July/August 2017 - 16

JUST IN

Ask the Librarian
ReveRsing Risk
What helps an at-risk student?
extra tutoring sessions? a week of summer orientation?
inspirational visits from alumni who have made good?
What seems to make the most difference is social connections; in fact, just
one close relationship helps an at-risk
student persist in college. According
to Vincent Tinto's student integration
model, students who are more socially
involved are more deeply committed
to their institutions and more determined to push through academic and
personal difficulties to succeed and
graduate. How can campus housing
professionals create an environment
that helps at-risk students make connections with friends, mentors, faculty,
and staff?
Being proactive is key to caring
for these students at the beginning of
their experience on campus. Aurora
University in Illinois offers a Strategies Targeted for Academic Rewards
(STAR) program which uses admissions data to determine who is likely to
particularly benefit from participation:
for example, first-generation students
or students with lower than average
high school grades or test scores.
STAR students meet before the regular
orientation begins for advanced study
skills and task management courses,
as well as social and team-building
exercises. The program continues
throughout the year, with periodic
check-ins and chances to socialize.
Iowa State University in Ames offers a
similar outreach and support program
called TRIO that focuses on low-income and first-generation students.
There are many ways to identify
at-risk students. In an ACUHO-I
conference presentation, Tyler Page
and Morgan Stout discussed regression and clustering techniques that
can be used to crunch data to create
models that predict who may need
16

talking stiCk

extra assistance. Software can also be
useful in efficiently flagging students
whose records show signs of disengagement. Gonzaga University in
Spokane, Washington, utilizes the
Early Warning System. Representatives from academic advising, campus
housing, the health center, community
standards, and student conduct meet
once a week to discuss student cases
and go over alerts received from their
record-keeping systems. Skyfactor's
Mapworks is a popular tool that can
help consolidate student demographics in one place. It also includes
questions on social factors, such as involvement and loneliness, which helps
to identify those who are at risk of
dropping out for lack of social support.
No one aspect of a student's record
tells the whole story; some students'
grades may suffer, but their conduct
and social lives look fine; others may
have stellar grades, but they are feeling
lonely and socially isolated.
Clemson University in South Carolina offers a new student academic
progress program which forms teams
from multiple departments on campus, including undergraduate studies,
academic advising, new student and
sophomore programs, the university
computing and information technology office, the dean of students' office,
and of course university housing.
Finally, RAs are your eyes and ears
in the halls and may be the first to notice signals that a student is struggling
in some way. Meeting with an RA may
be less intimidating for a student who
is struggling; since an RA is the same
age or very close in age, his or her sympathy and advice may be more valid
and relevant to a struggling student.

ResouRces
Cathy Bickel, Shylan Scott, and Darlena
Jones, "Improving Retention: Importance
of Social Integration for Vulnerable
Students" (2012 ACUHO-I Annual
Conference & Exposition).
Jeffrey Brown and Suzanne Price, "Building
a Successful Academic Intervention
Partnership" (2010 ACUHO-I Annual
Conference & Exposition).
Hui-Ling Chan and Mohammed Cato,
"Academic Intervention Initiatives" (2012
ACUHO-I Annual Conference & Exposition).
Larry Christenson, "Why Socially At-Risk
Students Persist: Findings from Interviews
with Retained Students" (Dissertation,
University of Georgia, 2011).
Larry Christenson, "Why They Stay: A
Campus Culture That Ensures Success and
Retention Is Built One Caring Person at a
Time," Talking Stick (March/April 2013).
Larry Christenson and Sherry Woosley,
"Peer Connections: Why Students Stay"
(2012 ACUHO-I Annual Conference &
Exposition).
Eugene Frier, Dale Tampke, Ben Taylor,
and Derek Gates, "Residence Hall
Academic Intervention: Meeting At-Risk
Students Where They Are" (2009 ACUHO-I
Living-Learning Programs Conference).
Tyler Page, "Identifying At-Risk Students:
Predicting Academic Performance and
Measuring Integration" (2014 ACUHO-I
Annual Conference & Exposition).
Tyler Page and Tina Balser, "Academic
Partnerships: Move from Cooperative to
Collaborative" (2013 ACUHO-I LivingLearning Programs Conference).
Tyler Page and Morgan Stout, "Clustering:
Examining Academic Performance and
Student Integration" (2013 ACUHO-I
Living-Learning Programs Conference).
Emily Rudduck, "Academic Initiatives:
Someone Like Me," Talking Stick (July/
August 2014).

Emily Glenn is the ACUHO-I librarian
and is available to assist with most of
your questions. She can be reached
at Emily@acuho-i.org, and she is on
Twitter as @acuhoi_lib.
Talking Stick - July/August 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - July/August 2017
