The High Risk Support Team, HRST, consisting of Nita Drescher, Mary Jackson and Sue Cross, has been hard at work identifying strategies to better connect at-risk students to student support services which might increase their chances of success in their courses. Investigation occurring during the Spring 2000 semester verified the perception that students often do not take the initiative to follow through with recommendations made by faculty regarding the use of student support services and programs. Therefore, it became clear that a more direct approach would need to be used to achieve this goal. Last Fall, the High Risk Support Team conducted a one-semester pilot study which was designed to teach students and their instructors about resources and services available on campus and to connect them with these programs.
Six courses were selected from the district’s top ten list of courses that students most frequently drop, and nine individual classes were selected to participate in the study. It was determined that the three members of the HRST along with visiting professor Kendra Vagliente and adjunct instructors Jo Miller and Sue St. John would become “Researcher Advocates.” These advocates were assigned to individual classes to investigate ways to promote the integration of services and instruction.
Advocates and instructors have produced a preliminary list of research questions to be investigated. Emphasis is no longer placed on the creation of additional resources; rather, there is focus on the discovery of student advocacy systems that can be sustained once the Title III grant has terminated. The group is looking at alternative service delivery options (e.g., online orientation, e-mail, phone, personal communication, calendars, letters), remote service sites to be located throughout the campus, technological support, staff development, student confidentiality issues, and resource efficiency/productivity implications. Stay tuned for more developments as the study progresses.