Supporting retaker students involve strategies beyond traditional approaches. It goes beyond recognizing students’ needs, sharing resources and an active faculty to help position the students to succeed. Learn how the university FYE retaker initiative highlighted key faculty insights and strategies that support student success and retention.
First Year Experience (FYE) courses are often met with challenging course outcomes to include higher fail and withdrawal rates. The success of entry-level courses pave the way for cohort retention outcomes that affect institutional success. First-year/entry-level students need more support and assistance than their more senior counterparts do. Students who failed their first course in the institution requires even more support from the faculty and the university. The need to repeat earlier courses is viewed as an indicator of lower academic skills, which then affects the student’s persistence in the institution (Brower, Nix, Daniels, Xinye, Jones & Shouping, 2021). However, it is important to consider other factors outside of the classroom and not related to the student’s readiness or capacity when determining the barriers to course success.
Among the different factors that influence student retention include the quality of the learning environment, the student’s experience and perception of teaching and assessment strategies and the received support and relationships experienced from faculty and staff (Wilcox, Winn & Fyvie, 2005). Students in the FYE courses bring varying concerns, doubts and anxieties that may impede their success in the class. Successful retaker students reflected on the factors that led to the previous fail and had an improved experience with their faculty in the retaker (Dibbs, 2019).
It is especially important then for FYE faculty, especially those supporting retaker students, to create and foster a safe classroom environment that also provides support, encouragement and motivation to the students (Dibbs, 2019). From the positive learning environment that is created, faculty can then scaffold academic strategies through the session (Brower et al, 2021). In addition to employing positive teaching strategies, FYE retaker faculty must also ensure that cohort support is nurtured and encouraged in the learning environment. Cohort support, that is support from peers, have also positively influenced the success of students – in both the course and in their retention to the institution (Wilcox, et al, 2005).
To surround the FYE retaker students with support, it is crucial to leverage partnerships with other key departments in the institution. Interdepartmental collaboration among various student support departments (Advising, Enrollment, Academics) have been found to increase student success in both the retake course as well as overall institutional persistence and retention (Brower et al, 2021, Dibbs, 2019).
Upon reviewing the historical outcomes of retaker students in the first course, the university launched a retaker initiative wherein dedicated retaker only sections were created. Students who failed their first course are immediately rescheduled to retake course under especially selected faculty members who have been trained on the initiative. Designated academic advisors were also assigned to the initiative and the teams meet weekly to discuss the cohort’s progress. Initial course data point to gains made in supporting more students to succeed as evidenced by improved pass rates as well as improved reengagement outcomes for the students.
Faculty members in the retaker initiative adapted a proactive approach towards course facilitation with special focus on primarily establishing connection with the students. Faculty members adapted the “connect first, then teach content” strategy which allowed them to truly get to know the retaker students, accurately assess their needs, rethink the communication language/outreach and reassess the partnership with other student service departments. The following describes the faculty strategy:
Faculty Strategy: Connect first then teach Content
- Rethink Communication: Faculty as partners – Student Success requires communication & partnership
- Respect - Acknowledge the Student’s True Starting Point - Leave your biases at the door
- Reach Out – To Students and University Partners
- Respond
- Reengage
Activities
The session will invite collaboration from participants and will ask attendees to share current strategies implemented to support retaker students. In addition, polling questions will be used to ask the attendees’ current experience – both in terms of class set-up in relation to retaker students. Among the questions include: Are student outcomes reviewed with special attention to retakers vs. first attempt students? Are faculty able to identify retaker students in their class roster? Are there dedicated retaker only sections for their course? From the responses to these questions, the presenters will facilitate discussion and share strategies used in the current model adapted by the institution.
Session Goals:
Individuals attending this education session will be able to share their current retaker strategies through collaboration. In addition, they will be to describe the Retaker strategies implemented to support FYE students retaking their first course. They may apply these strategies and insights to other courses beyond the FYE. Finally, attendees will also understand how classroom indicators and student outcomes can be leveraged to identify effective support strategies for retaker students.
References:
Brower, R. L., Nix, A. N., Daniels, H., Xinye, H., Jones, T. B., & Shouping, H. (2021). A pedagogy of preparation: Helping underprepared students succeed in college-level coursework in community colleges. Innovative Higher Education, 46(2), 153-170. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09531-9
Calderon, T. R. (2019). Advances in Accounting Education : Teaching and Curriculum Innovations: Vol. First edition. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Dibbs, R. (2019). Forged in failure: engagement patterns for successful students repeating calculus. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 101(1), 35–50. https://doi-org.ezproxy2016.trident.edu/10.1007/s10649-019-9877-0
Wilcox, P., Winn, S., & Fyvie, G. M. (2005). ‘It was nothing to do with the university, it was just the people’: the role of social support in the first‐year experience of higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 30(6), 707–722. https://doi-org.ezproxy2016.trident.edu/10.1080/03075070500340036