This document provides an overview of SUNY Broome Community College's efforts to implement the student retention platform Starfish. It discusses Broome's pilot of Starfish in Fall 2015 with 40-50 faculty and staff, campus-wide rollout in Spring 2016, and ongoing expansion. Broome has seen increased faculty usage of alerts and feedback in Starfish, and improved retention rates from Fall to Spring for students who received alerts. The document also outlines Broome's strategies for training faculty, improving campus buy-in for Starfish, and making student retention efforts more coordinated and data-driven.

1. Getting
Serious
About
Student
Retention
Advice
for
Early
Implementers
of
Starfish

2. Meet
the
crew…..
Scot
Beekman
Assistant
Director
of
Administrative
Information
Systems,
Tech
Lead
Heather
Darrow
Staff
Associate
for
Student
Retention
Rebecca
Lawson
Open
SUNY
Concierge
&
Academic
Coach

3. Who
is
Broome?
• Community
College
in
the
State
University
of
New
York
system
• Approx 7,000
students
per
semester
(Fall
2016)
– 4,000
full
time
– 3,000
part
time
• Fall
to
Fall
Retention
Rate
of
52.1%
(2015-­‐2016)

4. “While
we
have
an
excellent
track
record
of
student
success…we
are
always
seeking
ways
to
innovate
and
improve
our
students’
experience.
We
want
even
more
students
to
achieve
their
academic
dreams…”
–Kevin
E.
Drumm,
President,
SUNY
Broome
Community
College

5. “I
believe
that
as
an
institution
of
higher
education,
we
have
a
moral
obligation
to
offer
all
that
is
possible
to
assist
with
a
student’s
success.
Starfish
has
been
a
meaningful
partner
with
assisting
us
to
reach
this
imperative.”
Francis
L.
Battisti,
PhD
Executive
Vice
President
&
Chief
Academic
Officer

6. Getting
Serious…
Starfish
• Fall
2015
– Pilot
Group
40-­‐50
faculty
and
staff
– Manual
alerts
&
progress
surveys
campus-­‐wide
• Spring
2016
– Campus-­‐wide
roll
out
&
training
for
faculty
&
staff
• Fall
2016
to
present
– Ongoing
expansion
&
optimization
Achieving
The
Dream
• Fall
2016
– Joined
ATD
network
with
the
goal
of
improving
student
outcomes
for
all
– Looking
to
streamline
and
focus
our
retention
efforts
– Move
toward
a
culture
of
evidence.

7. Skimming
the
Surface:
Our
Early
Alert
History
• Limited
homegrown
early
alert
system
in
BANNER
– Alerts
only,
no
positive
feedback
– Notifications
came
from
Learning
Specialist
– No
close
the
loop
feature
– Only
¼
of
faculty
using
it

8. Getting
on
board
with
Starfish
• System
Configuration
and
Staffing
• Roles
and
permissions
• Staffing
considerations
• Academic
coaches
(Existing
staff)
• EOP,
SSS,
Open
SUNY,
Perkins,
LA
Overflow
• Triaged
intervention
approach
• Ongoing
coordination
&
collaboration

9. Lessons
Learned:
A
Tech
Perspective
• Banner/Argos/Blackboard/Google
Calendar/RR
Advisor(Tutor)Trac
• Prioritize
your
data
file
programming
• If
integrating
with
Blackboard,
use
BB
user
and
section
ID’s
• Imports
are
incremental
only,
full
data
push
available
by
request
• If
possible,
base
roles
on
position
number
• Multiple
data
files
for
multiple
terms
for
easier
troubleshooting
• Once
live,
version
your
change
requests
into
semester
releases

10. All
Hands
on
Deck!!
• Our
strategy
for
improving
campus
buy-­‐in
• Starfish
Communication
Plan
– Fish
food
messages
– Faculty
emails
• Starfish
training
options
• Division
outreach
• Faculty
Ambassador
program
• Orientation
demo
for
students
• Faculty
“Course
Tools”
• Faculty
resources/website (www.sunybroome.edu/starfish)

11. Making
a
Splash
with
Starfish!
• Faculty
usage
&
alerts
have
more
than
doubled
over
our
previous
system
• Greater
than
2:1
Kudo
to
Flag
ratio
• Fall
to
Spring
retention
of
alerted
(flagged)
students
has
risen
7%
since
our
pilot
in
Fall
2015

12. 89.4%
91.1%
77.5%
76.2%
70.0%
75.0%
80.0%
85.0%
90.0%
95.0%
Fall
2015 Fall
2016
Fall:Spring
Retention
Comparison
First
Time,
Full-­‐time
Students
Students
Tracked
in
Starfish Students
Not
Tracked
in
Starfish
#
of
Students #
Retained %
Retained #
of
Students #
Retained %
Retained
Tracked
in
Starfish 710 635 89.4% 650 592 91.1%
Students
not
Tracked
in
Starfish 825 639 77.5% 1063 810 76.2%
Fall
2015 Fall
2016

13. Any
Questions?