"SUNYBlend" uses a number of interventions &approaches to support at-risk student success including blended instruction, learning concierges, social networking, &a focus on developing student self-regulation. This NGLC-funded project uses a number of technical interventions and approaches (http://wiki.sln.suny.edu/display/SLNNGLC/interventions) to support at-risk student success. The "SUNY Blend" includes a blended program, student commons staffed by concierges, a focus on developing student self-regulated learning skills, and more. The SUNY Blend project is about student success, persistence and completion in a powerful context - to address the issue of poverty in NYS's disadvantaged youth population. New York State is one of the 13 states in the US with the highest percentage of children living in poverty. 20% of children in NYS live in poverty. The poverty of the family has consequences for the education of the children in terms of achievement and graduation rates, and then employment and salary. This is a cycle that creates a poverty trap from which it is nearly impossible to escape. We know that education can disrupt the cycle of poverty and the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Persons with greater education levels and those who increase educational attainment have higher poverty exit rates. However, College opportunities for New York State residents are poor. According to the National Report Card on Higher Education, Measuring Up 2008, The likelihood of enrolling in college by age 19 is only fair, and a very low percentage of working-age adults (4 in 100) are enrolled in higher education. Among young adults, 29% of Hispanics and 34% of blacks are enrolled in college, compared with 50% of whites. And that is not the only problem: - 40% of those incoming college students need developmental education - at our community colleges that number is closer to 70%. - Of those that test into developmental courses, More than 50% fail/drop out. New York State is failing to adequately meet the education needs of poor and working class NYS families. This is what this the SUNY Blend project is about… How do we support persistence, success, and completion in our at-risk community college students so they can get a degree, a higher paying job and exit poverty? The barriers and issues faced by our at-risk student populations are many. Many struggle with competing life priorities. They work or have children and may be single parents or have multiple jobs. They enter college needing developmental courses. Their sense of self-efficacy in their ability to succeed is low. The costs of books are a financial burden. Many first generation college students may not know how to avail themselves of the support that is available. They may feel isolated and loose their sense of community for support in a college campus setting, which would be magnified in an online learning environment. SUNY Blend addresses the issues of: • Convenience/flexibility by blending a degree program. By reducing the time that student needs to be on campus at a specific hour, we make it more flexible and convenient for the student to address factors that correlate with low persistence. Low engagement and competing priorities. • Success in developmental math - with cognitive tutor an adaptive learning platform. • High Textbook Costs - with digital content/books/OCL/OER • Student Support - Starfish - a learning analytics and early warning system that provides automated student tracking, early alerts, online appointment scheduling, and assessment. SNAPP - a tool that allows users to visualize the network of interactions resulting from discussion forum posts and replies. Used to identify disconnected (at risk) students and intervene. And to promote student self-regulated learning strategies. SmarThinking - an online tutoring. Support student success. Provide off-hour support. • Providing social networking and support with the SLN student commons (http://nglc.sln.suny.edu)- an online social networking support hub for peer to peer interaction and proactive contact with learning concierges and digital age librarians to target first generation student issues proactively. Openstudy is being incorporated into the commons. As is Khan Academy, Project Noah and StudyBlue. Smarthistory, mindbloom - Scaffolding for student self-regulation and student self-efficacy. peer support. proactive intervention, communications. A quasi-experimental research design is being employed to study the efficacy of our interventions. Materials from this project will be shared and can be used or adapted under our CC licensed. http://bit.ly/nglcsuccess http://bit.ly/JgLKOp http://bit.ly/JjzHJA Barriers to Student Retention and Success on College Campuses , by Dr. Watson Scott Sail, in Student Success - a publication of the educational policy institute, March 2006 - retrieved May 16, 2012 http://www.studentretention.org/20063/feature.html IWPR analysis of 2008 National Postsecondary, Student Aid Survey, Community College Survey of Student Engagement. http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas/ U.S. Department of Education, "Descriptive Summary of 1995-96 Beginning Postsecondary Students: Six Years Later," http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003151.pdf Supports that make a difference, from the Student Parent Success initiative and Institute for Women's Policy Research http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/student-parent-success-initiative/resour...