Student Services Program Review-Spring 2010 - Shasta College

In the area of Matriculation Services for students, Admission and Records staff,Counseling Center classified staff, assessment staff, outreach services, IT andcounselors work as a team to provide a fine-tuned orientation. Student surveysregarding orientation have been very positive and consistently laudatory of the staffinvolved.Beginning in Summer 2009, two part-time counselors were reassigned to providespecialized support to students enrolled in basic skills classes. Initially, aspecialized orientation is presented and later followed with classroompresentations and proactive efforts to provide additional counseling during the fallsemester. This effort was developed to support the Basic Skills Initiative. Theresearch in the area of basic skills education indicates that the student servicesefforts to support these students is an effective strategy.In addition to representation on committees, the Matriculation Committee is theprimary means to get information to the instructional side of the house. Eachinstructional division has at least one representative on the Committee who isencouraged to keep the colleagues within the division informed. In addition, apresentation regarding matriculation and student services is provided to newfaculty members at their orientation at the beginning of the semester. Duringprevious Flex Day activities, counselors make presentations at some of thebreakout sessions.We rely heavily on the Research Office staff to help with SLO data collection andinterpretation, assessment cutoff scores, research studies regarding the efficacy oforientation, and our efforts in the Early Alert program in which counselors supportfaculty members who issue early alert notices.The Dean of Enrollment Services active involvement with Instructional Council andCollege Council further allows for student services input into the instructional sideof the house. For example, in Fall 2009 he was able to provide multiple strategiesfor deciding which courses to reduce for the spring semester. This led to furtherconsultation with the Instructional Deans and instructors regarding the impact ofdecisions on students‘ progress toward graduation and transfer.Attendance and participation by members of the Counseling Center at AcademicSenate meetings is another opportunity to foster collaboration, keep the collegecommunity apprised and aware of the counseling role, identify potential changes toneeded services, and be part of any campus-wide response. We should continueto seek other opportunities such as these to increase opportunities forcollaboration.Finally, the counseling newsletter is sent out once a semester, informing staff andfaculty of important dates, highlighting academic and service programs.8. Best PracticesAll counselors have access to the California Academic Senate‘s publication―Standards of Practice for California Community College Counseling Programs‖(adopted Spring 1997). It was used as a guide in preparing the template for thecounseling section of this program review.- 17 -