Persistence Project

A FACULTY DRIVEN INITIATIVE

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Student Comments & Feedback

Student Comments expressed appreciation for our teaching methods and our concern for students as individuals. Scanning through the feedback we find student words such as kind, welcoming, extremely helpful, understanding, upbeat positive attitude, comfortable and learning atmosphere. ​

Representative of many comments from students who were in Persistence Project classrooms, one student wrote, "My instructor exceeded all my expectations and is a great teacher who inspires confidence to trust in her. She is concerned about our grades and creates an awesome environment." ​

​Spring 2022 End-of-Semester Student Survey Results from PP Sections.  Percentages shown below are strongly agree or agree: 

• Communicated expectations for grades/coursework clearly: 89% ​
• Instructor knows my name: 87% ​
• Values interacting with me: 82% ​
• Communicated with me that I can succeed in college: 79%​
• Cares about me as a person: 79% ​
• Met with me one-on-one: 73%​
• ​Talks about how college relates to future career: 66% ​
• Communicated with me that I belong a LPC:  63% ​
• Knows important information about me that might be barriers to my success: 63% ​

Faculty Comments

Participating Faculty Comments expressed their enjoyment in participating in this project.  

• "I really enjoy meeting with students one/one, especially since I am currently teaching an asynchronous course. I find the process more humanizing for students and myself as faculty. " ​
• "It was particularly helpful to read what other faculty were doing to meet with students and to identify students who were struggling right at the point of need. During both of those discussions I was able to take small tidbits here and there of what others did to apply to my own course. "
  
• "I appreciate the extra support from the Persistence Project, and the emphasis toward more supportive teaching methods."

Persistence Data

The Persistence Project has been running since Spring 2020.  Since inception of the project, students who are in Persistence Project courses have been shown to persist into the following semester at higher rates than students who are not in courses associated with the project.

We have collected data over the following intervals:  Fall 2020 to Spring 2020; Spring 2020 to Fall 2021; Fall 2021 to Spring 2021; Spring 2022 to Fall 2022. Over each interval the students in Persistence Project sections showed a higher rate of persistence than those not in Persistence Project sections, ranging from 1 to 10%.

• For example, Spring 2021 to Fall 2021 was a rough period for all of us with an overall college persistence rate of 50%, yet the students in the Persistence Project courses had a persistence rate that was above the college average, on average persistence rate was 60%. 

For more information, such as a breakdown by demographics, please reach out to our Persistence Project Lead.