See below for a request from Jan McKinney regarding transfer student success.

Thanks!

Shannon

Shannon Rios, M.A.

Senior Program Coordinator

The University of Texas at San Antonio

Undergraduate Studies Support and Technology Services

San Antonio, TX 78249

P: 210.458.6786

f: 210.458.4303

From: Jan McKinney
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 10:06 PM
To: Barry McKinney <Barry.McKinney@utsa.edu>; Charlin Jones <Charlin.Jones@utsa.edu>; Kayla Larsen <Kayla.Larsen@utsa.edu>; Ginnifer Cie Gee <Ginnifer.Gee@utsa.edu>; Lisa Johns <Lisa.Johns@utsa.edu>; Martha Smith <Martha.Smith@utsa.edu>; Barbara Smith <Barbara.Smith@utsa.edu>; Shannon Rios <Shannon.Rios@utsa.edu>; Ann Margaret Trujillo <AnnMargaret.Trujillo@utsa.edu>; Lydia Bueno <Lydia.Bueno@utsa.edu>; Lisa Alonzo <Lisa.Alonzo@utsa.edu>; Laura Munroe <Laura.Munroe@utsa.edu>; Kim Ellicks-Center <Kim.EllicksCenter@utsa.edu>
Subject: Need Help Finding Transfer Students graduating this Spring

We are seeking three transfer students that are graduating this Spring who wouldn’t mind sharing their stories for this campaign to #CountAllStudents.

Given that transfer do not count in our success measures, this campaign serves to highlight transfer student success and their contributions to our campuses.  Students need to fill out the online form in the memo below.  It includes students granting permission for the group to post their story on their website and upload a photo. 

The Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) is a contributor.  Sam is involved in a leadership position in the organization and therefore is very interested in our students being included.  Although, the initial deadline is April 25^th – they will accept responses past that date.

Please feel free to work with the student directly to fill out the form OR provide their name and email to me and I will reach out to the student. If you work with the student directly, please just let me know that the submission is complete.

Thanks for your help and please share with any staff members that you think might be able to help!

We need your help to #CountAllStudents this graduation season!

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April 6, 2016

To:               Presidents and Chancellors at SAM participating institutions

From:          SAM Team

Re:               Assistance Requested for SAM “Count All Students” Campaign

We need your help!  With graduation season approaching, those of us at the Student Achievement Measure (SAM) want to raise awareness of how SAM is helping you and other institution leaders report the progress and success of the transfer and part-time students that the federal graduation rate leaves out.  

Due to a congressional ban on student-level data, the federal government is unable to reliably and consistently report the outcomes of students after they transfer, and has only recently added minimal reporting for part-time students.  Yet more than half of bachelor’s degree recipients attended more than one school and nearly two-thirds of community college students start part-time.  Those students, among others, are not counted.

We want to demonstrate how the lifting of the federal ban on a student-level data system would allow a measure like SAM to be the nationally accepted method for reporting graduation outcomes and better ensure that the federal government counts all students, not just those who start full-time and graduate from their first institution.

What We’re Planning
Beginning in May and lasting throughout graduation season (and quite possibly beyond), SAM and its partners plan to launch a campaign called “Count All Students.”  Through a series of vignettes posted on a new blog on the SAM website and promoted through social media, we will put a face on those students who will be graduating this spring and are not counted in the federal graduation rate calculation.  

What You Can Do to Help
Do you know a student who will be graduating from your institution this spring and who either transferred or began as a part-time student?  Help us collect these brief stories.  Please identify up to three students on your campus who will be graduating this spring, but won’t be counted as part of the federal graduation rate for your school.  

By telling the successful stories of those who aren’t counted we hope to raise awareness for SAM as an immediate solution to the federal graduation rate while supporting the case for a student-level data system that would ensure such data are available for all institutions so we can count all students.

We plan to launch this effort the first week of May to coincide with the beginning of college graduation season.  In order to be part of the initial launch, we must receive the brief student stories by April 25.  We will post additional submissions to the blog through mid-June, so please submit student stories even if you can’t make the April 25 deadline for the initial launch!

How to Submit Student Stories
To submit the necessary information, we ask that the appropriate staff or office identify up to three students to highlight from your campus – spring 2016 graduates who either transferred from another institution or who started part-time.  That office will work with the students to fill out this brief online form to provide the necessary background information and to upload a photo that will be included with the story.  The online form includes consent information that must be read and agreed to by the student or we will be unable to publish their information.

We’ll be back in touch in the coming weeks with different ways your institution can help spread this message (i.e. a social media campaign, photos of commencement ceremonies), press releases, op-eds, etc.).  If there is a particular staff member who we should include for future communications, please email us the contact information.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or need additional information, please email us or call 202-478-6072.

We appreciate your continued support for the SAM project and more accurate data that counts all students.

Sincerely,

The SAM Team


Christine Keller 
SAM Executive Director

Teri Lyn Hinds 
SAM Project Manager

Jeff Lieberson
APLU Vice President, Public Affairs

David Edelson
APLU Director, Public Affairs

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