Kentucky State University has several academic support services in place for the purpose of helping students who are struggling academically or for those who want to enhance their academic performance. Each semester, a letter is sent to students who have earned a grade of D or F. This year, the letter was modified to include information for students on the various academic resources available along with how to access the programs. There are a wide range of services provided for students regardless of their instructional platform (on-line or in the classroom).

Instructions to all academic support staff consisted of them receiving a list of all students on the D/F/W list. They were instructed to divide the students among the staff and make contact with each of them. Further, they were required to assess the student to determine the issues contributing to their lack of success. Reasons included, but were not limited to, poor attendance, lack of communication with the instructor, lack of readiness to engage in on-line coursework, and the lack of time to complete and submit assignments. A comprehensive report of these findings and interventions is not available at this time. The data will be collected from all academic support areas, analyzed and acted upon by program staff with the development of a report of results at the end of the academic semester. The report will be available by June 1, 2015. Academic service areas participating in this initiative are listed below.

Course Signals – In an effort to improve the student success rate, the advising office has implemented the use of Course Signals. This is an early intervention software program that provides direct communication from faculty to the unit's academic persistence officers for appropriate interventions for students who are failing classes. Ninety (90) faculty members actively participated in the use of Course Signals by midterm of the spring 2015 semester. These faculty members sent more than 150 signals (messages) to students in over 250 courses through the Course Signal program. The impact of this program on student success will be assessed upon completion of their courses and included in the academic support services evaluation report.

[28]