AlamoADVISE: Advising Model for Student Success
February 15, 2018
The Alamo Colleges District is comprised of five colleges that serve approximately 60,000 credit students per semester, of which 62% are Latino. The following Alamo Colleges student success initiative has positively impacted our majority “minority” student population.
AlamoADVISE
In 2017 ¡Excelencia! in Education’s Examples of ¡Excelencia! publication featured the Alamo Colleges District's AlamoADVISE model as an Associate Level Finalist for advancing Latino student success initiatives. AlamoADVISE, the new advising model at the Alamo Colleges, is an intentional case management model launched to facilitate and support the student experience from outreach to credential completion. The model requires certified advisors and students to meet at designated touch-points to monitor student progress, address barriers, and design strategies to maintain momentum to completion and transfer/employment for all students. All advisors provide holistic advising to support the individual student needs, including developing individual success plans, personal mission statements, and implementing strategies to support students, the majority of whom are Latino who often face access and completion barriers. With an advisor to student ratio goal of 1:350 (currently 1:358, a huge reduction from 1:900 at implementation), certified advisors provide students with personal attention, and remain with the student throughout their entire enrollment. Through the journey, advisors celebrate each student’s achievement of milestones including completion of 15, 30, and 45 credit hours, and completion of certificates and degrees. This model is designed to provide a student with a personalized pathway through academic/career advising resulting in the completion of a credential and preparation for a career and/or transfer. The AlamoADVISE model is applied at scale for 60,000 students, with Latinos making up 61% of students served. Between FY 2013 and FY 2016 the percentage of Latino students completing a credential at the Alamo Colleges has increased from 56% to 62%.
For more information on AlamoADVISE contact: Blanca Balle-Villegas, [email protected]