Personalized coaching gives Fayetteville State University a big boost in retention
The Opportunity
Fayetteville State University is a public HBCU known for serving one of the most diverse student bodies in the country — and for empowering their students to become pivotal leaders through award-winning degree programs. Always striving to bolster student support, FSU wanted to raise retention rates and improve student engagement with campus resources. What’s more, they identified an opportunity to support their overextended advising department while enhancing their ability to meet the needs of the students. That’s where InsideTrack came in.
The Opportunity
Fayetteville State University is a public HBCU known for serving one of the most diverse student bodies in the country — and for empowering their students to become pivotal leaders through award-winning degree programs. Always striving to bolster student support, FSU wanted to raise retention rates and improve student engagement with campus resources. What’s more, they identified an opportunity to support their overextended advising department while enhancing their ability to meet the needs of the students. That’s where InsideTrack came in.
The Solution
InsideTrack engaged with FSU in a two-year partnership with a multi-level approach. Coaches worked directly with 300 students throughout the school year, while providing an additional team to conduct a deep dive into FSU’s systemic challenges to identify key strategies and opportunities for improvement. What’s more, FSU gave their advisors dedicated time to train in the InsideTrack coaching methodology — enabling them to weave holistic coaching practices throughout their everyday support and carry on a sustainable and scalable in-house coaching program.
The Solution
InsideTrack engaged with FSU in a two-year partnership with a multi-level approach. Coaches worked directly with 300 students throughout the school year, while providing an additional team to conduct a deep dive into FSU’s systemic challenges to identify key strategies and opportunities for improvement. What’s more, FSU gave their advisors dedicated time to train in the InsideTrack coaching methodology — enabling them to weave holistic coaching practices throughout their everyday support and carry on a sustainable and scalable in-house coaching program.
Proven Results
The Impact
Sparking direct impact through retention coaching
The year-long retention coaching program gave InsideTrack coaches the opportunity to understand each student’s unique strengths and motivations to graduate, helping them develop a plan to stay on track toward their goals — and see them through. Available as a thought partner to students across a variety of communication channels, InsideTrack coaches worked to proactively minimize course-altering challenges by assessing student pain points and strengths, collaborating on plans that incorporated what they’ve learned about the individual, and encouraging the use of campus resources — resulting in a 22 percent higher retention rate for coached students and an increase in GPA compared to a non-coached group.
Fueling long-term sustainability through coaching development and training
FSU committed to implementing the InsideTrack coaching methodology to support advisors in continuing a strengths-based, proactive approach to working with students. After advisors completed the intensive training, they continued to develop their coaching skills by debriefing their work to highlight their strengths and proactively working on their challenges when it came to practicing coaching. After consistently reviewing their work every month for two years, they completed InsideTrack Coach Certification — allowing them to bring a consistency of care to all the learners they support.
The Impact
Sparking direct impact through retention coaching
The year-long retention coaching program gave InsideTrack coaches the opportunity to understand each student’s unique strengths and motivations to graduate, helping them develop a plan to stay on track toward their goals — and see them through. Available as a thought partner to students across a variety of communication channels, InsideTrack coaches worked to proactively minimize course-altering challenges by assessing student pain points and strengths, collaborating on plans that incorporated what they’ve learned about the individual, and encouraging the use of campus resources — resulting in a 22 percent higher retention rate for coached students and an increase in GPA compared to a non-coached group.
Fueling long-term sustainability through coaching development and training
FSU committed to implementing the InsideTrack coaching methodology to support advisors in continuing a strengths-based, proactive approach to working with students. After advisors completed the intensive training, they continued to develop their coaching skills by debriefing their work to highlight their strengths and proactively working on their challenges when it came to practicing coaching. After consistently reviewing their work every month for two years, they completed InsideTrack Coach Certification — allowing them to bring a consistency of care to all the learners they support.
Dr. James Anderson
Former Chancellor at Fayetteville State University
Learn more about how Fayetteville State University combined the power of direct retention coaching with staff development to improve persistence rates.
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