Performance Coaching Framework for Student Success Coaches: Improving Student Success through the Performance Management of Success Coaches
Andre Paul Davis, Jr. DBA
Dean of Student Success at North Seattle College #Leadershipdevelopment #Studentsuccess #Culturalcurator #Datainformeddecisionmaking #Organizationalarchitect
Abstract- The term "coach" has broadened considerably in higher education and is often interpreted as advising, success coaching, counseling, academic coaching, and mentoring based on students' needs. The author developed and implemented a performance coaching framework to manage Student Success Coaches at a Community College in Central North Carolina. The performance coaching framework is the author's proposal of a conceptual structure, with monthly performance evaluations that could guide and increase Success Coach performance. In addition, the performance coaching framework emphasizes setting objectives by Success Coaches, using a case management process, professional development, one-on-one meetings between managers and direct reports, identifying key performance indicators, data analysis, and utilizing analysis results for overall performance improvement.
Introduction- The term "coach" has broadened considerably in higher education and is often interpreted in many ways based on students' needs (Hall, Worsham, & Reavis, 2021). Colleges and universities address low graduation and persistence rates through student-support services, including academic advisors, peer coaching, and student success coaches (Farrell, 2007). Academic advisors focus more on academic program information and course offerings for the semester and are knowledgeable about university transfer credits and graduation (Jeffries, 2010). In addition, the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), stated that advisors are focused on "the institution's mission, culture and expectations; the meaning, value, and interrelationship of the institution's curriculum and co-curriculum; modes of thinking, learning, and decision-making; the selection of academic programs and courses; the development of life and career goals; campus/community resources, policies, and procedures; and the transferability of skills and knowledge" (Crookston, 1972, p. 5). Some institutions have also introduced the idea of peer coaching as a particular intervention for students to address the origin of increasing attrition rates (Farrell, 2007; Simmons & Smith, 2020). Student Success Coaches as defined by Hall, Worsham, and Reavis (2021) are seen as a coordinated, proactive intervention to connect students to various support services, including academic tutoring, food pantry, and emergency financial aid, and linking students to off-campus resources to increase student retention and completion rates. Dadgar et al. (2014) describe student success coaching as combining studentsupport services and instruction. These three definitions represent distinctly different views of how colleges and universities perceive student success coaching. Although these roles are similar in title, they are distinct in functionalities with some overlap. Evans et al. (2010) state that these roles encourage partnerships and enhance student learning and positive student outcomes.
One of the earliest models for coaching was an Achievement Coach in 1997 in the career and technical education (CTE) school at Central New Mexico Community College (CNMCC), funded by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act (Jeffries, 2010). CNM's achievement coaches' work comes after a student is in class and needs academic, personal, or financial intervention (Jeffries, 2010). The innovative design of a new faculty model by Stephen Lehmkuhle, Chancellor of the University of Minnesota's Rochester campus (UMR), prompted the definition of a new student-support service role (Neuhauser & Weber, 2006). The Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, and the Assistant Director of Student Life, led the endeavor to develop the Student Success Coach (SSC) role based on Lehmkuhle's new faculty model (Neuhauser & Weber, 2006). Chapman University chose to use success coaches from an outside vendor called InsideTrack, which utilizes an executive and life coaching framework that focuses on areas that research shows influence a student's persistence to graduation (Enrollment Management Report, 2006). The CNM achievement coaches utilize strategies to build on a student's strengths and encourage self-efficacy, decision-making, critical thinking, goal setting, and action planning (Jeffries, 2010). A job description was necessary to establish the Student Success Coach position at UMR. The success of UMR students within their allied programs depended on student development and learning outcomes as the focus (Neuhauser & Weber, 2006).
A review of the literature in the area of student learning included the works of Keeling (2004), who encouraged a transformative education by incorporating a student's life context into learning. Chickering and Gamson (1987), whose "seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education," focused on several essential practices. The importance of faculty and student interaction beyond the classroom, encouraging student collaboration, student engagement of course content through self-reflection, faculty's prompt feedback to students for self-assessment and improvement, efficient task management by students, faculty raising student expectations by engaging with high expectations, and fostering an environment of recognizing diverse learning styles. Moreover, Astin's (1999) theory of student development states that student development and growth link to a student's willingness to engage in their environment actively. Weber and Tesch developed an outline for student and academic support (Neuhauser & Weber, 2006), which included;
? An inclusive approach to engaging and meeting student needs.
? They are utilizing a support model where students can access various support services necessary for success.
? We are creating programming where students are encouraged to participate in professional development and access support services
In the literature, some toolkits, including the Student Success Center Network (SSCN), provide success coaching materials to assist Directors of Student Success Centers with every aspect of leading and managing success coaches (Wetzstein, Kovacich, Bragg, et al. https://www.washington.edu/ccri/research-to-practice/c4c/tools/). Insidetrack is a privately owned company that partners with colleges and universities throughout the U.S. as a success coaching vendor (insidetrack.org, 2023). Insidetrack offers coaching solutions, including start coaching, career coaching, retention coaching, re-entry and re-enrollment coaching, and career coaching alumni (insidetrack.org, 2023). Another framework came from The How Skills company which offers success coaching for students with other abilities (thehowskills.com, 2023). Moreover, some universities have established student success toolkits promoting various coaching philosophies, which could lead to student success through cross-campus collaborations and success coaching partnerships. Each toolkit guides the educational background and work experience for the SSCs role and the student engagement framework training acquired based on current research for effective student engagement. In addition, each connects SSCs to their organization's strategic goals and meets the needs of different student populations. However, there needs to be more research. literature on an instrument that could promote accountability, transparency, and the opportunity for continuous improvement by SSCs.
Performance Management through Organizational Goals
The purpose and objectives of an organization are foundational to establishing the goals of its human capital and measuring achievement through performance management (Otey & Berry, 1980). Considerable research has focused on performance appraisals as an instrument used by employers to determine goal attainment by employees (DeNisi & Pritchard, 2015). Abramis (1994) suggests a link between role ambiguity and employee performance. However, Tubre and Collins (2000) suggest that role ambiguity is not a factor in job performance. Banks and Murphy (1985) state that the challenge in the evaluation process is the need for more focus on useful, relevant, and valid data. Bolander, Werr, and Asplund (2017) suggest that performance management links to talent management (TM), an organizational activity of hiring and retaining exceptional talent. The literature addresses TM, including HRM, industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology, vocational, positive, educational, and social psychology (Gallardo-Gallardo et al., 2013; Meyers et al., 2013; Dries, 2013). Each informs an organization's TM practices and lends to goal achievement (Dries, 2013; Thunnissen & Van Arensbergen, 2015).
Student success is the goal of any coaching model though there are many different types. Even with the introduction of the Achievement Coach at Central New Mexico Community College (CNMCC) and the Student Success Coach (SSC) at the University of Minnesota's Rochester (UMR), and in other 2- and 4-year institutions throughout the US, there needs to be more research on standardized frameworks for performance managing student coaches. Also, there are nominal standardized performance measures to determine the success of SSCs beyond student completion rates and limited frameworks that establish accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement in the role of SSCs (Robinson, 2015). The Performance Coaching Framework applies to staff. The PCF includes a performance reporting process that uses key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of SSCs, who work with students to overcome barriers and achieve academic, personal, and career success (Neuhauser & Weber, 2006). The idea is to improve staff performance through the PCF, which in turn, could improve student outcomes. Introducing the PCF could support standardizing SSC performance measures and increase student success.
Components of the Performance Coaching Framework
The performance coaching framework is the author's proposal of a conceptual structure with monthly performance evaluations, which could guide employee performance reviews. With performance reviews and evaluations happening once or twice per year, as is typical in higher education, there could be missed opportunities for employee performance improvement due to the lack of frequency of employee evaluative practices (Rivera, 2020). The author created the performance coaching framework (PCF) in 2021. As a former Student Success Coach for a federal student support program, the PCF helped to establish a standardized performance measurement model by which to measure the success of a Student Success Coach. The performance coaching framework (PCF) is a performance management framework designed to be utilized by those who supervise SSCs to enhance student engagement and increase student success. As stated, the PCF includes the use of KPIs to provide additional measures as to the performance and effectiveness of SSCs, and student success. The PCF also emphasizes the importance of goal setting, using a scoring rubric, case management, continuous professional development, one-on-one meetings, identifying KPIs, and performance improvement. The development of this comprehensive framework for success aims to align the actions associated with goal achievement by SSCs with a college's strategic objectives. The following components are critical to PCF:
Success Coach Objectives and Reporting Structure
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The relational dynamics between the SSC and faculty are to identify students who need an intervention based on course performance (Hall, Worsham, & Reavis, 2021). In addition, the SSC intervention may come via faculty referral or student self-referral. The SSCs' role is to support and guide students in achieving their academic, personal, and career goals. Neuhauser and Weber (2006) define the success coach as a student's key connector to various supports and potential bridge to the persistence and completion of a credential. The Student Success Coach encourages goal attainment by students by showing the value of linking the students' daily actions and habits to those goals (Farrell, 2007). The SSC intervention does not replace the relationship between faculty and students (Neuhauser & Weber, 2006). Furthermore, the SSC and faculty should work together to address specific student issues and identify student trends in and outside of the classroom (Neuhauser & Weber, 2006). Technology is discussed later in this article to identify students who need support before they reach severe academic consequences.
Application of the PCF to Student Success Coaching at a North Carolina Community College, the author saw the need for a coaching rubric to performance manage SSCs. The purpose was two-fold, 1. To determine student outcomes for student success coaching, and 2. To create a sense of accountability and consistency in the delivery of student services by SSCs. Initially, SSCs at a North Carolina Community College reported to Deans of a particular program pathway. The author requested the Institution Research Department (IR) in August of 2022 for data from March of 2022 to August of 2022, to establish baseline data on SSC's performance across program pathways. An initial data extraction based on initial key performance indicators showed that SSCs across program pathways students had an average GPA of 1.89, attempted credit 3975 versus completed credits 2352, with a 59% course completion rate. The average number of terms a student engaged with an SSC was 3 and the average SAP completion rate was 50%. Credentials earned/completed were 4 of all the students served between March of 2022 to August of 2022. The author designed and implemented the PCF in September 2022.?
The SSCs became direct reports to the Director of Student Enrichment and Engagement based on the need for more concentrated guidance, training, and support. The North Carolina Community College has seven success coaches, one within each program pathway, including;
Before this change in reporting structure, the SSCs worked primarily from faculty referrals. Faculty and staff submitted referrals through a home-grown student database, built on a popular database platform and used for documenting student engagement by SSCs. A systematic predetermined list of students was created based on several criteria, including first-generation, Pell Grant recipient, 2.2 GPA or lower, and the program pathway chosen by the student. The criteria increased the pool of students who could use additional support from SSCs, between 150 to 300 students within each SSCs program pathway. SSCs now engage a much larger pool of students daily, and referrals are now an additional opportunity to support specific students identified by faculty and staff within their program pathways.
The PCF purports and advocates or assumes SSCs' goals and actions should align with institutional goals. In the case of this North Carolina Community College, the College's 2021- 2026 Strategic Plan has two Strategic Goals, one of which is progressively and equitably increasing the number of students completing in-demand credentials and training to meet or exceed 60 percent (completion rate). This goal links to the Strategic Priorities, one of which is pathways to student success, which invests in success coaching, advising, and student development promising practices that support goal discernment and achievement, leading to on-time completion, university transfer, and/or job placement. The Success Coach Evaluation rubric outlines the SSCs' goals, which have nine metrics designed to encourage the development of student engagement habits that could lead to equitable and consistent student service delivery by SSCs. The SSCs' goals link directly to the Strategic Priorities of the College, Two of those SSC metrics include the SSC attending monthly scheduled professional development opportunities and the SSC completing a success plan/student engagement action item with every new student monthly (Davis, 2022). Otey and Berry (1980) stated the importance of aligning the goals of human capital with organizational goals. Every metric aligns with the College's Strategic Priorities, which align with the Strategic Goals of the College. The next section of this paper discusses the SSC rubric in greater detail.?
Success Coach Evaluation Rubric
The goal alignment of SSCs to College is another component of the PCF. A scoring rubric is a tool used to evaluate the performance of successful coaches in the PCF. The rubric creates equitable, consistent student service delivery by encouraging student engagement. The SSCs metrics align with the College's Strategic goals and priorities. The Success Coach Performance Evaluation is a scoring guide that assesses and articulates specific components, expectations, and performance of SSCs. The SSC performance evaluation rubric creates consistency by SSCs to meet the service delivery standard. Scoring criteria identify areas of strengths and opportunities for professional growth. The SSC should score 80 points or above during the end-of-month evaluation period. Any additional participation beyond the standard of "meets" will be calculated as "exceeds." SSCs that score below 80 points over three consecutive months will go on a performance improvement plan in the third month. The goal is to encourage SSCs to meet the standard student service delivery score of 80 points; making data entry a priority to ensure accurate reporting, full participation in professional development opportunities, engagement in using the PCF, committing to promising practices, and coaching the students within their respective program pathway at a North Carolina Community College.
Table 1
Success Coach Evaluation Rubric
An example of the rubric is in Dr. Davis' LinkedIn profile. Note. Davis, A. (2022). Success Coach Evaluation Rubric. Manuscript submitted for publication.
The rubric could guide SSCs in creating consistent student engagement habits that work with other technology, such as early alert systems (EAS). Student success coaches have benefitted from using predictive analytic technology to identify students needing intervention based on student performance predictors (Hall et al., 2021). Predictive analytics and systems like EABNavigate and Watermark/AVISO are discussed later in this paper. Companies like Watermark/AVISO and EAB-Navigate are encouraging the use of non-deficit language and have moved to use the term "Early Success System" instead of "Early Alert System."?
Case Management Models and the Stanley Workflow Chart
Case management is another critical component of the performance coaching framework, which helps SSCs assist students who are facing crises, experiencing life stressors, and encountering barriers that impede success. SSCs need to utilize a process to manage student interactions, which could make things equitable and create a consistent student service delivery standard. Historically case management was a social services function focused on meeting the needs of those who sought to address psychological, social, and economic needs (Shelesky, Weatherford, & Silbert, 2016). A series of tragedies on multiple college campuses spurred the University of Miami and other university systems to establish a case manager with their Student Affairs Departments (Randazzo & Plummer, 2009; Wilson et al., 2013). There are several types of case management models within higher education. The administrative model could be in a high-level office, like the Dean of Students, where students hear about the various services and expectations. These are primarily services related to mental health and the Family Educational Rights and Policy Act (FERPA) (Shelesky, Weatherford, & Silbert, 2016). The second is the behavior intervention/threat assessment team model: Like the administrative model, there are confidentiality concerns, and the primary focus is on addressing the greater good of the campus community by decreasing risk (Shelesky, Weatherford, & Silbert, 2016). Moreover, confidentiality is the focus of the counseling center model, as mitigated due to being a highly regulated department. Privacy for students' psychological needs stays private unless a student themselves discloses this information or the campus community has to disclose this information to protect others on the campus (Shelesky, Weatherford, & Silbert, 2016). (Article continued in next posting)