The Student Success Insights (SSI) project was born out of the College of Charleston’s 10-year strategic plan to ensure an effective support system that increases student retention and graduation rates.

Using a new software platform, the SSI project will aggregate student data from across existing platforms in easy-to-read dashboards so that faculty and advisors have a more complete picture of a student’s status at the College. Communication plans will prompt students to register for the next semester, contact their academic advisor or address issues before they become barriers to academic progress.

The initial cohort to use SSI will include the Center for Academic Performance and Persistence (CAPP). Jess Zuber, CAPP director, has more than three years of experience with the student success software in her previous job and is excited about what it will do for the College.

“SSI will allow the College of Charleston community at large to support students in varying ways,” says Zuber. “The College will be able to take advantage of key features of the product including automation of communications (emails/texts), automated alerts, the faculty experience and the ability to identify at-risk students earlier than ever before.”

The SSI software is simple to navigate and accessible to everyone who works directly with students. The advising console displays indicators to identify unique characteristics, attributes, and cohort relationships for each student to facilitate meaningful conversations. Automated alerts will notify faculty and staff when students are in danger of failing or falling behind, allowing proactive referrals to campus resources. Faculty can make resource referrals or raise alerts for students enrolled in their courses or use the advising console when advising majors.

SSI will save faculty and staff hours of work in terms of pulling together data and will have an impact on a student’s ability to stay and graduate from the College. Faculty and staff will be incorporated into SSI in phases starting in May and continuing until the end of the calendar year.

“By integrating SSI into our daily work with students, we’ll be able to see a significant amount of student data in one area providing the opportunity for more holistic conversations,” says Zuber. “With this system, we will be able to better support the retention, persistence and graduation of our students, which directly aligns with our strategic plan.”