Holistic Student Supports with Dr. Melinda Karp

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE:

Learn about research on student success team implementation.

In this episode, I interview Dr. Melinda Karp, Founder & Principal at Phase Two Advisory, and former Assistant Director at the Community College Research Center, Columbia University. 

The episode focuses on Phase Two Advisory's Student Success Team Guide. 

(Scroll down to access the transcript.)

We discuss the following topics:

8:30:00: The rationale and process for creating the student success team guide.

16:01:00: Student success team findings: three types of teams.

21:25:50: Defining case or cohort management and the specific work it requires at your campus.

29:17:50: Can campus size make a difference in the student success team development and implementation?

32:25:50: The role of leadership in transformational work: the dynamic between those who lead from the middle and senior management.

45:23:25: The dilemma of allowing too much organic development with little to no structure and guidance.

58:05:75: Upcoming Phase Two Advisory resources and what a marathon has to do with student success team development.

Select Dr. Karp quotes:

"It would behoove institutions newer to this work to have a conversation about what case management or cohort case management is before launching [student success] teams."

"We tend to focus on the structural change. How will we rearrange the deck chairs, not what we're going to do differently once we have a new structure. It impedes our ability to actually change the student experience."

"[Colleges] need aligned leadership. You need to have middle and senior level leaders on the same page running in the same direction. Talk in the same talk, but using their positionality in complementary ways. It isn't enough to have fabulous senior level leaders who don't have middle level support, nor is it enough to have fabulous mid-level leaders in absence of the senior support. We really dig into the guide into the kinds of things senior leaders need to do to truly let the mid-level level leaders grow and shine."

Additional resources:

Putting SSIPP Into Practice At Scale

IES/WWC Effective Advising for Postsecondary Students

About Dr. Melinda Karp
Melinda is a nationally recognized expert on improving students’ transitions to college and supporting them once there. She founded Phase Two Advisory after nearly twenty years conducting research and working with colleges on education reform as Assistant Director at the Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University. The proud granddaughter of refugees, Melinda works with national and institutional leaders, campus-based faculty and staff, and philanthropists to ensure that all individuals have the opportunity to realize the intergenerational mobility higher education provides. She frequently writes, speaks, and comments on education reform at professional meetings, in the media, and in academic forums. Melinda holds a BS in human development and family studies from Cornell University; and both an MA and a PhD in sociology and education from Columbia University. She chairs the Effective Advising Practice Guide Panel for the Institute on Education Science’s What Works Clearinghouse, and she is a member of the inaugural editorial team for the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success.

About Dr. Al Solano
Al is Founder & Coach at the Continuous Learning Institute. A big believer in kindness, he helps institutions of higher education to plan and implement homegrown practices that get results for students by coaching them through a process based on what he calls the "Three Cs": Clarity, Coherence, Consensus. In addition, his bite-sized, practitioner-based articles on student success strategies, institutional planning & implementation, and educational leadership are implemented at institutions across the country. He has worked directly with over 50 colleges and universities and has trained well over 5,000 educators. He has coached colleges for over a decade, worked at two community colleges, and began his education career in K12. He earned a doctorate in education from UCLA, and is a proud community college student who transferred to Cornell University.

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