Assignment:
Complete your final Capstone Project incorporating feedback from your classmates, Instructor, and stakeholder audience. To the elements you have completed previously, add a 1 to 2 page section on recommendations for future implementation. See attached original outline please add to this document.
Your final project should include the following components:
• Problem statement and rationale
• Literature review
• Description of project - expand your outline to a 2 to 3 page narrative description
• Presentation slides
• Summary of stakeholder feedback
1. Goals for the project
a. Increase the quality of services that are delivered at the University
b. Increase parent and student satisfaction, especially during the first year, when the turnover rates are high (Seidman, 2019).
c. Increase student retention in the University by engaging and interacting with students.
2. Description of the local context
a. Southern New Hampshire University is a University that is suffering because of low student retention rate.
b. The retention rate at the university is 61%, which is worrying.
3. Activities, initiatives, or strategies to be used
a. Engaging students in the school decision making process.
b. The use of sports activities that bring students together and make them feel like equal members of the institution.
c. Promote a positive and friendly attitude from the teachers and staff members (Seidman, 2019).
4. Deliverables or outcomes - what the project should accomplish
a. The project should help to increase the institution's retention rate.
5. How the project, if implemented, could be evaluated or assessed
a. The project will be evaluated by its ability to increase the retention rate from its current percentage of 61%.
6. A proposed timeline that could be followed to implement the project
a. The project will take eight weeks.
b. The strategies that will be implemented will, however, be embraced in the culture of the University.
7. A list of budgetary items
a) A budget of $1,000 will be needed to cater for the needs of the project team.
b) Devices that will be used to store data will also be needed (Laptops and Tablets).
c) A team of seven permanent project members will be needed.
d) The team will survey Administration, Faculty and current & former Students.
e) My team will provide feedback in the form of data analysis.
f) Data analysis will highlight the areas that needs improvement.
8. The stakeholder audience to whom you plan to present your project plan/proposal, and reasons for their interest in the project
a. The Board of Directors
i. The board of directors' team is the one that authorizes the implementation of new strategies.
ii. The project will need financial support, and that means that they must be consulted.
b. Staff Members
i. Staff members are engaged in the affairs of students.
ii. When they are targeted, they help to understand more about the factors that promote high rates of retention.
iii. They are also used as tools for implementing the strategies that will be included in the project.
c. Parents and Teachers Association
i. Parents and teachers have an essential role when it comes to the retention of students because parents fund the education of the students and teachers control the class atmosphere (Dula, Lampley, & Lampley, 2018).
ii. Parents and teachers can be used as tools to stop the escalation of the problem.
iii. They can also contribute and advise on the areas that should be focused on.
References
Dula, M. E., Lampley, S. A., & Lampley, J. H. (2018). Undergraduate Retention Rates for Students in Learning Support Math Classes versus Traditional Math Classes Controlling for ACT Mathematics Scores. Journal of Learning in Higher Education, 14(1), 1-6.
Seidman, A. (2019). Minority Student Retention: The Best of the" Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice." Routledge.
Readings:
Student Retention in Higher Education
By Tangela Jones