Coaching helps Northern students stay in college

A professional coaching program has been successful in reducing the dropout rates at four Montana public colleges — including Montana State University-Northern — statistics that were released Tuesday show.

The coaching is provided through the RevUp Montana Consortium, a four-year federally funded pilot program, that works with nine colleges throughout Montana to equip students with training for high-wage jobs in industries such as manufacturing, energy and diesel where employers are looking for skilled workers.

Since 2014, RevUp has partnered with InsideTrack, a San Francisco vendor, and provided more than a 1,000 students in four state colleges with professional success coaches. In a news release, RevUp officials predict that by December, more than 2,000 students will receive those services.

The research found that among Northern students, those who received coaching returned for a second year at a rate 8.5 percent  higher than the overall student population. Three other Montana colleges, City College MSU-Billings, Great Falls College MSU and Flathead Valley Community College, which are taking part in the coaching program, yielded similar results, the news release said.

Springer said that at Northern, where 373 students are coached, those efforts probably helped retain about 20 students who would not have otherwise come back.

Missoula College at the University of Montana became the fifth college to provide coaching services under the program. Results for Missoula College were not available in the news release.

Ted Eismeier, a media contact with Whiteboard Advisers, which works with RevUp, said that unlike tutoring which focuses on academics, the coaching helps students formulate plans and deal with other demands in their lives so they can graduate on time.

“It’s not about one facet of their life, it’s about looking at everything they have going on and helping the students plan so if there is a challenge they have the resources around them so they can stick with it instead of putting a pause on it or dropping out,” he said.

Those challenges include balancing the rigors of being a student with those of full-time employment, family and personal finances.

Springer said that many conversations between the students and coaches, who have backgrounds in fields such as education, psychology and social services, are ones that aren’t typical in college.

He gave an example he heard in a report of a single mother who was working and had two children and wanted to make sure the house was clean every day. But when she returned to school she had problems meeting all those competing demands. She then had a conversation with coaches about what she can go without, such as a night without the laundry being folded, in order to figure out how better to manage their time.

“So it’s a nonacademic intervention in many ways, and in some ways, what they are able to do also is be sort of a one-stop answer for students about ‘how do I get help around this particular issue’ or ‘who do I go see if I am having trouble with financial aid,’” Springer said

He said that in those instances, students can contact a coach by phone or email.

Springer said two coaches serve the coaching needs, but despite the workload, are well acquainted with the individuals and resources that students need at a college.

“They might only have two or three communications with a student, and yet the impacts are that high,” he said.