The Student Success Work Group (SSWG) both surveyed and conducted focus groups and interviews with students, with the goal of improving the UWM student experience. The group’s May 2019 report resulted from their identification of emerging themes in the data,… Read More

Following the lead of UW System’s “15 to Finish” initiative, UWM encourages freshman students to complete 30 credits by the end of their first full year in school (including summer and WinterIM). Research shows students who complete 30 credits in… Read More

All instructors have had difficult conversations with students who are questioning their grades. Even though these conversations can be frustrating at times, we need to focus on why a student received a certain grade and what they can do to improve…. Read More

Many students might feel intimidated by their instructors and by the dizzying array of offices and processes they have to navigate at UWM. As a result, many advisors report that they coach students to help them deal with their fear… Read More

Many high schools post grades online, so students are accustomed to knowing how they’re doing and being able to check at any time. The good news is that UWM has made progress: 85% of active Canvas courses in Fall 2019… Read More

Last week’s focus on first-year retention was the first in a series of posts about the key metrics UWM uses to measure the success of its students. Six-year graduation (prior to a student’s seventh fall term) is a standard metric… Read More

UWM has made meaningful progress on a key higher education metric: Retention of first-year students from one fall to the next. 71.0% of new first years in 2014 were retained into their second year; we retained 75.5% of new first… Read More

UWM data shows that students who are regularly going to tutoring or to supplemental instruction (peer-assisted study) receive higher course grades and are retained at a higher rate—12.1 percentage points higher for tutoring and 18.5 percentage points higher for supplemental… Read More

We know from surveys and focus groups that many UWM students are not aware of all of the resources available to them, and that some others find the array of potential resources confusing. One answer is to improve how we… Read More