September 5, 2014
Submission of Academic Progress Reports for first-year students
From: April Mason, provost and senior vice president
To: Deans, department heads, all teaching faculty and graduate teaching assistants
A significant aspect of our efforts to improve first-to-second year retention at Kansas State University is the collection of Academic Progress Reports for all first year students. These reports give students an early indication as to their performance in your course or course section. In addition, and very importantly, they let the student's academic advisor and academic support services professionals know who is doing unsatisfactory work so they can contact the student to discuss steps the students may take to improve their performance.
The deadline for submission of this fall's Academic Progress Reports is 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6. You may include such factors as class attendance, completion of homework in an accurate and timely fashion, classroom participation, out-of-class preparation, etc. in your assessment of "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" work.
Submission of the progress reports will be electronic through the iSIS system — no paper rosters will be provided. Beginning on Monday, Sept. 22, instructors can check to see which of their fall 2014 classes have first-year students enrolled by going to the iSIS Faculty Center, under "My Teaching Schedule." Those courses with first-year students enrolled will have a mid-term grade roster icon posted. Select this icon and the names and report form for the first-year student will appear. Whether or not you believe you have first-year students in any of your classes, please check. As noted, these rosters will be accessible until 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6.
For those classes in which first-year students are enrolled, you will be shown a Mid-term Academic Progress Report Form with the names of the students listed. Only the first-year students will be listed. You will be asked to indicate whether the student is doing satisfactory — grade of A-C — or unsatisfactory — grade D-F — work at this time.
For those whose performance is deemed unsatisfactory, faculty are requested to indicate one or more reasons for this evaluation — at least one reason must be indicated. Once you have marked all of the students listed, select "save" to store your responses to the progress report. Please be sure to complete the rosters for all classes indicated. Thank you very much for your vital help in this important aspect of our developing universitywide student success system.
If you have any questions, please contact Michael L. Lynch, associate vice president for student life at 785-532-7305 or mlynch@k-state.edu.