Introduction

Teachers and administrators often look at student success in terms of academic metrics, such as graduation rates and course grades. However, a comprehensive measure of student success needs to encompass more than just grades or even scores on standardized tests. If you really want to see if your student met your objectives of teaching and how well your students are doing in the classroom (and beyond), consider using the following five metrics:

Student retention

Student retention is a key metric for tracking student success and measuring whether your objectives of teaching and learning were fulfilled. It’s important because if you can figure out how to get students to stay enrolled in your classes, you’ll be able to grow as an educator.

The easiest way to calculate retention rate is: (1 – dropout rate) / total number of students enrolled at the beginning of a semester. For example, if 10 students drop out after one week and 20 students remain after one month (a dropout rate of 10%), then your overall retention rate would be 80%.

Student retention is a good measure of student success because it shows whether students are learning what you teach. If students cannot retain the information from your courses, they won’t be able to use it later in life, and usually, that’s the reason they drop out or miss on your classes ultimate solution to your mathematics.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes should be:

• Measurable
• Specific and achievable
• Aligned with the course objectives of teaching and learning activities

If your students are achieving the learning outcomes in your class, they can apply what they’ve learned in real-world situations. If your students aren’t achieving the learning outcomes, you may need to adjust your course design or your learning and teaching methods.

When students don’t achieve the learning outcomes, that’s usually a sign that they don’t understand your course material or aren’t motivated enough to learn on their own time outside of class.

Usage of Classroom and Non-Classroom Resources

The third metric to track is how many resources students use in their courses. You can keep track of this by counting the number of times a particular resource is used in a course or by tracking the number of students who access it.

Usage of resources by students indicate that they are committed to learning and want to use the resources you offer them. This is a good sign that students are engaged in your course and want to learn as much as possible from it.

If you notice that students aren’t using any resources in your courses, it might be time to redesign them or provide more guidance on how to use them effectively.

You can explore research programs for high school students at Pioneer Academics.

Teamwork and Classroom Behaviour

Teamwork and classroom behaviour includes student engagement, collaboration and discipline.

Measure your students by asking these questions:

• Do your students have the desire to complete their work?
• Are they excited about what they’re learning?
• Are they motivated to do additional research on topics that interest them?
• How engaged are your students during class time?
  When it comes to Collaboration
• How does your class work together on projects and assignments?
• Do you see evidence of teamwork in terms of sharing resources, discussing ideas, sharing responsibilities and supporting one another’s the learning process?

You can also check out this fun masterclass on Cooperative learning to develop team spirit and collaborative skills in your students.

Co-curricular Engagement

I’m sure you’re familiar with the idea of co-curricular activities at colleges, but let’s be clear that this is not just about sports. Co-curricular activities include student leadership, clubs, and other organizations that help students develop a sense of belonging on campus and build relationships with peers outside their major. This can be an important part of helping students find their place in life and feel like they’re contributing to the school community.

Takeaway:

With the right tracking system in place, you can use these metrics to improve your student success rates and ensure that your students go on to become successful citizens of your community.

Conclusion

The data you’re collecting from your students is important, and it can help you understand how your students are doing. But don’t let metrics be the only thing that matters! What you do with your data is just as—if not more—important than what happens when you collect it. We hope these ideas have given you some new tools for tracking student success in all its forms and helped inspire some new ways to think about how you could improve your approach to teaching and learning outcomes measurement.