Advisee Progress Policy

 

Revision of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Policy on Monitoring the Progress of Doctoral Students

Adopted by the C&I faculty AY 2004 - 2005

 

On 2/11/00 the Department of Curriculum and Instruction adopted a policy and related forms pertaining to the monitoring of doctoral students.  For numerous reasons including, but not limited to, the absence of an up-to-date database on faculty advisees and the absence of reminders / deadlines for completing the forms, faculty have not implemented the policy.  Therefore, students’ files do not show whether they are making acceptable progress and there is no audit trail that would enable the department to either acknowledge and reward outstanding progress or to counsel students who are falling behind.  In addition, the department is not in compliance with Graduate College mandates for annual documentation of student progress.  An ad hoc committee comprising Fouad abd el Khalick, Sarah McCarthey, and Sharon Tettegah met with the Associate Head for Graduate Programs, Renee Clift, to offer a modification to the current policy, with the goals of making the process simpler for faculty.  In addition, the committee proposed expanding the policy to master’s students not enrolled in certification programs (those students in certification programs are already closely monitored).

Current policy states that in order to be in good academic standing and make timely progress toward the completion of their degrees, students need to:

• Maintain a 3.0 grade point average
• Have no more than two incompletes by the end of any given academic year
• Enroll for the appropriate number of hours given their graduate employment and enrollment status (see the Graduate College and College of Education Graduate Programs Handbooks)
• Successfully complete the following in no more than two attempts (for doctoral students): 

Note:  If a student does not successfully pass these requirements after two attempts she or he will be dropped from the doctoral program.

• Early Research Requirement (Ph.D. candidates only)
• Qualifying Examinations
• Preliminary Examination.  Students may not collect dissertation data prior to successfully completing the preliminary examination without prior approval from the advisor and the members of the proposed dissertation committee.
• Oral Defense of Dissertation
• Pursue degree requirements in a timely manner in order to complete the degree within the seven-year time limit (for doctoral students).
  • By the end of Year 3:
• Defense of Early Research
• Completion of Qualifying Examinations
• By the end of Year 4:    
  • Completion of Research Methodology Requirement
  • Completion of Preliminary Examination
• By the end of Year 5:    
  • Oral Defense of Dissertation
• By the end of Year 7:    
  • Thesis deposited

Based on current requirements for annual faculty reports and, in part, on a process other departments have found to be helpful, we propose the following process for monitoring students’ progress:

1. Place the responsibility for reporting on the students and use the report as a time to reflect on goals and progress toward meeting those goals.
2. Beginning with the Academic Year 05 – 06 require students to submit an annual review to their advisors each December that summarizes their progress to date (a sample follows this overview).
3. Each year the advisor will sign off on the students’ report and file it with the Graduate Programs Secretary.  This will be kept in the student’s permanent file and will be helpful in nominating students for awards or other honors.
4. The Graduate Programs Secretary will maintain a checklist of completed forms and each January will inform the Associate Head of those students who have failed to complete the forms.  The Associate Head will confer with the advisor and, where appropriate, the student, on any action that should be taken to obtain the review.
5. If a student has not made satisfactory progress in a given year, the Associate Head will be available to work with the advisor to determine appropriate ways to support the students and help her / him get back on track.
6. The Faculty Annual Report database, which is linked to student records, will be modified so that faculty can verify that each of their advisees’ records are accurate and up to date.

 

Advisee Progress Form