LADDERS program helps students make the climb to academic success

By Michelle Nery

"Get on my train or get off my track" is one of the many sayings Terri Mathews imparts to students in the program she co-developed in spring 2001 to help them get off academic probation.

For students whose grade point average slips below 2.0, it can feel as if they are on a train barreling out of control. Many are overwhelmed by work, family obligations and financial stress, but Mathews teaches them how to get back on the right track.

Mathews, assistant dean of the College of Sciences, and Sandra Waters, director of academic continuance, started the pilot program to help students on probation in the College of Sciences, but it has since spread throughout the university and is even sparking interest nationwide. They will present information on their program, Let Academic Difficulty Disappear, Energize and Retain Students (LADDERS), at the National Conference on Students in Transition Nov. 17 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Their unique program incorporates learning styles, weekly meetings, peer mentors and individual advising to help those students who might otherwise fall through the cracks.

Students invited to participate in LADDERS are those who were projected to be successful before entering Old Dominion, based on such indicators as SAT score and high school or transfer GPA. Students who enter the university with a particular deficiency in one area or another are immediately referred to Academic Advising Services, Mathews said. But for those students who were expected to do well from the start, but who found themselves struggling academically, previously there was nowhere to turn, she noted.

Weekly LADDERS sessions on learning styles, test anxiety, time management, goal setting, student-faculty communication, the honor code, financial aid, career management and planning schedules give students the skills and information they need to change their habits and create new ones.

"There are programs at other universities where they meet one-on-one, but we try to make it more peer-oriented," said Mathews. "We learned really quickly, to be successful you have to meet every week, test for learning style and break into small groups."

The formula has proven successful. Students who attended more than nine LADDERS sessions increased their GPA on average from a 1.52 to a 2.56.

As an honor student with an associate degree in science from Tidewater Community College, Janneise Davis transferred to ODU in fall 2002 and promptly signed up for a full-time load of intensive science courses. With a 7-year-old son, a husband just starting law school and a part-time job, she found herself struggling to keep her grades up. Now a senior biology/pre-med major, Davis raised her GPA from 1.6 last fall to 3.15 by the end of the spring semester.

Thanks to the LADDERS program, she was able to understand her learning style, overcome her test anxiety and stay organized. She also decided to take a few classes she enjoys to balance the more intensive major requirements. "I was so focused on becoming a doctor that I was not able to concentrate on what I'm doing now," said Davis.

An integral part of LADDERS is individual advising. Mathews lets the students know that her door, as well as the doors of the program's volunteer facilitators, are always open to them.

"We're finding that a lot of students are in the majors that parents told them to do and are beating their heads against the wall," said Waters. "College is about exploring and capitalizing on your strengths, not being fit into a mold."

Academic probation came as a shock to Billy Solomon, a sophomore double English/journalism major who coasted through high school successfully without studying. "I wasn't ready for the workload in college. I didn't listen to people when they told me I had to study," he admitted.

Solomon found the LADDERS sessions on learning styles and time management helpful. "Time management helped me to schedule study time [and] set aside time for fun," he said. "I applied what I learned and brought my GPA up last year from a 1.38 to a 3.14." Solomon returned to the LADDERS program this semester to serve as a peer mentor and tutor.

LADDERS is staffed completely by volunteer faculty and staff. Facilitators include Deborah Swago, electrical and computer engineering; Sue Doviak, mathematics and statistics; Sandra Breeden, Hongyun Fu and Tisha Paredes, College of Health Sciences; Sharon Melone-Orme, College of Sciences; Lisa Mayes, academic continuance; and Matilda Cox, College of Arts and Letters.

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