Topic: Educational Transformation
Past Event
February 1, 2023
Using A University-Wide Initiative to Fuel Transfer Reforms
Transfer Explorer At CUNY
On February 1 from 4:10 – 5:00 pm ET, Pooja Patel will participate in a National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) annual conference session on “Using a university-wide initiative to fuel transfer reforms.” This session provides an overview of the continued development of Transfer Explorer, a tool introduced at the 2022 NISTS conference that aims to reduce loss of transfer credit, and its adoption at the City University of New York (CUNY) as part…
Past Event
April 27, 2023
Holistic Credit Mobility: Centering Learning in Credential Completion
Session at the WICHE Academic Leadership Forum
At the 2023 Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Academic Leadership Forum, Martin Kurzweil and Chau-Fang Lin will present on holistic credit mobility and the framework for centering learning in credential completion, sharing findings from an Ithaka S+R issue brief funded by the Ascendium Education Group. The session is schedule for Thursday, April 27 at 11:15 – 12:15 pm.
Past Event
February 22, 2023
Holistic Credit Mobility
An Innovative Framework to Foster Credit and Learning Mobility
On Wednesday, February 22 from 2:50 – 3:40 pm PST at the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students Conference, Sarah Pingel will present on Ithaka S+R’s holistic credit mobility project with Ascendium Education Group’s Carolynn Lee. The session will define the concept of holistic credit mobility and propose a framework to understand how higher education can be responsive to the needs of today’s mobile students. The session will include worked examples that allow participants to…
Past Event
March 7, 2023
Shark Tank: Edu Edition
SXSW 2023 Session
At SXSW EDU 2023, Ithaka S+R’s Catharine Bond Hill, the Chronical of Higher Education’s Goldie Blumenstyk, and Guild Education’s Paul Freedman will serve as “sharks” in the eighth annual pitch-a-thon hosted by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The judges will weight in on transformative ideas from contestants representing new companies, nonprofits, and big dreamers from improving the college experience. The session is scheduled to take place on March 7, 2023 at 4:00 – 5:00 pm CT at the Austin…
Research Report
January 17, 2023
Strengthening Mississippi’s Economic Future Through Postsecondary Investment
As Mississippi prepares to support the statewide postsecondary attainment goal, understanding the returns to higher education is crucial to determining where to invest resources. Ithaka S+R has partnered with the Woodward Hines Education Foundation to provide Mississippi policymakers, advocates, and legislators with information they need to make strategic investments in postsecondary education that can increase attainment of high-value postsecondary credentials, especially amongst lower-income Mississippians, people of color, and residents in rural communities.
Blog Post
January 10, 2023
New Jersey Poised to Become Ninth State to Ban Transcript Withholding—But Only Sometimes
Over the last 13 months, New Jersey state legislators have considered four bills related to transcript withholding—or the practice of postsecondary institutions withholding a student’s transcript until they have paid their full balance. It appears now that the state may be one step closer to banning the practice—but only some of the time. Assembly Bill 1198 was recently assigned to the Senate Higher Education Committee, which may now move forward with discussing, debating, and amending the legislation before sending…
Blog Post
November 30, 2022
Supporting Mobile Students to Credential Completion through Holistic Credit Mobility
People learn in more places than ever before—earning credits from high school or dual enrollment courses, picking up certifications for job advancement, gaining experience through the military, and more. While many colleges, universities, and employers have begun translating this accumulated learning into transcriptable credits, students frequently find that institutions will not count their previously accumulated credits.
Issue Brief
November 16, 2022
Holistic Credit Mobility
Centering Learning in Credential Completion
In this issue brief, we introduce holistic credit mobility as a framework for making sense of contemporary student mobility and devising solutions that center the success of mobile students with multiple forms and sources of validated learning. In the sections that follow, we define holistic credit mobility and highlight strategies to support its effective deployment throughout postsecondary institutions and systems.
Blog Post
October 31, 2022
Joining Hands to Improve Student Access to College
Successfully addressing student debt, transcript holds, and re-enrollment for adult learners often requires cross-organizational partnerships. The Ohio College Comeback Compact is doing exactly that in northeast Ohio. A regional collaborative of eight public colleges and universities, the Ohio Department of Higher Education, Ithaka S+R, and College Now Greater Cleveland, the Ohio Compact is an innovative program allowing students to return to one of the participating institutions despite owing institutional debt that likely resulted in a transcript hold.
Past Event
November 17, 2022
Stranded Credits: Challenges and Opportunities
Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) 2022 Conference
On November 17 at 2:00 – 3:15 pm PT, Ithaka S+R’s Elizabeth Looker and James Dean Ward will participate in an interactive symposium at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) 2022 Conference, which will bring together scholars who are addressing the challenge of stranded credits from multiple perspectives and contexts. The event provides an opportunity for attendees to better understand the causes and consequences of stranded credits, learn about existing solutions, and collaboratively reimagine new approaches…
Blog Post
September 27, 2022
Supporting Quantitative Learning in the Social Sciences
New Report Details Challenges and Opportunities
Social science classes play important roles in teaching quantitative literacy to students because they ground quantitative reasoning in contexts that resonate with undergraduates. Understanding how social science instructors teach quantitative skills and identifying instructional barriers can help libraries and other university units support faculty and students. Today, Ithaka S+R releases findings from one of the largest in-depth studies of teaching practices across social science disciplines, conducted in partnership with librarians from 20 colleges and universities in the United States.
Past Event
October 18, 2022
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: An Exploration of Articulation of Credit Transfer (ACT)
Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference
Martin Kurzweil and Lexa Logue will participate in a panel with the Hecksher Foundation's Peter Sloan and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation's Miss. Cass Conrad focusing on new ways the Articulation of Credit Transfer project is helping students gain their credentials. The panel will discuss a transparent, public facing resource developed within The City University of New York system. The panel is scheduled to take place on October 18 at 1:45 - 3:00 pm CT. …
Blog Post
August 31, 2022
The Importance and Risks of Institutional Borrowing
New Report with TIAA Institute
While student loan debt has ballooned to over $1.7 trillion, institutional debt, or money colleges and universities borrow as organizations, is frequently overlooked as a significant factor in higher education finance. With support from the TIAA Institute, Ithaka S+R examined institutional borrowing practices. Specifically, we examined how periods of crisis and financial strain impact the decision to borrow and identified institutional characteristics linked to growth in debt levels during the 2008 Great Recession.
Research Report
August 30, 2022
Borrowing During a Time of Crisis
Examining Institutional Debt During the Great Recession and COVID-19
Although a great deal of attention is paid to student debt, colleges and universities have increased their institutional debt substantially over the past several decades. While institutional borrowing is an important tool colleges can use to meet strategic goals, unchecked or irresponsible debts can undercut a college’s ability to adequately serve students. Ithaka S+R conducted a mixed methods study, with the generous support of the TIAA Institute, to better understand how institutional borrowing decisions are made during periods of crisis.
Blog Post
August 26, 2022
Remembering Deanna Marcum
We are so terribly sad about the passing of our beloved colleague Deanna Marcum on August 16, 2022. Deanna was a humble and private person, so she would not want a lot of attention focused on her, but her impact on me and us here at ITHAKA is so profound that we must recognize and share it. I first met Deanna in 1996, when she was the president of the Council of Library…
Blog Post
August 18, 2022
Diversity, Equity, and the PhD Pipeline
Expanding the Toolkit
The growing mismatch between the profiles of current full-time faculty, 75 percent of whom are white, and the nation’s increasingly diverse undergraduate student bodies, 45 percent of whom are people of color, represents a serious threat to socioeconomic and racial equity and intergenerational mobility. In spite of a generation of comprehensive targeted enrichment interventions from the undergraduate through postdoctoral fellowship stages, public and privately-funded efforts to increase the number of PhDs from historically underserved populations has been painstakingly slow.
Issue Brief
August 18, 2022
Post-Baccalaureate Bridge Programs
An Underutilized Tool for Strengthening Faculty Diversity
Over the last 50 years, the US has experienced significant shifts in its racial and ethnic makeup, making it a much more racially diverse country than it was a half century ago. The racial and ethnic composition of the higher education system has shifted too. In spite of this progress, various forms of racial bias, socioeconomic inequality, and academic gatekeeping continue to limit access of students from underrepresented minority (URM) and low-income backgrounds to higher education’s resources and potential benefits.
Blog Post
August 15, 2022
Stranded Credits: State-Level Actions and Opportunities
Over the past several years, state and federal regulators have increasingly scrutinized the practice of transcript withholding. As of June 15, 2022, five states have pending bills and eight states have enacted bills that prohibit postsecondary institutions from withholding transcripts. Without transcript holds, students will be able to re-enroll in college, transfer to an institution that better fits their needs, apply for jobs that require postsecondary degrees, and potentially be in a better position to pay off their educational debt.
Blog Post
August 2, 2022
New Opportunity for Stopped-Out College Students in Northeast Ohio to Settle Debt and Access Stranded Credits
Ohio College Comeback Compact Launches Summer 2022
Thousands of college students in Northeast Ohio who left school without a degree and owe money to their former college now have a pathway back to settle the debt and continue their education. Beginning this month, the Ohio College Comeback Compact is contacting approximately 15,000 students with a new proposition: come back to any public college in the region, even if you owe money and your transcript is being held because of it. Eligible students who…
Blog Post
July 26, 2022
An Interview on QuadEx, Duke University’s New Equity-based Residential and Learning Model
Dr. Jenny Wood Crowley and Chris Rossi on Driving Campus Change
As part of our Academic Equity Interview Blog series (see linked our previous posts on campus climate and mental health), we explore how Duke University, a member of the American Talent Initiative’s (ATI) Academic Equity Community of Practice, is driving campus change through their inclusive living and learning model, QuadEx. QuadEx…