Topic: Educational Transformation
Research Report
May 25, 2022
Overseeing the Overseers
Can Federal Oversight of Accreditation Improve Student Outcomes?
Since the passage of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, the federal government has relied on the accreditation process to ensure quality at postsecondary institutions receiving federal dollars. Ithaka S+R began a pilot study in 2021 to assess the feasibility of using publicly available data on the accreditation process and outcomes to evaluate the impact of federal oversight mechanisms on institutional and student outcomes. In this report, we provide an overview of accreditation in the US.
Blog Post
May 18, 2022
Gateway Course Completion
Update on Ithaka S+R’s work on Multi-Year Initiative
Ithaka S+R is excited to be working on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s initiative on Gateway Course Completion. The foundation is seeking a solution to the high DFWI (D, F, withdrawal, or incomplete) rate in high-enrollment, general education courses that serve as “gatekeepers” to degree completion. Research has shown that students who do not pass these gateway courses experience delays in their academic progress and are more likely to drop out of college altogether. Working with an array…
Issue Brief
May 16, 2022
Can Evidence-Based Teaching Techniques Address the Education Debt that Students of Color Are Owed?
Evidence-based teaching strategies (EBTs) have become increasingly popular, as the practices have been linked to positive academic outcomes and should, theoretically, benefit all students regardless of their background. In this brief we identify the areas where research on EBTs lacks a critical, equity-minded orientation and offer suggestions on how future research can utilize an equity-first mindset. We present strategies that can be used by practitioners who hope to orient EBTs towards creating equitable learning environments for their students.
Blog Post
May 2, 2022
Addressing Food Insecurity Will Pay Off for States
In order to achieve their ambitious attainment goals, most states will need to rapidly increase credential production. Increasing attainment improves a state’s fiscal outlook, increases individual wages, improves individual health and life outcomes, and increases civic engagement. However, our research suggests that most states’ goals will remain out of reach unless their plans…
Issue Brief
April 28, 2022
Supporting Low-Income Students with SNAP
States and institutions of higher education have, until recently, been approaching the problem of student food insecurity in separate, sometimes contradictory ways. While some institutions have developed wrap-around assistance programs for low-income students that have improved retention and completion rates, the students with the most needs often attend institutions with the fewest resources to support them. Developing state policies that support low-income students will not only increase the number of successful graduates but also improve students’ work-readiness and earning potential.
Blog Post
March 31, 2022
Understanding the Impacts of Emergency Micro-Grants on Student Success
Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, many college students across the country faced challenges in meeting their basic needs, including access to food, housing, childcare, and transportation. These barriers, combined with rising prices relative to income and grant aid, are a key reason that over 36 million former students have left college without earning their degree. The pandemic has exacerbated students’ financial issues, and many more have chosen not…
Research Report
March 31, 2022
The Impacts of Emergency Micro-Grants on Student Success
Evaluation Study of Georgia State University’s Panther Retention Grant Program
The Panther Retention Grant (PRG) program at Georgia State University (Georgia State) is one of the nation’s pioneering examples of a retention or completion grant program, a type of emergency financial aid program aimed at supporting students with immediate financial need. The program, which specifically targets students who are in good academic standing and have exhausted all other sources of aid, automatically awards up to $2,500 to clear students’ unpaid balances and allow them to remain enrolled for the term.
Research Report
March 30, 2022
Underrepresentation of Black and Latino Undergraduates at America’s Most Selective Private Colleges and Universities
Attending a more selective college or university matters because these institutions graduate a larger share of their students. Attaining a bachelors’ degree increases expected lifetime earnings by roughly 65 percent over attaining only a high school diploma. Who has access to these selective institutions therefore has an impact on economic and social mobility in America, an objective that justifies the federal, state and local support of higher education. However, evidence suggests that selective schools could be doing more.
Blog Post
March 17, 2022
Evaluating the Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts Initiative
Strengthening transfer pathways between two-year and independent not-for-profit four-year institutions is one under-utilized way to increase transfer and bachelor’s degree completion. Independent colleges offer high graduation rates, flexible degree options, and personalized supports that can assist students looking to complete a four-year degree. Increasing transfer to these institutions at scale can be accomplished through state- or consortium-wide pathways that link all community colleges in a state to a critical number of independent four-year institutions. The…
Research Report
March 17, 2022
Playbook for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts
How to Design and Implement Statewide Pathways from Community Colleges to Independent Colleges
Bachelor’s degree attainment for community college transfer students is one underutilized but essential pathway for reducing equity gaps in higher education. One way to achieve this at scale is through state-level initiatives dedicated to supporting transfer from community colleges to not-for-profit independent colleges. The Teagle Foundation and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations’ Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts initiative aims to create such pathways in 20 states in the next five years. This playbook draws on the experience of grantees…
Blog Post
March 16, 2022
What Role(s) Do Stakeholders Play in an Advising Technology Implementation?
A New Report Outlines Nine Personas Taken on by Key Stakeholders in an Advising Technology Implementation
Holistic advising is a resource-intensive yet beneficial practice that prioritizes being student-centered in the institutional process of undergraduate academic advising. This approach has gained prominence within the higher education landscape for its potential to better support student communities that have historically been insufficiently served by more transactional approaches to advising, including students of color, first-generation students, and students experiencing poverty. Given the comprehensive nature of holistic advising, institutions have increasingly turned to technology to support the students, staff,…
Blog Post
March 10, 2022
A Preliminary Analysis of Debt Forgiveness Programs
The COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted the ever-increasing amount and crushing effects of student debt, including debts owed directly to postsecondary institutions. In an earlier report, Solving Stranded Credits, we estimated that roughly 6.6 million students owe over $15 billion in unpaid balances to colleges and universities in the United States. The weight of institutional debt can leave students feeling defeated, forcing many to avoid pursuing postsecondary education altogether. On a national scale, these debts…
Past Event
April 12, 2022
Catharine Bond Hill at the National Conference on Trusteeship
Govern for Student Success: Leadership Beyond Disruption
On Tuesday, April 12, Catharine Bond Hill is speaking on the opening plenary panel at the National Conference on Trusteeship. The panel will be moderated by Carlton Brown, former president of Clark Atlanta University and Savannah State University, and the other speakers include Bridget Burns, executive director of the University Innovation Alliance; David Huntley, trustee of Southern Methodist University; and Miriam “Mim” Pride, trustee of Berea College and president emeritus of Blackburn College. The conference is being held virtually and…
Past Event
February 23, 2022
Discerning New Directions in the New Normal
Catharine Bond Hill at the ACAD Annual Meeting
On Wednesday, February 23, Catharine Bond Hill is speaking on the plenary panel, “Discerning New Directions in the New Normal,” at the American Conference of Academic Deans’ Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida. The panel will take place from 3:30 – 4:45 pm. More information about the event is available on the conference website. About the plenary: Facilitator: Michael K. Wanous, ACAD Chair and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Northern State University Panelists: Catharine (Cappy) Bond Hill,…
Past Event
March 8, 2022
The Chronicle’s Shark Tank: Edu Edition
Catharine Bond Hill at SXSW EDU
On March 8, Catharine Bond Hill will join fellow “sharks” Goldie Blumenstyk and Paul Freedman at SXSW EDU in Austin, Texas. To learn more, please visit the SXSW EDU website. About the session: The seventh annual pitch-a-thon pays homage to the TV show, but with a twist. Our panel of experts brings a mix of viewpoints—from a journalist, a college-president-turned-equity expert, and an entrepreneur—weighing in on transformative ideas from new companies, nonprofits, and big dreamers for improving the college…
Blog Post
February 3, 2022
An Interview with Dr. Jay Darr, Director of University Counseling Center at the University of Pittsburgh
A Deep Dive on the Importance of Mental Health and Its Shared Responsibility Across Campus
Dr. Jay Darr is the Director of the University Counseling Center (UCC) at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), a member of the American Talent Initiative’s (ATI) Academic Equity Community of Practice (CoP). As part of our Academic Equity Interview Blog series (for our first post we interviewed Claremont McKenna’s Nyree Gray on campus climate), we asked Dr. Darr to help…
Blog Post
February 2, 2022
Bringing Credit Transfer into Focus
New Report on the Articulation of Transfer Credit at CUNY Project
When a student transfers from one college to another, the receiving college has to decide how to treat the credits that the student earned at prior institutions. While the specific process varies from place to place, in general, the institution has to make two interrelated decisions: (1) the course equivalency—how each course the student completed at another institution translates into courses in the catalog at the new institution, and (2) how the translated courses…
Research Report
February 2, 2022
Archiving Degree Audit Data to Measure and Reduce Lost Transfer Credit
Since June 2019, the Articulation of Credit Transfer project (ACT) has focused on streamlining the information, advising, and administrative processes concerning how credits from one City University of New York (CUNY) institution transfer to another CUNY institution. This work addresses a critical challenge at CUNY, and indeed, across American higher education. When students transfer from one college to another, they frequently are unable to count their previously earned credits toward degree requirements at their new institution, jeopardizing their ability to…
Past Event
January 10, 2022
The Chronicle’s Strategic-Leadership Program
For Department Chairs
Department chairs help make important curricular, personnel, and budget decisions and increasingly play a crucial role in innovations around student success, research, and technology. Yet, while the department chair is typically the first rung on the ladder to senior leadership in academia, many take on the position without the necessary training or mentorship. We at Ithaka S+R are thrilled once again to be working with The Chronicle of Higher Education and Dever…
Blog Post
December 8, 2021
A Sustainable Solution to Settle Students’ Debt and Release Stranded Credits
Ithaka S+R and Eight Ohio Public Institutions Announce Promising New Pilot
Since publishing our first report on the subject in October 2020, Ithaka S+R has been at the forefront of defining the problem of stranded credits. We are now moving ahead with testing a potentially groundbreaking solution. “Stranded credits” are credits that students have earned but can’t access because their former institution is holding their transcript as collateral for an unpaid balance to the institution. Ninety-five percent of…