Fostering a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Last month, leadership and staff from the 16 partner institutions of the Kessler Scholars Collaborative gathered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the annual Kessler Scholars Summer Convening. The Kessler Scholars Collaborative brings together campus partner staff each summer for an annual convening designed to build community, foster opportunities for shared learning, and support the growth and advancement of first-generation students. The 2024 convening was co-hosted by the Collaborative and the University of Pittsburgh, and included representatives from Ithaka S+R, the Aspen Institute, the Wilpon Family Foundation, current Kessler Scholars, and one alumna.

Convening participants gather for a group photo. Photo credit: J Altdorfer Photography for the Kessler Scholars Collaborative.

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative supports and connects more than 1,000 Kessler Scholars across 16 institutions, transforming the college experience and supporting degree attainment for students who are among the first in their families to pursue a four-year college degree and who come from lower-income households. In addition to financial support, Kessler Scholars at each institution receive academic, professional, and personal guidance to help them access higher education and thrive across their undergraduate experience. The Kessler Scholars Collaborative operates as a direct initiative of the Judy and Fred Wilpon Family Foundation. Support for the Collaborative and campus-based Kessler Scholars Programs is provided by the Wilpon Family Foundation and by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative supports a generative community of practice among campus partners. This includes hosting regular meetings to support practice sharing, and overseeing the assessment of campus-based programs in partnership with the external evaluation team at Ithaka S+R. Assessment activities include student and staff surveys, interviews and focus groups designed to inform learning and decision making, and facilitate program adjustments across Kessler Scholars Programs. The goal of the mixed-methods, formative evaluation is to support implementation and maximize impact across the entire network and at each of the 16 participating institutions.

The 2024 convening featured several activities and sessions designed to help campus staff reflect on the past academic year’s activities, learn from colleagues’ experiences at other institutions, and develop tools and strategies for continuous improvement and increased impact.

We offer some reflections on notable themes and takeaways below.

Elevating Student Voices to Shape Programming

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative encourages campus partners to empower students to take an active role in shaping Kessler Scholars activities and opportunities by sharing their program experiences and suggestions for improvement. Student input is sought in a variety of ways, including through assessment activities like student surveys and focus groups conducted by Ithaka S+R, campus-based Student Advisory Boards, and through the Collaborative Student Leadership Board, which comprises student representatives from all 16 partner institutions.

At this year’s convening, campus partner staff were joined by three current Kessler Scholars and one recent alumna for a fun and interactive creative programming challenge. During this activity, campus partner staff were divided into teams and tasked with designing a creative cohort-based workshop for a randomly assigned programming topic. Each team had 20 minutes to develop a workshop outline with learning objectives, a community building element, and formative assessment strategy. Kessler Scholars joined campus partner staff teams as they brainstormed workshop ideas, offering real-time feedback and reactions to the activities. Proposed workshop topics included navigating academic resources, dealing with failure, managing healthy relationships, and preparing for adulthood and life after college.

Once the planning period concluded, each team was given three minutes to pitch their workshop idea to the panel of student judges. Campus partner staff also were given the chance to weigh in on their favorite workshop. To the surprise of many staff members, the student judges unanimously voted for the workshop idea on preparing for adulthood featuring a panel of recent graduates.

This friendly competition offered a fun and engaging way to seek student input and gain insight into the types of workshops and events that are most interesting and beneficial to students. It also highlighted the importance of centering student voices and giving them a seat at the table when planning programming. Reflecting on the creative programming session in a post-convening survey, one campus staff member said, “Having students at the tables was a great way for us to hear about their experience with the programs.”

In addition to providing campus partner staff with feedback on their creative programming ideas, the students in attendance offered their perspectives and experiences as first-generation college students and shared how the Kessler Scholars Program has impacted their growth and development. They also had the opportunity to network with each other and with program staff from across the Collaborative.

Current Kessler Scholars and one recent alumna serving as judges during the creative programming challenge at the convening. Photo credit: J Altdorfer Photography for the Kessler Scholars Collaborative.

Leveraging Assessment Data to Inform Program Improvement

Assessment and continuous improvement go hand in hand. Student surveys are one of the most commonly used forms of assessment in higher education, but analyzing and interpreting survey data effectively can be challenging, given limited resources, skills, and capacity. A key component of Ithaka S+R’s evaluation is collecting student-level data, and supporting campus partner staff to use this data to guide continuous program improvement.

Each spring, the evaluation team at Ithaka S+R surveys all enrolled Kessler Scholars to understand their perspectives and experiences within the program and at their institutions and identify needs for programming support. The survey measures key indicators such as a sense of belonging, feelings of mattering, academic and social self-efficacy, and program engagement and satisfaction. Ithaka S+R then analyzes this data and produce data visualization reports to help campus partner staff better understand Kessler Scholars’ experiences, address programming gaps, and improve program outcomes.

Campus partner staff review the Kessler Scholars 2024 Spring Survey reports produced by Ithaka S+R at the convening. Photo credit: J Altdorfer Photography for the Kessler Scholars Collaborative.

At the convening, campus partner staff engaged in a data reflection activity based on their campus-level 2024 spring survey reports. Using a structured worksheet with guiding questions, they reviewed progress towards goals on key program success metrics, noted program strengths and areas for improvement, and identified aspects of students’ academic, social, and professional development where the program could provide additional support in the coming year. The session provided participants with an opportunity to dive deeper into their survey reports, discuss approaches to interpreting data with colleagues, and clarify any questions with the evaluation team.

In addition to the insights generated through Ithaka S+R’s annual survey, the Collaborative encourages campus partner staff to conduct campus-level assessments to gather immediate student feedback after specific workshops, events, or activities. To wrap up the session,  participants took part in a rapid brainstorming round, where they identified informal approaches to student-level assessments they could easily incorporate into their program in the coming year. Their suggestions included post-event satisfaction surveys, meeting polls, informal focus group discussions, and collaborating with other administrative units to access institutional survey data.

Breaking Down Silos and Supporting Peer-to-Peer Learning

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative also draws on a community of practice approach to break down institutional silos and promote practice sharing across partner campuses. Staff members participate in virtual community conversations throughout the academic year, where they explore topics related to supporting first-generation student success like normalizing help-seeking behavior, supporting family engagement, and fostering belonging. The summer convening provided campus partner staff the chance to explore these and other topics more deeply through an interactive peer consultancy session, adapted from the “Step-Back Consulting” approach developed by Robert Kegan at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This session allowed participants to engage in structured, small-group discussions to collaboratively develop solutions to complex challenges related to supporting Kessler Scholars. Ahead of the convening, each campus team was invited to identify an issue or challenge they are facing in their implementation of the Kessler Scholars Program which they wanted to receive feedback on from their colleagues. During the session, campus staff took turns sharing details about the issue or challenge they are facing, while their colleagues acted as consultants, bringing fresh perspectives, brainstorming creative solutions, and sharing new approaches for consideration.

Some campus staff sought feedback on programming ideas for the upcoming academic year, while others wanted input on methods for tracking student engagement and sought advice on how to increase participation in high-impact practices like paid internships and study abroad. These discussions resulted in new ideas and actionable approaches that staff were able to take back to their respective campuses after the convening. Reflecting on the peer consultation session in a post-convening survey, one staff member shared, “It was a fun and resourceful way of sharing experiences and offering feedback.” Another commented, “This session allowed me to focus on what steps our team needs to take next.”

Looking Forward

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative Summer Convening is not like most conferences—it’s a unique opportunity for campus leaders from a diverse range of postsecondary institutions to come together to reflect on their goals, analyze their data, and identify actionable strategies to improve their shared work to support first-generation, limited-income students. It also allows campus staff to collaborate with each other in a trusting environment that fosters collective problem solving. Reflecting on their shared time together, one campus staff member said, “I loved how much time we got to spend problem-solving with our peers and that we had tangible action items to take back. The competition for the student event was so fun and helpful.”

By embracing a model of continuous improvement, the Kessler Scholars Collaborative encourages campus partners to regularly reflect on their approach and use data-informed decision making to make program adjustments to reach their program goals.

In the year ahead, supported by the Collaborative and Ithaka S+R, campus staff members will continue to collaborate and meet regularly to leverage data, staff expertise and students experiences, and share promising practices to improve the implementation of the Kessler Scholars Program.