tag: Student success
Blog Post
December 18, 2024
How Dual Enrollment and Articulation Agreements Help Students Earn Degrees Faster in Georgia
This blog post is based on reports prepared for the TIAA Institute by George Spencer, Alex Monday, and Renni Turpin,[1] as well as an article in the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.[2] Dual enrollment programs, which allow high school students to take college-level courses, have rapidly expanded in the United States over the past two decades. These programs are praised for increasing access to higher education, reducing costs, and accelerating degree completion (found in prior…
Blog Post
December 12, 2024
Collaborating Towards Student Success
Insights from a National Survey of Community College Library and Campus Partners
Many college students face challenges that extend beyond the classroom, requiring holistic support that addresses both academic and non-academic needs. “College fluency,” which is the knowledge and a corresponding set of abilities that enable students and staff to effectively locate and use relevant college services, programs, and resources, can help students successfully engage with and self-advocate within the culture and bureaucracy of higher education institutions to achieve their goals. Through our College Fluency Capacity Building research initiative, undertaken with…
Blog Post
November 15, 2024
How the American Talent Initiative Is Using Communities of Practice to Advance Student Success in Higher Education
The American Talent Initiative (ATI) is dedicated to addressing longstanding disparities in bachelor’s degree attainment for low- and moderate-income students by fostering collaboration among research, philanthropy, and educational entities. Since 2016, ATI membership has grown to include over 135 high-graduation-rate institutions, enrolling more than 18,000 additional Pell Grant students since the project began. A key strategy in ATI’s approach has been the adoption of Communities of Practice (CoPs) to assist member colleges and universities in achieving their socioeconomic diversity…
Case Study
October 15, 2024
College Fluency Capacity Building
Insights from a Northeastern Community College
The Borough of Manhattan Community College and Ithaka S+R, with support from IMLS, are publishing a series of case studies to understand how institutions are currently addressing college fluency needs. The second case study in this series looks at a small northeastern community college that has been developing college fluency programs with both their library and non-library faculty and staff.
Blog Post
September 19, 2024
The American Talent Initiative Student Success Research Grant Program Funds Five Mission-Aligned Projects
The American Talent Initiative (ATI) is committed to creating postsecondary opportunities for low- and moderate-income students and expanding this group’s access to high-graduation-rate institutions. ATI supports its member institutions by organizing communities of practice to enable peer-to-peer sharing among institutions, collecting and analyzing data to identify trends and best-practices, creating practical analytic tools to develop effective financial aid strategies, and advising presidents on ways to increase the pipeline of low- and moderate-income students into their institutions. To further this…
Blog Post
August 27, 2024
Fostering a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Highlights from the 2024 Kessler Scholars Collaborative Annual Convening
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…
Past Event
November 8, 2024
Empowering Librarians to Support Students Navigating College with College Fluency
College fluency—the knowledge and abilities enabling students to effectively access, and utilize, and advocate for needed college services and resources. In a session at the Library Assessment Conference in Portland, Oregon, Melissa Blankstein and Elmira Jangjou will share insights from an Ithaka S+R project empowering librarians to support students navigating college with college fluency. This IMLS-funded research initiative explores how leaders, faculty, and staff members both within and outside of the library respond to students’ non-curricular inquiries, how familiar…
Past Event
September 16, 2024
Supporting Students by Reframing the Higher Education Experience
Library Research Seminar: Telling Library Stories
“For me the college is just so big. Sometimes you get bounced back and forth from departments to departments… you get lost in bureaucracy.” For prospective and current students, the culture, nomenclature, and organization of higher education systems is often confusing, creating barriers to accessing needed services and information for enrollment and persistence. At the Library Research Seminar: Telling Library Stories conference on Monday, September 16, Melissa Blankstein will join a panel with jean amaral (Borough of Manhattan Community…
Blog Post
August 21, 2024
Increasing Adult and Latino Adult Student Success
New Report from Ithaka S+R and CAEL on the Latino and Adult Student Success Academy
Latino student enrollment at postsecondary institutions has increased significantly over the past few decades. Between 1980 and 2020, the number of Latino students enrolled at a degree-granting institution in the United States grew from 470,000, representing just four percent of students enrolled in a postsecondary institution, to 3.7 million students, representing 20 percent. Despite this tremendous growth, Latinos are less likely to be enrolled in college or have a bachelor’s degree than Asian, White, and Black Americans. However,…
Past Event
September 10, 2024
Using Student Data to Tackle Attrition and Boost Student Success and Retention
Access-oriented, tuition-dependent colleges and universities are grappling with ways to enroll more new students and retain those already enrolled. At the 2024 SREB Student Success Summit in Kentucky on September 10, Ithaka S+R’s Daniel Rossman will lead a session describing key findings and takeaways from Ithaka S+R’s recent engagements with three four-year institutions in which Ithaka S+R collected and analyzed student data to uncover barriers to retention and present strategies and recommendations for addressing them. …
Blog Post
August 6, 2024
Using Student Data to Tackle Attrition and Boost Student Success and Retention
Despite gains in higher education enrollment in the 2023-24 academic year–the first increase following years of enrollment declines–an impending drop in the country’s college-going population threatens the prospect of future enrollment growth and stability. To that end, colleges and universities need timely and data-driven insights on the drivers of attrition and the policies that might impede or support progress to better meet the needs of students and increase student success and ultimately retention.
Blog Post
July 23, 2024
Next Steps in Student Mobility
Ithaka S+R and Complete College America Partner to Support Student Success through Holistic Credit Mobility Policies, Practices, and Technologies
The typical postsecondary student of 2024 accumulates credits from multiple sources and attends multiple institutions before earning a credential. Yet many of our state, system, and institutional policies and practices have not adapted to this reality. To help address this challenge and support the higher education community in better serving today’s mobile students, Ithaka S+R and Complete College America are collaborating on a new, multi-faceted project, with funding from Ascendium Education Group. Through conducting research, launching a cohort of networks…
Past Event
June 7, 2024
AI Powered Student Engagement and Success
Ithaka S+R’s Claire Baytas presented at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) webinar as part of the AI Powered Student Engagement and Success series, for the Council on Information Measurement and Analysis (CIMA) and Council of Student Affairs (CSA). The slides and recording are available on the APLU website.
Past Event
June 27, 2024
Evidence-based Practices to Advance Adult Student Success
Join Brittany Pearce and Dr. Chris Kacir at the SHEEO Communities of Practice: Student Success conference on June 27 for a session at 11:30-12:15 on evidence-based practice to advance adult student success. The session will highlight the growing population of adult learners, discuss some of the unique challenges to supporting this population, and share evidence-based interventions and initiatives that support access and student success, and make the case for developing strong relationships between SHEEO agencies and organizations committed to…
Blog Post
May 22, 2024
Enhancing College Fluency
First Case Study Report Available
We’re excited to announce the publication of the first case study in the College Fluency Capacity Building Project. Co-led by the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) Library and Ithaka S+R, this IMLS-funded project explores the evolving role librarians play in fostering college fluency and aims to help librarians address the changing information needs of the students they serve. For students, navigating the higher education landscape takes more than just attending and passing classes; it also requires a…
Case Study
May 22, 2024
Navigating Higher Education
Insights from the College Fluency Initiatives at Sinclair Community College
To further examine and develop effective strategies to foster college fluency, the Borough of Manhattan Community College Library (BMCC) and Ithaka S+R have partnered on the College Fluency Capacity Building initiative with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The first case study from this research initiative examines Sinclair Community College in Ohio, a pioneer in developing college fluency with faculty and staff.
Past Event
June 10, 2024
Colleges and Universities Working to Improve the Student Academic Experience and Outcomes
2024 Opportunity Institute
The 2024 Opportunity Institute is hosted by Georgetown University and Penn State, in collaboration with the American Talent Initiative. This annual three-day Institute brings together colleges and universities nationwide to engage in dynamic discussions and spur strategic initiatives that identify and mitigate key barriers to student success. Participants will have an opportunity to attend workshops, provocations, and office hours with experts; work with their teams to advance institution-specific equity projects’ and connect with colleagues from a wide range of institutions…
Past Event
July 16, 2024
The Library and Institutional Success
The Chronicle of Higher Education and Ithaka S+R are partnering to provide library leaders a professional development program tailored to their unique challenges and goals. This two-week virtual program is designed to empower participants to develop their leadership skills and drive institutional success. The first week of this program will offer librarians a chance to dive into three core seminars. These high-level, large-format seminars will include insights on national trends, the higher ed business model, and the library’s role in institutional initiatives.
Past Event
June 24, 2024
Benefits of Summer Engagement and Transition Support for Incoming First-Year Students
Insights From the Kessler Scholars Program
First-generation students often enter college with limited knowledge of that environment. Targeted summer programs that introduce campus resources, build community, and prepare these students for college can foster belonging and ease the college transition. In this session at NASPA’s 2024 First-Generation Student Success Conference, staff at Bates College and the University of Dayton will share their experiences of implementing summer programs for Kessler Scholars, and leaders from Ithaka S+R and the Kessler Scholars Collaborative will share the benefits of…
Past Event
May 9, 2024
Virtual Forum: The Strategic Value of Libraries
As higher ed faces more challenges, how can libraries play a greater role in student success and in other institutional goals? Today they are offering strategic value to a campus as hubs for student services, learning technologies, and academic innovation. How can libraries—and librarians—continue to play their pivotal roles on campuses in the current environment, where enrollment and budget issues abound? Join the Chronicle of Higher Education for a forum on Thursday, May 9, at 2 p.m. ET, featuring…