Skip to Main Content

Topic: Educational Transformation

Blog Post
September 23, 2019

Supporting Postsecondary Access and Success for Rural Students  

The American Talent Initiative (ATI), a coalition of high-graduation-rate colleges and universities committed to enrolling and graduating more low- and middle-income students, began a webinar series on special interest topics that we hope will elevate best practices in recruiting talented low- and moderate-income students. This summer, we hosted a webinar on the challenges of identifying, recruiting, and enrolling rural students. In this post, we summarize the key research and best practices presented on the webinar. What is the definition…
Past Event
September 19, 2019

Rayane Alamuddin and Daniel Rossman at the UIA’s Proactive Advising Public Learning Event

Monitoring Academic Analytics to Promote Success (MAAPS)

On Thursday, September 19, at 9:40 am, Rayane Alamuddin and Daniel Rossman will provide an overview of data from the Monitoring Academic Analytics to Promote Success (MAAPS) project at the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) Proactive Advising Public Learning Event in Arlington, Virginia. Later that morning, Rayane is moderating the panel “Lessons from MAAPS.” Panelists include Allison Calhoun-Brown (Georgia State University), Alex Aljets (Oregon State University), and Christina King (Purdue University). These morning sessions are open to the public, and…
Past Event
September 11, 2019

Quality and Equity in the New Credentialing Landscape

Martin Kurzweil at Lumina Foundation Action Meeting

From September 11-12, Martin Kurzweil is participating in the Lumina Foundation’s Action Meeting on “Quality and Equity in the New Credentialing Landscape.” The meeting is convening experts and advocates, along with members of a Lumina task force, to share ideas on how to improve the policies and practices through which various entities help assure and improve quality in postsecondary education.
Past Event
September 8, 2019

Martin Kurzweil at the HAIL Innovation Leaders Summit

From Monday, September 8 – Wednesday, September 10, Martin Kurzweil is taking part in the HAIL/Innovation Leaders Summit at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester. This working group is by invitation and is for institutional leadership focused on business model transformation, joined by colleagues outside of higher ed working on market transformation. For more information, please see the event website.
Past Event
November 6, 2019

Community College Success: Student Perspectives & Institutional Practices

Rayane Alamuddin and Christine Wolff-Eisenberg Present at College Board Forum

On Wednesday, November 6, from 4:00-5:15 pm, Rayane Alamuddin and Christine Wolff-Eisenberg will present on “Community College Success: Student Perspectives & Institutional Practices” at the College Board Forum in Washington, DC. They will be joined on the panel by Dr. Braddlee, Dean of Learning & Technology Resources at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus, and Elizabeth Gonzalez, Director of the METAS Center and Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives, at San Jose City College. For more information about the Forum and to…
Blog Post
July 18, 2019

Improving Articulation of Transfer Credit at CUNY

Although over 87 percent of new community college students at the City University of New York (CUNY) intend to transfer and complete at least a bachelor’s degree, only 11 percent do so within six years. Whether and how a student’s credits articulate during transfer can have significant consequences for these students’ educational trajectory.  Students who transfer most or all of their credits are 2.5 times more likely to graduate compared to those who…
Blog Post
June 27, 2019

What we’ve learned so far from a national technology-enhanced advising experiment

Many higher education institutions are implementing advising interventions, if not complete redesigns, in an effort to advise their students in a more timely and targeted manner. While the approaches can take various forms, they have increasingly relied on technology to alleviate the burden of large caseloads by helping advisors easily and quickly identify which students need what type of support, and when. In an ambitious experiment, the 11 institutions that form the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) are testing such an…
Research Report
June 27, 2019

Technical Supplement – Interim Findings Report: MAAPS Advising Experiment

Overview Monitoring Advising Analytics to Promote Success (MAAPS) is a multi-institutional project of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), supported by a U.S. Department of Education First in the World Grant to Georgia State University, the lead UIA member on this project. MAAPS is a large-scale randomized-controlled trial designed to validate the effectiveness of technology-enhanced proactive advisement in increasing retention, progression, and achievement for low-income and first-generation college students. Addressing documented obstacles to college completion that disproportionately impact at-risk populations,…
Research Report
June 27, 2019

Interim Findings Report: MAAPS Advising Experiment

Monitoring Advising Analytics to Promote Success (MAAPS) is a multi-institutional project of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), supported by a U.S. Department of Education First in the World Grant to Georgia State University, a UIA member. The large-scale, randomized-controlled trial was designed to test and validate the effectiveness of technology-enhanced, proactive advisement in increasing retention, progression, and achievement for incoming low-income and first-generation college students. The MAAPS intervention was officially launched during the Fall 2016 term at the 11 institutions…
Blog Post
June 12, 2019

An Interview with Dr. David Tandberg

“North Star” Attainment Goals

David Tandberg is the Vice President for Policy Research and Strategic Initiatives at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO). Dr. Tandberg is a leading expert on state higher education policy. He currently leads SHEEO in its work to connect empirical research with state policy to improve higher education opportunities for students. Ithaka S+R graciously thanks Dr. Tandberg for sharing his thoughts regarding state “north star” attainment goals. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length. How…
Issue Brief
June 12, 2019

Setting a North Star

Motivations, Implications, and Approaches to State Postsecondary Attainment Goals

Higher education attainment goals can serve as a “north star” to guide states’ postsecondary policies, investments, and agendas. The extent to which state attainment goals lead to substantive improvements in college-going rates, college graduation rates, postsecondary credential attainment rates, and reductions in labor market skills gaps is as yet unclear. Further, the likelihood a state will meet its attainment goals varies by state and depends on contextual factors that are within and outside the purview of the education sector. In…
Blog Post
May 30, 2019

Mass Incarceration, Second Chance Pell, and the State of Postsecondary Education in Prison

Last week, the US Department of Education announced an expansion of its 2015 experimental initiative that provides federal Pell Funding to eligible incarcerated students. The announcement builds off other 2019 bipartisan policy initiatives — at both the federal and state levels — that aim to increase postsecondary access for the 1.5 million of adults currently held in American prisons. Given that reentry statistics suggest more than 95 percent of incarcerated adults will eventually be released, and…
Research Report
May 30, 2019

Unbarring Access

A Landscape Review of Postsecondary Education in Prison and Its Pedagogical Supports

Postsecondary education in US prisons is a growing topic in both academic and political circles. While much of the discourse surrounding higher education more broadly focuses on students’ educational and employment outcomes, the conversation around postsecondary education in prisons often centers on the societal benefits of this programming, with a strong focus on reduced recidivism rates – the rates with which formerly incarcerated individuals engage in criminal acts that result in their re-arrest, re-conviction, or re-incarceration. With 1.5 million people…
Past Event
May 21, 2019

Improving Access, Affordability and Success in American Colleges and Universities

Catharine Hill at the Third Biennial Brasenose Undergraduate Access Symposium

On Tuesday, May 21, at 5:30 pm, Catharine Hill is speaking on “Improving Access, Affordability and Success in American Colleges and Universities” at the Third Biennial Brasenose Undergraduate Access Symposium: Access to Higher Education at Oxford and Other Places. More information about this free symposium is available on the Brasenose College website.
Blog Post
May 15, 2019

What Can We Learn from Publicly Available Data on College Students’ Income Distribution?

In January 2017 researchers at the Equality of Opportunity Project—now called Opportunity Insights—released detailed data on the financial circumstances of undergraduate students at each of the vast majority of American colleges and universities. Covering students born between 1980 and 1991, and relying on tax records held by the Internal Revenue Service, the publicly available Opportunity Insights data provided a nuanced look at the family income distribution as well as subsequent earnings of a generation of college-goers. The Opportunity Insights dataset…
Research Report
May 15, 2019

Better Than We Thought

Comparing Publicly Available Data on College Students’ Income Distribution

In January 2017, a valuable new information source was introduced to the higher education community. Researchers at the Equality of Opportunity Project—now called Opportunity Insights—released detailed data on the financial circumstances of undergraduate students at each of the vast majority of American colleges and universities.[1] Covering students born between 1980 and 1991, and relying on tax records held by the Internal Revenue Service, the publicly available Opportunity Insights data provided a nuanced look at the family income distribution as well…
Past Event
May 21, 2019

Elevating Student Voices: Advancing Equity Through College Affordability

Martin Kurzweil at IHEP's 2019 National Policy Summit

On Tuesday, May 21, Martin Kurzweil will be participating in IHEP’s 2019 National Policy Summit, “Elevating Student Voices: Advancing Equity Through College Affordability.” The summit will take place in Washington DC. More information about IHEP is available on their website.
Past Event
June 20, 2019

Martin Kurzweil at the Summit on Education Blockchain

On Thursday, June 20, Martin Kurzweil will take part in the Summit on Education Blockchain in Washington DC, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. This Summit will focus on the potential of education blockchains to empower individuals to design their own unique pathways through a lifetime of learning and work.  It will be an unique opportunity for technology experts, policymakers, educators, administrators, and other subject matter experts to examine: Policies that will impact, or be…
Past Event
June 5, 2019

Martin Kurzweil at Eduventures Summit 2019

Martin Kurzweil is taking part in Eduventures Summit 2019 in Boston from June 5-7. For more information, please see the event website. About the summit: The search for a truly new higher education business model must grapple with product, time, cost, and structure and address these important questions: Should most schools buy courses from the best rather than build their own? Could the value of a bachelor’s degree be packaged in 60 credits rather than 120? Could life off-campus…
Past Event
August 12, 2019

Leading Innovation: A Workshop for Department Chairs

Department chairs help make important hiring and budget decisions and increasingly play a crucial role in innovations around teaching, learning, 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. The Chronicle of Higher Education and Ithaka S+R have teamed up to provide a workshop that helps department chairs meet the challenges of their role, whether managing faculty, allocating…