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Topic: Student learning and outcomes

Blog Post
March 20, 2025

Highlights from SXSW EDU 2025

The Growing Role of AI in Education, Learning Styles, the Value of Higher Education, and Student Belonging Take Center Stage

Earlier this month, I attended the SXSW EDU Conference in Austin, Texas, where I led a panel session about Ithaka S+R’s credit mobility work. The conference featured wide-ranging sessions covering key topics in the K-12, higher education, and education technology sectors. I wanted to highlight a number of sessions that stood out to me, focused on the growing role of artificial intelligence in education, leadership in challenging times, student mental health and learning styles, and building cultures that…
Blog Post
March 19, 2025

How Have Institutions Responded to Transcript Withholding Limitations?

In recent years, institutions have started to move away from the practice of stopping students with unpaid balances from accessing their official transcripts. These transcript holds have been criticized as ineffective tools for debt collection and for their role in the creation of stranded credits, credits students have earned but cannot access. In July 2024, regulations from the Department of Education went into effect that limited this practice. By that time, at least 13 states had already adopted similar…
Research Report
March 19, 2025

Balancing Access and Accountability

Assessing the Implications of the New Federal Transcript-Hold Regulation for Higher Education - Part 3

This report is the third in a three-part series examining how institutions of higher education have responded to state and federal policies limiting the use of transcript holds for unpaid balances, produced in partnership between Ithaka S+R and AACRAO. Part 1 explored the anticipated impacts of the July 2024 federal regulation limiting transcript holds on higher education institutions in states that did not have existing laws related to the practice. Part 2 examined the actual impacts of state-level limitations on…
Past Event
March 15, 2025

Using Lasso Regression to Examine Vertical Transfer Paths and Predict Student Success

At the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) 50th Anniversary Conference, Martin Kurzweil, Lexa Logue, David Wutchiett, and Colin Chellman will give a presentation of research using lasso regression to address multicollinearity and interaction effects in estimating graduation and academic outcomes for students transferring from community colleges to bachelor’s colleges. The session will be held on March 15 at 1:45-3:15pm ET.
Blog Post
March 5, 2025

New Lessons for Improving Community College Transfer to Independent Institutions

Updates to the Playbook for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts

While nearly four out of every five community college students aspire to earn a bachelor’s degree, only 16 percent do so within six years. One oft-overlooked method to increase bachelor’s degree attainment among community college students is to strengthen transfer pathways between two-year and independent (i.e., private, not-for-profit) four-year institutions. Independent institutions often provide flexible degree options, personalized supports, and greater efficiency in credit transfer, all of which can help community college students complete a four-year degree.
Playbook
March 5, 2025

Playbook for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts

How to Design and Implement Statewide Pathways from Community Colleges to Independent Colleges

One way to achieve bachelor's degree attainment for community college transfer students at scale is through state- and region-level initiatives dedicated to supporting transfer from community colleges to independent colleges and universities. The Teagle Foundation and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations’ Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts initiative aimed to create such pathways. This playbook draws on the experiences of grantees building pathways in 14 states.
Blog Post
February 27, 2025

National Holistic Credit Mobility Acceleration Cohort

Announcing 11 Members

In collaboration with Complete College America, we’re excited to announce the selection of 11 distinguished higher education organizations for the Holistic Credit Mobility Acceleration Cohort. This initiative aims to enhance credential completion rates by promoting flexible and equitable credit mobility pathways for postsecondary students across the country. The cohort members’ efforts will build upon the best practices of early leaders in the field, as outlined in Credit Mobility Strategies in Action, a case study research report we published…
Case Study
February 27, 2025

Holistic Credit Mobility Strategies in Action

A Case Study Report on State, System, and Institutional Efforts to Smooth the Path to a College Degree for Mobile Students

To understand the complex nature of learning recognition and credit transfer in American postsecondary education and examine the systemic barriers to entry many students face as they navigate its institutions, Ithaka S+R conducted a series of qualitative interviews in fall 2024 with state and system-level leaders in Idaho, Illinois, Ohio, and the University of North Carolina System, and representatives from Charter Oak State College and Florida International University.
Blog Post
February 14, 2025

Supporting First-Year Success

Insights from the Kessler Scholars Program

The first year of college can be an exciting but difficult transition period for many students, marked by new academic demands, administrative processes, and social experiences. Many first-year students experience feelings of imposter syndrome, isolation, and financial strain and have difficulty balancing coursework with other responsibilities, all of which can contribute to attrition. These challenges are even more pronounced for students from underrepresented backgrounds. First-generation students, in particular, face additional obstacles compared to their peers with college-educated parents. They often…
Blog Post
February 10, 2025

Defining and Implementing AI Literacy

Announcing a New Cohort Project

Defining and implementing AI literacy is complicated by rapidly evolving technologies and the difficulty of foreseeing the magnitude and variety of AI’s effects on teaching and learning, career readiness, and civic life. Creating institutionally specific frameworks for AI literacy and building the programming and resources necessary to integrate it into undergraduate education will require contributions from across the university. Libraries are well positioned to be campus and even national leaders in these efforts.
Past Event
February 8, 2025

The Civic Campus

SUNY Public Good U

At SUNY Public Good U on February 8, Ioana Hulbert and Deirdre Harkins will participate in a session sharing insights from an Ithaka S+R report exploring the link between higher education and civic engagement. The session will focus on turning insights from the report into actionable items for campus civic leaders, with an emphasis on how to sustainably and strategically strengthen civic engagement efforts. Specifically, participants will be asked to discuss what assessment needs they want to prioritize, the…
Blog Post
January 31, 2025

Understanding Work-Based Learning

Understanding the various manifestations of work-based learning is important to maximizing its potential impact on students’ academic and post-graduation experiences. Each type requires different resources and stakeholder support to be implemented properly. In this blog post, we share a taxonomy of work-based learning experiences to help instructors and academic administrators select among the many options when adding or integrating these activities into curricula.
Blog Post
January 30, 2025

Understanding the Relationship Between NC-SARA, Online Enrollments, and High-Value Credentials for Online Learners

With support from the Joyce Foundation and Strada Education Foundation, Ithaka S+R is launching a new research project to understand how the creation of NC-SARA has affected student enrollment in online programs and the extent to which credentials for online learners are valued in the labor market. This project builds on prior Ithaka S+R research that used institution-level data to explore the relationship between NC-SARA and online enrollments.
Case Study
January 16, 2025

Empowering Students to Navigate College

Insights from the College Fluency Initiatives at Austin Community College

The third case study in this series looks at how Austin Community College in Texas has been developing college fluency programs with both their library and non-library faculty and staff. The college libraries play a critical role in promoting college fluency across 11 campuses. Other non-library initiatives at this college that also contribute to supporting students to navigate college underscore just how much of a college-wide effort it takes to promote greater college fluency.
Blog Post
January 14, 2025

Supporting Adult Learners and Boosting Degree Completion in Tennessee

Announcing a New Project

Ithaka S+R is excited to announce a collaboration with the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) to better understand the challenges faced by Tennesseans with some college but no credential who have been prevented from continuing their education due to administrative holds and past due balances, often called stranded credits. TBR governs the College System of Tennessee, the state’s public community and technical colleges. As a leader in state strategies to promote…
Past Event
February 25, 2025

John Dewey 90 Years Later

How Liberal Arts Strengthens Democracy

The value of higher education generally, and a liberal arts education in particular, is viewed with heightened skepticism. While there are many inspiring anecdotes about the value of a liberal education, it is increasingly important for the sector to produce high quality, evidence-based research on the post-graduation outcomes of such an education, and around its civic value in particular. In this session, you will hear from researchers addressing these questions, including Ithaka S+R’s Elizabeth Pisacreta. The session is scheduled…
Past Event
February 18, 2025

44th Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience

In this session at the 44th Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience, Ithaka S+R’s Ifeatu Oliobi will join the Kessler Scholars Collaborative’s Kristen Glasener to present findings from a multi-institutional, mixed methods study that examines how participation in a comprehensive, cohort-based support program influences success outcomes for first-generation, limited-income (FGLI) students. We explore students’ experiences in the Kessler Scholars Program, which supports FGLI college students at 16 institutions through financial aid and robust, evidence-informed programming. Drawing on surveys, focus…
Past Event
February 22, 2025

Transfer Explorer

Education in Motion: Connecting Careers, Community, and Change

At the SCTEA Education in Motion Conference, Ithaka S+R’s Betsy Mueller will introduce participants to Transfer Explorer, a new national credit mobility website hosted by ITHAKA. The website launched in late 2024 in partnership with systems and institutions across Connecticut, South Carolina, New York, and Washington. Transfer Explorer lets students explore how courses and credits they have earned, or may take in the future, will transfer between institutions and count towards a degree. Aiken Technical’s Chad Crumbaker, Horry-Georgetown Technical’s…
Research Report
December 19, 2024

Tailored Support for First-Year, First-Generation College Students

Findings from an Evaluation of the Kessler Scholars Program

Established and emerging Kessler Scholars Programs at 16 colleges and universities are embedded in and supported by the Kessler Scholars Collaborative, a nationwide network that guides program development and implementation, facilitates practice sharing across institutions, and provides students with opportunities to connect with other first-generation scholars across the country. Ithaka S+R’s multi-year mixed-methods evaluation aims to assess the long-term relationship between program participation and students’ college experiences and psychosocial and academic outcomes, in order to support program improvement and maximize…
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…