Topic: Student learning and outcomes
Upcoming Event
February 15, 2026
Design Thinking for First-Year Success
Create, Evaluate, and Transform Programs
In a session at the Conference on the First-Year Experience in Seattle, Washington, Ithaka S+R’s Carmen Araoz will join Christine Harrington and Michael Sparrow of Morgan State University to explore how design thinking can transform the first-year seminar, orientation, advising, and other FYE programs. During this interactive workshop participants will learn about using a first-year seminar assessment tool and engage in a user-centric design thinking approach to transform the first-year experience. The session is scheduled to take place on…
Upcoming Event
November 5, 2025
Pennsylvania Adult Learner Re-Engagement Virtual Convening
Today, 37.6 million Americans under 65 have attended some college but hold no credential to show for it, due to financial, administrative, or practical obstacles. Against this backdrop, it’s crucial that higher education institutions redouble efforts to re-engage stopped out learners. Since 2022, we’ve worked across six states to streamline the path for adults on their way to a credential of value. In Pennsylvania, we’ve collaborated with the PA Department of…
Blog Post
September 11, 2025
Student Success Research Featured in Special Edition of Peabody Journal of Education
We are excited to announce the publication of a special issue of the Peabody Journal of Education, now available online and in print, featuring a series of original research articles that examine strategies for improving lower-income student success at high-graduation-rate institutions. You can read about the American Talent Initiative grant program that funded this research here, and find short summaries of the articles here. This special issue brings together a wide range of perspectives and methodologies, offering…
Blog Post
September 10, 2025
What the Proposed Federal Data Collection Changes Mean for IPEDS
On August 15, 2025, the US Department of Education published a notice in the Federal Register announcing proposed revisions to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The proposed changes would expand data collection to include new items on college admissions and applicants, such as standardized test scores, family income, information on students who apply but are not admitted, and disaggregate the data in very complex ways. Stakeholders are invited to comment on these revisions as part of…
Blog Post
September 9, 2025
Purposeful Cross-Sector Collaboration Boosts Learning Mobility and Student Success
As the “normal” higher education experience continues to evolve, to better serve students colleges and universities must not only work closely together across systems and regions, but they must also collaborate with K-12, employer, and community partners. These essential collaborations, when effective, can result in an interconnected ecosystem of learning opportunities that seamlessly connect students to careers. At the August convening of the holistic credit mobility acceleration cohort, participants discussed the opportunities and challenges of cross-sector collaboration within…
Blog Post
September 2, 2025
How States and Institutions Are Using PSEO to Show College Graduate Employment Outcomes
Higher education leaders have long struggled to answer two deceptively simple questions: “where do our graduates work?” and “what are they earning?” Response rates to surveys that historically collect this information are declining, individual state data systems typically do not track graduates across state lines, and commercial datasets with these data are opaque and costly. The US Census Bureau’s Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) program provides a compelling alternative by linking de-identified college and university graduate records with national employment and…
Upcoming Event
September 30, 2025
The Transfer Scorecard
What Is It and How Could It Be Used?
Transfer student success is a function of many different factors. Some student and environmental characteristics increase the probability that a community college student will successfully transfer to and graduate from a bachelor’s college, and others decrease that probability. On September 30, 2025 at 10am ET, CUNY’s Bronx Transfer Affinity Group will host a webinar to describe some of these possible characteristics and how we have been able to use them to predict the likelihood of transfer student success for particular…
Upcoming Event
October 8, 2025
Transfer Explorer
Early Successes, Lessons Learned, and What Comes Next
At the 2025 South Carolina Transfer Excellence Convening, Ithaka S+R will present a session on the early experiences and successes of South Carolina colleges and universities participating in the Transfer Explorer project. Emily Tichenor and Chris Buonocore will join Lloyd Willis (Lander University), Leslie Barrett Brown (Coastal Carolina University), and Crystal Edwards (Aiken Technical College) to share lessons learned from the pilot period and a roadmap for Transfer Explorer growth in the state and nationally. This session is scheduled…
Blog Post
August 20, 2025
How Better Data Can Strengthen College in Prison
Laying the Groundwork
In our new report, we explore the fractured data landscape that underpins higher education in prison. Drawing on interviews with nearly 50 stakeholders—including program leaders, institutional researchers, department of corrections staff, and technical assistance providers—we outline the key barriers and opportunities facing the field as it works to build a more comprehensive and sustainable data infrastructure.
Research Report
August 20, 2025
Why Data and Why Now?
The Importance and Challenges of Data for Higher Education in Prison
Nearly 400 higher education in prison programs now operate across the US, yet basic data about these students at scale—such as enrollment, retention, and completion—is often inaccessible or inconsistent. As these programs expand, strengthening data infrastructure has become both a practical necessity and a moral imperative.
Upcoming Event
November 12, 2025
Reimagining Support: How Colleges and Policymakers Can Serve Student-Parents, Transfers, and Scholars of Color
Council on Public Policy Higher Education Pre-Conference
“Academic Momentum and Credit Mobility: Examining the Role of CUNY Transfer Explorer” evaluates CUNY’s Transfer Explorer (T-Rex) as a systems-level policy tool to enhance academic momentum and credit mobility. Findings show that CUNY T-Rex use increases the number of courses applied toward degree requirements, suggesting that transparent transfer information can strengthen student pathways, reduce barriers, and advance equity in degree attainment. In a session at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)’s Council on Public Policy Higher Education…
Upcoming Event
November 12, 2025
Tools for Moving to a Holistic Approach to Credit Mobility to Support Adult Learners
Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Conference
Student mobility is increasingly complex, with most graduates earning credits across multiple institutions and learning experiences. At the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Conference, a session will introduce Ithaka S+R’s holistic credit mobility framework, highlight Eastern Washington University’s work to modernize pathways for adult learners, and share practical tools to help institutions better support seamless credit transfer. Participants include Ithaka S+R’s Elise Miller McNeely and Kyle Gray, alongside Sue Magyar, Jacqueline Coomes, and Christi Harter. The session…
Upcoming Event
November 14, 2025
Decoding the Path to a College Degree with Transparent and Actionable Credit Mobility Data
Council for Adult and Experiential Learning Conference
Far too often students returning to higher education or moving between higher education institutions encounter significant barriers in transferring course credits and receiving recognition for prior learning. Part of this struggle is the siloed and opaque nature of information about how prior learning will be accepted and applied toward a credential upon transfer to a new institution. This session at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Conference will share insights on Transfer Explorer and CUNY Transfer Explorer, with…
Upcoming Event
November 17, 2025
Transfer Explorer
Next: The 2025 Complete College America Annual Convening
Launched by nonprofit ITHAKA in early 2025, Transfer Explorer is a national credit mobility website with a goal of making information about transfer open, accurate, and easily accessible. Transfer Explorer contains catalog, course equivalency, credit for prior learning, and program requirement data from a growing network of schools in Washington, South Carolina, Connecticut, and New York. Unique among similar services, the site shows how credits earned elsewhere transfer and apply toward degree programs at the multiple destination colleges and…
Upcoming Event
November 17, 2025
Implementing a Holistic Framework to Coordinate and Scale Efforts to Promote Mobile Student Success
Next: The 2025 Complete College America Annual Convening
This moderated panel discussion will use a framework for holistic credit mobility to guide a conversation with speakers from Nevada and Missouri, both of which are part of a new credit mobility community of practice, launched by Ithaka S+R and Complete College America. The community of practice is focused on accelerating promising policy, responsive practices, and technology approaches to help today’s mobile students navigate the complex postsecondary landscape to gain credentials that will help them be successful in the workforce.
Blog Post
August 12, 2025
Strengthening Credit for Prior Learning and Non-Credit to Credit Pathways
A Conversation with the Ohio Department of Higher Education
In June, the members of the Holistic Credit Mobility Acceleration Cohort met for the third time to share best practices and advance credit mobility through improvements in process, policy, and technology. Each learning session is dedicated to exploring one of the pillars of the Holistic Credit Mobility framework, and the June session focused on institutional strategies to strengthen non-credit to credit pathways and Credit for Prior Learning (CPL). June’s session featured presentations from the Education and Employment Research…
Blog Post
August 6, 2025
PanelPicker Is Open for SXSW EDU 2026
Vote Today
Over the past several years, we’ve had the opportunity to present at SXSW EDU on a range of topics. It’s a wonderful place to learn from our community and forge new connections. This year, in collaboration with some of the organizations we work with, we submitted four proposals—on AI, first-generation students, and transfer. If you would like to see us in Austin, vote now! AI in Higher Ed: Who’s Being Heard, Who’s Not? (Meet-Up) Speakers: Claire Baytas and…
Past Event
August 8, 2025
Improving Transfer Student Pathways
Coalition for College Annual Meeting & Conference
In 2024, several Coalition for College member institutions were selected for an American Talent Initiative grant aimed to fund efforts to support limited-income students. In this session, hear from three Coalition members whose projects focus on improving transfer pathways, specifically: Drexel University, for formalizing a direct admission transfer program with the Community College of Philadelphia; Stony Brook University, for implementing a dual admission program with Suffolk County Community College; and Stevens Institute of Technology for Creating the Stevens Transfer Student…
Blog Post
July 23, 2025
Collecting Additional Data on Students with Disabilities in IPEDS
New Report
The enrollment of students with disabilities in postsecondary education has notably increased, rising from 11 percent in 2004 to 21 percent in 2020. This significant growth underscores the need for comprehensive and reliable data to better understand these students’ experiences and outcomes. However, substantial gaps remain in how data on this population is collected, reported, and utilized, limiting our ability to support their needs effectively. In a report commissioned in 2024 by the…
Research Report
July 23, 2025
Collecting Additional Data on Students with Disabilities in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
Benefits and Challenges
In 2024, the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC), an advisory group to the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the US Department of Education in 2024 commissioned this report, which we completed in February 2025. The report’s purpose was to assess the feasibility of expanding the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to capture better information about students with disabilities enrolled in US postsecondary institutions.