Several clusters of Powered by Publics institutions have used improvement science to understand the root causes of educational inequities, identify a specific improvement aim, and test ideas for change. The Improvement Science Toolkit, developed in partnership with WestEd, consists of a series of scaffolded resources that can be used in sequential order to guide institutions through an improvement journey.

What is Improvement Science?

The simplest way to define improvement science is as a highly practical form of rigorous inquiry. Desire for the use of improvement science begins with a dissatisfaction with the status quo and a recognition that existent outcomes are either not desirable or just not good enough. Improvement science addresses the ways that work systems are designed with the recognition that these systems directly shape how individuals carry out their responsibilities. It focuses on the specific tasks people do, the processes and tools they use and how prevailing policies, organizational structures, and norms affect this. Applying improvement science would direct greater attention to how better to design and fit together the many elements that shape the way organizations work.

Improvement science entails getting down into the micro details as to how any proposed set of changes is actually supposed to improve outcomes. At the heart is an approach of rapid tests of change to guide the development, revision and continued fine-tuning of new tools, processes, work roles, and relationships. The approach is explicitly designed to accelerate learning by doing. As iterative cycles of change proceed, previously invisible problems often emerge, and improvement activities may need to tack off in some new directions. The objective here is quite different from the traditional pilot program that seeks to offer a proof of concept. Improvement research, in contrast, is a focused learning journey. The overall goal is to develop the necessary know-how for a change idea ultimately to spread faster and more effectively.

Participants are constantly asking three core improvement questions:

• What is the specific problem I am now trying to solve?
• What change might I introduce and why?
• How will I know whether the change is actually an improvement?

How to Use this Toolkit

We recommend using these resources in sequential order to support your institution's improvement journey from start to finish. However, if you are already using improvement science, some individual resources may be helpful based on where you are in the process.

1. Introduction to Improvement Science

• Overview (Document or Presentation)

2. Team Formation

• Criteria for Improvement Teams
• Team Charter

3. System Analysis

• Data for Equity Protocol
• Identifying Learning Goals
• Methods for conducting system analysis:
  • Empathy Interview Tool
  • 5 Whys Template
  • Fishbone Diagram Template
  • Process Mapping Instructions

4. Develop Aim Statement

• Crafting an Improvement Aim

5. Develop and Test Change Ideas

• Change Idea Generation and Prioritization
• Plan, Do, Study Act (PDSA) Template

6. Learning Reflection and Planning

• Improvement Journey Reflection Tool

Special thanks to Christine Han at WestEd for authoring or customizing these resources for APLU members, and to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their support.

I am thrilled to announce the “Leading from Where You Are” workshop series, a set of three 90-minute workshops explicitly designed for mid-level professionals in higher education. This professional development opportunity, offered by APLU in collaboration with Dr. Alison Kadlec of Sova, provides actionable strategies and tools for leading change, fostering collaboration, and promoting equity – essential elements for driving student success initiatives. We strongly encourage you to take advantage! The three workshops are:

The Essential Skills of Student-Focused Change Leadership
Wednesday, July 10th, 1-2:30 PM ET

This first workshop explores the core skills of change leadership and their practical application in driving student-centered change. Attendees will gain insights into effective leadership practices and strategies for developing these essential skills in themselves and others.

Register here for Workshop 1

Using Short-Term Action Plans to Own Your Power
Wednesday, July 17th, 1-2:30 PM ET

The second workshop focuses on adopting an improvement mindset and applying improvement approaches to lead change from any position. This workshop draws on real-world lessons from higher education professionals who have successfully used short-term action plans to advance important work.

Register here for Workshop 2

Leveraging Relational Power
Wednesday, July 24th, 1-2:30 PM ET

The final workshop emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence and interpersonal relationships in leading meaningful change. It explores strategies for facilitating complex conversations, supporting authentic collaboration, and ensuring diverse perspectives are included in decision-making processes.

Each session requires a separate registration. These workshops will provide actionable strategies and tools for leading change, fostering collaboration, and promoting equity — essential elements for driving student success initiatives at your institution.

Participation is free, but space is limited to 100 participants per workshop. Based on your interests and availability, you can choose to attend one, two, or all three sessions. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your leadership skills and connect with peers across the Powered by Publics network.

If you have any questions about the workshop series or the registration process, please don’t hesitate to contact @Gregory Thornton at gthornton@aplu.org.

In the coming months, institutions will be able to apply for some of the $45 million Congress recently provided for a third round of the Postsecondary Student Success Grant (PSSG) competition, which helps institutions provide evidence-based supports for student persistence and completion.

In an effort to support submissions for the upcoming 2024 PSSG invitation to apply, we are excited to invite you to the second annual webinar highlighting the achievements of several institutions that have received PSSG funding in the past. Hosted by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) with support from Arnold Ventures, this event will showcase innovative strategies and lessons learned by PSSG awardees to help support institutions in their consideration of ideas for 2024 PSSG.

Webinar Title: Advancing Evidence-Based Interventions for College Completion: Insights from Postsecondary Student Success Grant Awardees

Date and Time: Monday, July 8, 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern

Description: This webinar will feature a panel of leaders from PSSG-funded institutions sharing their experiences in developing and implementing evidence-based interventions aimed at improving postsecondary retention, transfer, and completion.

This webinar offers a unique opportunity to:

• Engage with peers and experts
• Learn from successful PSSG awardees
• Inform ideas for the 2024 PSSG competition
• Enhance your institution’s student success initiatives

Participants will also have access to resources like toolkits, reports, and workshops to support their proposals for future federal funding.

Let’s Celebrate Our 2023 and 2022 PSSG Awardees: We are proud to highlight the achievements of our APLU and USU member PSSG awardees:

• California State University, Fullerton: Fullerton RISES: Re-imagining Success for Every Student
• City University of New York System: WELCOME: Welcoming Experiences and Learning Communities to Maximize Early Success
• Colorado State University System: Systemwide Collaborative for Advancing Learning and Equity with Data (SCALED-CSU)
• Florida International University: The FIU Scaling Completion Initiative
• Georgia State University: TEACH ME: Technology Enhanced Academic Communication to Help in Math and English
• University of California, Berkeley: Project Excel
• University System of Maryland: Maryland’s ABCs for Student Success: Advising, Belonging, and Coaching for Student Success 
  
  

Please note that not all of these institutions will be represented in the webinar. However, we celebrate their contributions to advancing student success.

Do you have a great program or idea for advancing postsecondary completion? Does your institution serve high numbers of Pell or minoritized students on your campus? Are you interested in applying for federal support? We encourage you to get involved!

Register HERE

Stay tuned for more event announcements from APLU and USU. For more information, please contact Dr. Jennifer Keup at jkeup@aplu.org or @Gregory Thorntonregory Thornton at gthornton@aplu.org.

As the field of higher education continues responding to the catalytic events of 2020, higher education organizations like APLU have gained momentum as critical change agents in the work of institutional transformation at scale.

National collaborations, such as APLU’s Intermediary for Scale (IFS) initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), have yielded critical lessons learned about how organizations can directly contribute to accelerating equitable outcomes for postsecondary student success.  

For many colleges, universities, and state systems, the challenge is not what to do but how to do it.  As an Intermediary, APLU is well-positioned to liaise with critical funders, partners in the field, and content experts to streamline support and disseminate promising practices to membership networks that are contributing to better outcomes for our nation’s most vulnerable student populations.

Intermediary Role

APLU has served in an Intermediary role since 2017. In 2020, APLU partnered with a select group of 16 universities from across the Powered by Publics network of clusters to implement evidence-based practices designed to increase equitable student success outcomes and degree completion.  Organizing discourse and creating conditions for learning, APLU leveraged a facilitated approach to conduct rigorous institutional needs assessments, collect disaggregated student data, cultivate a peer learning agenda, and broker technical assistance in advising, digital learning, data literacy, strategic finance, equity, and integrating the student voice.  

Lessons Learned

Each intermediary has a unique role to play to meet the needs of its distinct network. However, the following observations are necessary considerations to optimize a structure of support that leads to sustainable change, both for APLU IFS and more universally to any institutional engagement strategy:

• Transformation begins with equity.
• • Operationalizing equity as an explicit priority focused on the voice of faculty, staff, and students is critical to defining the institutional experience.
• Transformation takes time.
• • Understanding the unique DNA of network institutions, and the students they serve, to structure a comprehensive and integrated engagement model is critical to meeting them where they are, aligning with their priorities, and building a meaningful institutional experience.
• Transformation is an adaptive challenge.
• • Providing clear and articulated expectations for engaging cross-functional campus stakeholders is critical to a cohesive institutional experience.  
• Transformation requires capacity.
• • Building institutional capacity for data literacy and strategic finance is critical to a sustainable institutional experience.
• Transformation isn’t a destination, it’s a journey.
• • Establishing trusted relationships across campus that catalyze interpersonal connections is critical to the success of the institutional experience.

Participating Institutions

1. University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
2. Clemson University
3. Illinois State University
4. Middle Tennessee State University
5. Montana State University
6. New Mexico State University
7. University of New Orleans
8. New Jersey Institute of Technology
9. Ohio University
10. Rutgers University-Newark
11. University of South Alabama
12. Texas Tech University
13. Tuskegee University
14. Virginia Commonwealth University
15. Western Michigan University
16. University of Wyoming

While studying for a chemistry exam in 2017, University of Kentucky freshman Hayden Free had a chance encounter with a graduate research assistant helping then-Associate Provost for Student and Academic Life Dr. Greg Heileman. At the time, Dr. Heileman was undertaking research related to the foundations of Curricular Analytics, a free online tool showing how classes interact with each other and rates each major with a complexity value. It also creates an interactive data visualization so users can examine each potential pathway through the major in isolation.

The encounter led Free to a years-long partnership with Dr. Heileman as the then-nascent Curricular Analytics effort unveiled a series of new resources to help more institutions, including several Powered by Publics institutions, see how the complexity of degree programs can either facilitate or hamper student’s progress toward a degree. Free, a first-generation student pursuing a degree in computer science, was tapped as a research assistant focused on data collection, research, and programming.

Since graduating from the University of Kentucky last year, Free has been working full time on the Curricular Analytics project updating and expanding the toolkit. Playing a role in the research has helped shaped his career ambitions, with a master’s degree on the horizon and the potential to pursue a Ph.D. His experience as a first-generation student has also informed the lessons he’s gleaned working on the project. For financially constrained students, for example, an extra semester to finish a degree might not just lead to a student to take on extra debt, but lead them to stop out of college altogether if student aid dries up.

Cutting down on curricular complexity can have a significant impact on student success. Thanks in part to actions taken as a result of insights from Curricular Analytics insights, the University of New Mexico, where Dr. Heileman previously held appointments, has tripled its four-year graduation rate over the past eight years. Other institutions have used the software to see the complexity of the programs and make adjustments. One computer engineering program, for example, realized that complex degree requirements made difficult if not impossible to complete a degree in four years. They’ve made changes that now allow students to complete a degree in 120 credit hours.

Since the online platform is open source, any institution can enter its degree programs and benchmark them against peers as well as some of the most competitive programs in the field. Looking at this wide landscape of programs, it becomes clear that for some programs such as electrical engineering and computer science, degree complexity is inversely correlated with the competitiveness of the program nationally. The software has also helped institutions spot what for some is unexpected complexity in programs such as music.

Other takeaways are more nuanced, says Free. Among advisors, it’s well known that students are sometimes best served by not taking two courses, such as Calculus 1 and Physics, at the same time because concepts learned in one course help students thrive in the other. Alternatively, courses taken concurrently can be synergistic for student learning. But students’ needs vary and there may be other important data points to inform course selection. A math ACT below a certain threshold, for example, can inform an optimal degree plan for that student while also helping them graduate in a timely manner.

Yet the tool’s greatest value, says Free, isn’t helping administrators identify barriers to progression and eliminating them but instead sparking a dialogue with faculty about whether their program is appropriately complex. Complexity isn’t inherently bad; needless complexity is. Curricular Analytics helps faculty and administrators to see the complexity of a program, benchmarked against programs at other institutions, and take action based on what they’ve found.

The possibility for greater institutional uptake of the tool would open additional doors to impact student success. In a world where the degree programs were widely inputted into the Curricular Analytics platform, students looking to transfer could easily see how their courses would translate at their new institution regardless of whether the two institutions have an existing articulation agreement, cutting down on credits that are transferred as electives, credits lost altogether, and students stopping out of their degree progression.

This brief highlights Summer Bridge programs at four Western Land-Grant institutions, including a comparison of program characteristics, content, target populations, and success factors. Summer Bridge programs show promise for increasing students’ academic preparation and social adjustment to college life through a mix of academic support, peer mentoring, and social activities.  It is important to help students acclimate to campus life and promote a sense of belonging and comfort among peers and faculty – particularly for students whose families lack college exposure.

University of Wyoming's Catalyst for Change

As part of an ongoing series, join us as we delve into the University of Wyoming’s transformation process, the challenges faced, strategies employed, and future plans for continued innovation in student success. Dr. Nycole Courtney’s leadership and vision have catalyzed the University of Wyoming's approach to student success and institutional change through the Intermediaries for Scale (IFS) initiative. APLU interviewed @Nycole Courtney to learn more about the University of Wyoming’s journey and what she’s learned along the way.

What is Nycole’s role at the University of Wyoming, and how has she been involved in the institutional transformation process?

She currently serves as the Dean of Student Success and Graduation and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Wyoming, her alma mater. Throughout her time at the university, Nycole has been a driving force behind the institution's transformation process. She has played a crucial role in redefining the university's approach to student success and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

"My position was created to focus on retention efforts and create strategies for closing equity gaps. I work collaboratively with faculty and staff to develop and implement programs that support our students." From the beginning, Nycole emphasized a comprehensive approach to student success. The university’s leadership, including the Provost, has emphasized that “student success is everyone’s job. So, we’re going to name it as a priority.”

To get started, the University assembled a 'transformation team' to assess various aspects of the university's readiness, including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); four-year degree pathways; advising; and other priority areas. Recognizing the importance of culture shifting and change management, the university established the multidisciplinary Student Success Institutional Transformation Task Force (SSIT), which has had a significant impact on institutional culture by addressing barriers faced by students of all backgrounds and working to improve academic experiences, climate, policies, and procedures, plus college navigation. This commitment has profoundly influenced the culture and approach at the University of Wyoming, ensuring that students feel supported, valued, and heard.

What was the main challenge the University of Wyoming faced in student success, and how did Nycole and her team decide to tackle it?

The main challenge the University of Wyoming faced in student success was improving retention rates, particularly from freshman to sophomore year. Nycole acknowledged that they were ‘average’ in this area but had room to grow. To her, “Retention itself is an outcome. It's not the actual process. So, the challenge for us was building the process to get to higher retention."

To address this challenge, Nycole and her team built a strategic plan for student success, focusing on reducing student success barriers both through institutional causes and national known barriers. They started with the eight Barriers to Student Success identified by the EAB and other areas requiring the most focus.  Collaboration was crucial in addressing these barriers. Nycole emphasized the importance of working closely with faculty and staff across campus to create a unified approach to student success, breaking down silos. By establishing the Student Success Institutional Transformation Task Force, the team was able to grasp culture change and start rowing in the same direction towards higher retention as the outcome. The team also considered the role of DEI in building better retention. They started to unpack the reasons behind their work and how DEI could contribute to their ultimate goal of achieving higher retention by reducing student success barriers.

How did the team gather the necessary data to make informed decisions about student success?

Initially, the UW team brought in their Office of Institutional Analysis to participate in the Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) project, a National Student Clearinghouse-led initiative that simplifies data collection and reporting for higher education institutions. Participation provides access to key student success metrics, helping institutions identify areas for improvement and evaluate program effectiveness. However, as their involvement was not sustainable long-term, they focused on gathering the necessary data internally to create their own student success dashboards. Nycole explained, "Now we have these live dashboards, and we’re going in and looking [at the data] on the regular as opposed to having to reinvent the wheel every time, and it just stays updated out of our student information system."

They analyzed various priorities and barriers that students faced and crafted a strategic plan for student success, emphasizing actions, assessments, and outcomes to enhance retention rates. By examining the barriers to success, the team could develop their plan. Nycole further emphasized the value of data-driven decision-making, adding, "Having access to accurate, real-time data has been instrumental in helping us identify areas where we can improve and measure the impact of our programs. We're now able to make informed decisions and adapt our strategies based on what the data is telling us."

The dashboard has proven to be a tremendous success, enabling the team to present an annual retention report to the Board of Trustees, focusing on different student populations, and holding them accountable for their work. Nycole elaborated, "We were able to take this dashboard, really focus in on the last three years and talk about retention." She also noted, "Now we're accountable to that work, which is great." By utilizing this data-driven approach and implementing a strategic plan for student success, the University of Wyoming team can analyze retention and probation rates, address various barriers and priorities in student retention, and work towards achieving higher retention rates.

Are there any specific initiatives or programs that the University has implemented that Nycole and her team are particularly proud of and why?

Nycole is particularly proud of the Saddle Up onboarding program implemented at the University of Wyoming. This initiative, inspired by the success of institutions like the University of Nevada-Reno, aims to ensure a smooth transition for incoming first-time, full-time students and improve overall retention rates. Highlighting its impact, “We put 1500 students through this program…We went from 90% retention for fall to spring, full-time, first-time students to 93% this year.” Additionally, they hope the program will lead to “a significant reduction in the equity gap between underrepresented students and their peers.” Since the program only started in Fall 2022, more data will be evaluated over time. The team is continuously building on this initiative, focusing on students on probation and capturing these students before they go on suspension. Their work with students on probation received a boost through the Data Literacy Institute project offered by APLU and the Association of Institutional Research (AIR) in Spring 2023. Nycole explained, "The AIR project is focusing solely on probation, and we're building out a proposal for funding from potential donors that says, 'Every student on probation can opt into either a course or self-guided recovery.’” These students would receive support from a ‘Cowboy Coach’ peer mentor and an academic coach providing more intrusive advising to help them stay on track. She expressed enthusiasm for the project's outcomes and is excited to see continued progress in student success.

How has the University's involvement in the Intermediaries for Scale initiative impacted the University of Wyoming's culture and approach to student success?

Nycole expressed, “The University of Wyoming is very humble and very appreciative of this opportunity.” The IFS initiative has enabled the university to manage a larger scope of work within a shorter period and facilitated the collection and analysis of data more effectively, helping to build the Student Success dashboard. IFS provided access to valuable resources, insights, and connections, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability. Further, “There's now a greater sense of urgency and shared responsibility when it comes to student success,” she said.

Each IFS cohort institution completed an Institutional Transformation Assessment (ITA), which is a web-based tool that helps universities understand institutional strengths and areas for improvement with the goal of building capacity to better support students on campus and develop an action plan for reaching the institution’s student success goals. The ITA was the catalyst for change on campus, showing the university's readiness and the need for culture change. Participation in the IFS cohort led directly to the creation of the multidisciplinary Strategic Student Success Institutional Transformation Task Force, allowing the university to build bridges and partnerships, blending Academic and Student Affairs in a way that was desperately needed. Indirectly, it has created a more supportive and inclusive environment for all students. She emphasized the importance of conveying to students that “you belong, you matter, speak up, lean in, whatever that is, and we will support you.”

Additionally, Nycole saw the APLU community as an invaluable resource. She highlighted the rewarding journey of working with APLU and its impact on the university, saying, “It has allowed us to address critical issues and stay relevant in the higher education landscape.” Their Provost and Vice President for Student Affairs see a lot of value in the IFS initiative, and student success is now named in the larger strategic plan. Through the IFS initiative, the University of Wyoming has been able to foster a culture of student success that will continue to grow and thrive.

What are the future plans for continued innovation in student success at the University of Wyoming?

Nycole envisions ongoing growth and development in the area of student success at the University of Wyoming, stating, “We're always looking for new ways to innovate and support our students. Some of our future plans include expanding our Saddle Up program to reach even more students, implementing targeted interventions for specific student populations, and leveraging technology to improve the overall student experience.” The University will embed student success into its strategic plan and seek philanthropic support for initiatives such as completion grants.

Emphasizing collaboration, shared vision, community, and belonging, Nycole indicated, “One of the most important aspects of our work is fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement across campus. As we move forward, we'll continue to work closely with faculty, staff, and students to identify opportunities for growth and ensure that we're all working together to support the success of every student at the University of Wyoming.” She highlighted the importance of community and belonging: “It provided a lens that students really need community. And they really need to build that sense of belonging just as much as our institution needed it for itself.”

The IFS provided “a pivotal opportunity to scale and sustain a culture of student success. It now has been embedded and weaved into our work enough that I don’t think it’s going anywhere.” She also stressed, "There's no one-size-fits-all solution for student success. It's essential to be agile, adaptive, and open to new ideas." With Dr. Nycole Courtney’s leadership, the University is poised for even greater achievements in the future!

As we conclude this first blog on the University of Wyoming's transformative journey, we celebrate their commitment to fostering a culture of student success. Stay tuned for the second installment of our series next month, where we will continue to highlight the remarkable progress made by institutions participating in the Intermediaries for Scale initiative, shedding light on their innovative strategies, collaborative efforts, and the impact they have on higher education. Join us as we explore the inspiring stories that are shaping the future of student success.

By Matthew Rust and @JC Chadwick (September 2021)

Helping students overcome hurdles at various stages of their academic journey is key to advancing student success and addressing the equity gap. To better understand how universities can use proactive advising to anticipate and address challenges facing students, a subgroup of institutions in the Metropolitan Cluster of Powered by Publics have undertaken an in-depth examination of proactive advising to help inform a grounded theory of implementing proactive advising.

Proactive advising, formerly called intrusive advising, is an advisor-initiated effort anticipating potential barriers to students’ learning goals and providing timely interventions based on students’ strengths and identities. A more detailed definition of proactive advising is available in the grounded theory of proactive advising the cluster subgroup developed. The grounded model draws on meetings, focused interviews with advising leaders at nine institutions in the proactive advising subgroup, as well as a large national survey of advisors with responses from 326 unique institutions across 48 states.

This semester, the model is being used to launch proactive advising initiatives focused on Pell Granteligible students at six schools (University at Albany, the University of Cincinnati, IUPUI, the University of Louisville, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Portland State University). The schools had proactive advising efforts at various stages underway, but the grounded theory is informing iterative improvements across the participating institutions. IUPUI and University of Louisville are co-leading this work, which is supported in part by seed funding from Powered by Publics.

Since the subgroup of the cluster started in 2019, the need for bolstered proactive advising has grown even more important on many campuses as the pandemic has forced institutions to focus limited resources to reach students most in need. Under old advising models, too many students are lost to attrition and advisor burnout is all too common. Proactive advising helps address both these problems by focusing advisor efforts on the students who will benefit most from the meaningful conversations advisors facilitate.

As a best practice, many institutions have focused advising on targeting first-generation, first-year students, and those facing academic challenges. Informed by the grounded theory, the six schools are now using proactive advising to ensure more Pell-eligible students have the support they need to succeed. The group of institutions is centering their proactive advising work around three areas – Timing, Targeting, and Topics – to maximize the impact of proactive advising.

On timing, the institutions are focused on reaching students in the first seven weeks of the semester – a critical window in the student journey where additional support and resources can mean the difference between a student dropping out or going on to complete their degree.

This outreach is also targeted. Though each institution has a unique approach, they are all undertaking personalized outreach. At IUPUI, for example, the Pell-eligible student population will receive emails and texts reminding them to set up an appointment with an advisor by a specific date. If a student doesn’t schedule an appointment by then, IUPUI auto-schedules an advising appointment for the student for a time that doesn’t conflict with courses while giving the student the ability to reschedule a time that better fits their availability. This increasingly proactive approach flips traditional opt-in processes around to help remove every possible obstacle to accessing advising.

Finally, the advising meetings go beyond traditional advising topics. Instead of focusing on course planning or scheduling for the next semester, advisors intentionally raise topics such as mental, physical, and financial wellbeing. They encourage students to take part in high-impact engagement practices (such as internships, undergraduate research, and study abroad), ask about issues students may be struggling with, and discuss career planning. When a student identifies a need for support that goes beyond the advisor’s expertise area – detailed information on financial resources, for example – the advisor connects them with an expert on campus who can offer more robust help.

What’s Next for the Cluster?

The six institutions are currently implementing proactive advising for Pell-eligible students while tracking the success of their efforts, with the hope of sharing lessons from their work early next year.

Other Resources

In May, the cluster also hosted a Powered by Publics Learning Event on Building Financial Confidence Through Coaching-based Advising, a virtual workshop with Dr. Kathleen Shea Smith Associate Provost for Academic Advising, University of Oklahoma that nearly 500 individuals attended.

Institutions in the Metropolitan Cluster:

• The University of Texas at Arlington – Cluster Lead
• Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis
• Old Dominion University
• Portland State University
• University at Albany
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Houston
• University of Illinois at Chicago
• University of Louisville
• University of Missouri-Kansas City
• University of New Mexico
• Wichita State University

Overview

As part of the Powered by Publics initiative, The Big Ten Academic Alliance Cluster is working together to improve persistence for degree completion and address disparities for students who are low-income, first-generation, or underrepresented minorities by eliminating equity gaps in grade patterns in gateway courses.

In 2020, partner campuses conducted an analysis of DFW (grades of D+, D, D-, F, or Withdrawal from the course) rates in key gateway courses to reveal equity gaps and understand how these grade markers correlate with student retention and graduation outcomes. A learning memo was produced about this work and is attached below.

The “Exploring Foundational Course DFW rates, Equity Gaps, and Progress to Degree” webinar took place on July 28, 2021. This event is part of the Powered by Publics “Teaching and Learning Hub.”

Speakers:

Dr. Jocelyn Milner, Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Moderator)

Link: BTAA DFW Webinar, Part 2 of 6 - BTAA Cluster Work and University of Wisconsin-Madison DFW Rates and Grade Gaps, History and Context

Dr. Amy Goodburn, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor & Dean of Undergraduate Education, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Link: BTAA DFW Webinar, Part 3 of 6 - Using Data to Improve Equity Outcomes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dr. Leslie Schiff, Associate Dean for the University Curriculum and Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Link: BTAA DFW Webinar, Part 4 of 6 - Exploring Foundational Course DFW Rates, Equity Gaps and Progress to Degree at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Ms. Kathy Martensen, Associate Provost for Educational Programs and Success Initiatives, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Link: BTAA DFW Webinar, Part 5 of 6 - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Student Success Initiative

In the linked clips, you'll find an overview of how the cluster worked collectively to compare DFW rates, identify equity gaps, and explore how the data impacts student progression and completion.

Panelists also presented on campus-specific initiatives in this area to better facilitate the student-centered campus culture.

These presentations were followed by a discussion period.  You can find the transcript at https://pxp.crowdstack.io/blog...6-q-and-a-discussion.

You can find the full webinar recording at https://pxp.crowdstack.io/resource/684609695113259046.

Please join in the conversation and comment with your thoughts and additional questions!

UW’s Multidisciplinary Student Success Institutional Transformation Taskforce

In this ongoing series, we explore the University of Wyoming’s transformation journey, highlighting the challenges, strategies, and their vision for future innovation in student success. This second installment delves deeper into their experiences under the Intermediaries for Scale (IFS) initiative, emphasizing their successes in fostering institutional change. In this conversation, we hear from a broader group of stakeholders from the multidisciplinary Student Success Institutional Transformation Taskforce (SSITT):

• Anne Alexander, Vice Provost, Strategic Planning and Initiatives for Academic Affairs
• Aaron Courtney, Associate Vice President, Budget & Institutional Planning; Director, Student Financial Services
• Nycole Courtney, Dean, Student Success and Graduation; Associate Vice President, Student Affairs
• Angela Davis, Program Coordinator, Student Success and Graduation
• Sue Koller, Manager, Institutional Analysis
• Hailey Sanderson, Assistant to the AVP, Student Success and Graduation
• Steve Scott, Institutional Computer Reporting Analyst
• Alec Wallen, Graduate Student Employee, Student Success and Graduation

What programs or initiatives has UW implemented as part of its participation in the IFS initiative, and how have these initiatives impacted student success?

The SSITT has significantly enhanced cross-departmental collaboration at the University of Wyoming. This initiative has effectively dismantled silos, paving the way for a holistic approach to student success. Sue noted, “It has expanded who is talking about retention. It’s made us more mindful and really start thinking about what small things can we even do to make a difference in a student’s life and wanting to stay at UW.” The emphasis on collaboration ensures a consistent approach to student success. Nycole added, “Because of SSITT, I think everyone’s thinking a little bit deeper, more meaningful around how we manage some of the work around retention.” This collaborative approach has led to a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by students and a more effective strategy for addressing these challenges. Angela, a University of Wyoming alum, appreciated the integration and elevation of the student perspective in these discussions, calling it, “amazing and really informative for the group.”

Additional initiatives have emerged from the SSITT’s comprehensive and evolving approach to student success and retention. Hailey and Nycole highlighted a program that offers extra support for students on academic probation, giving them the option to engage with an academic ‘life coach’ for personalized guidance. Nycole emphasized the significance of this self-selected support, stating, “The life coaching is really about how are we going to realistically ensure you achieve your goals within your individual circumstances.” Additionally, the Cowboy Coach peer mentoring program was expanded to connect all first-year students with a peer mentor. Data-driven insights have led the university to mandate meetings between first-year students and their Cowboy Coach at least once per semester.

Can you share any success stories or examples of how students have benefited from UW’s participation in the IFS project?

Aaron highlighted the creation of a micro-grant opportunity, a proactive, data-driven initiative aimed at helping students nearing degree completion. These funds helped students overcome lingering financial barriers and cross the finish line of their academic journey. Nycole shared the success of the callback campaign, a student-led initiative that reached out to students who had not yet registered for classes. The initiative not only helped students overcome barriers to registration but also made students feel seen and cared for by the university. “Students [said], I didn’t think the university actually cared. When we called them, it actually made a difference in whether or not they registered.” Nycole also spoke about their ‘Saddle Up’ orientation program, which was in its infancy when the IFS engagement begun but has since grown into a comprehensive program that teaches students “real-time time management, study skills, resiliency, and grit.” Nycole noted that the success of the program is evident in the fact that “students from the first year of ‘Saddle Up’ are now returning as what we call our ‘Poke Packs.’ They’re the mentors that help [new students] get through the program.” These initiatives have directly helped students overcome barriers to success and created a culture of care and support.

How do you see the IFS initiative helping to shape strategic development going forward, and what are your goals for the future?

The SSITT team sees IFS participation as a catalyst for strategic development, providing tools and resources that have been instrumental in shaping their approach to student success. Anne championed the use of the Institutional Transformation Assessment (ITA) tool, stating, “[The ITA] and all the sensemaking after that we did together—which evolved into SSITT—I think we can continue to use that as kind of a temperature check to see how we’re evolving.” She envisions its regular use for ongoing assessment. Nycole shared, “One of the outcomes was that we actually built a strategic plan for student success from this APLU IFS process. But it’s also advised and has input from our SSITT team.” The team also emphasized the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in realizing their strategic goals.

Can you speak to any unexpected successes or surprises from UW’s IFS involvement?

The IFS initiative has brought about unexpected successes, particularly in fostering collaboration and enhancing data literacy. Sue highlighted the AIR Data Literacy Institute service: “I think that we’ve known for a while that we probably needed some help with data literacy in general. But I’m not sure we would have reached out to get that opportunity without having this as a catalyst.” Nycole celebrated the sense of community within the SSITT team, adding, “I think what was exciting for me to see is that people are interested in coming. They look forward to having a conversation. And it is a nice way to learn more about what’s going on in our spaces, particularly when it comes to retention.” She valued the depth of discussions the initiative sparked. Sue felt the initiative was a platform for addressing concerns, leading to meaningful discussions and solutions. Hailey emphasized the efficiency gained by having all stakeholders discuss issues together: “When they’re all in the same room, and they can talk about it in real-time, it happens a lot faster,” eliminating the need for extended meetings and projects.

Finally, do you have any advice or insights you would like to share with other universities seeking to improve student success and drive institutional transformation?

Their primary advice for universities is to adopt a collaborative, solutions-focused approach. Anne emphasized the value of a community-oriented approach, stating, “I think this so far is the one that has been most successful because of the community aspect. We have everybody in the room, and everybody comes to solve problems.” She stressed the importance of student participation in these dialogues. Nycole urged institutions to remain open-minded, stating, “I think we sometimes get into this space where we think we know all the answers. As an institution, we think we’ve got this. We’re going to solve all the problems.” Highlighting the value of different perspectives and teamwork, she stated, “I do think having interdisciplinary ideas and cross-functional components from your colleagues only helps you be better.” She encourages embracing pivotal opportunities for change, such as the IFS initiative and Powered by Publics, and concludes, “Learning from a national partner and national peers has been incredibly helpful.”

As we conclude the second installment of our series, many thanks to the University of Wyoming’s SSITT for their unwavering commitment to student success. Their cross-functional collaboration and integration of the student voice should certainly serve as a beacon for other institutions navigating their own transformation journey. Stay tuned as we further explore the IFS network's impact and delve into its subprojects. We invite you to share your thoughts, experiences, or questions in the comments below or via social media. Let's continue the conversation on student success and institutional transformation!

Hi everyone, I’m turning over the microphone to the Powered by Publics team while out on maternity leave. This month’s Executive Director’s note is authored by Lynn Brabender. Enjoy! – Julia Michaels, Executive Director and Associate Vice President, Center for Public University Transformation.

By Lynn Brabender

Lynn Brabender is an associate director in APLU’s Center for Public University Transformation

Welcome to 2022! If you haven’t already, we strongly encourage you to sign up for the Learning Exchange, our new online platform for sharing ideas and knowledge originating in and related to your institutions’ and your clusters’ work in the Powered by Publics initiative. Have a burning student success question that another Powered by Publics member might be able to answer? Want to share a pioneering program others might be interested in learning about? Want to connect with colleagues in other clusters? The Learning Exchange is the place to do it.

Last year, APLU invited Powered by Publics institutions to participate in the Intermediaries for Scale (IFS) cohort learning experience, an investment program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Sixteen universities from eight different clusters were selected to collectively transform policies and practices on their campuses to increase equitable student success. Over the course of the project, the IFS institutions participated in an in-depth assessment of their institutions’ student success needs, met monthly as a peer learning community, shared data through the Postsecondary Data Partnership, and are on track to receive technical assistance in advising, digital learning and/or developmental education to support their institution’s transformation efforts.

We are excited to share with you what we are learning so far! All IFS cohort institutions completed the Institutional Transformation Assessment (ITA) – a survey tool designed to capture the perceptions of student success leaders on how well the institution is performing in areas including digital learning, developmental education, leadership and culture, institutional research, information technology, and institutional policy.

Once the survey data is collected and compiled, the leadership teams who completed the survey participate in a facilitated sense-making meeting to review and discuss the data and identify areas for improvement that align with their institutions’ student success strategic priorities.

Creating a forum for institutional leaders across campus to discuss challenges and perceptions related to key institutional capacities to support student success proved to be very valuable. Institutions appreciated the opportunity to reach a common understanding of their institution’s challenges and to collaboratively identify what actions need to be taken to improve.

APLU synthesized the ITA assessment data across the IFS cohort to identify common priority areas for improving institutional capacity to increase student success. These include:

• Establishing shared ownership and shared definitions of student success
• Developing a cross-campus integrated approach to supporting students
• Clarifying roles and responsibilities related to student success, particularly faculty and advisor roles
• Establishing more mechanisms for cross-campus communication
• Coordinating technology systems
• Improving data governance, data sharing and data literacy
• Supporting faculty development and seeking faculty voice
• Meaningfully capturing and acting upon student voice

The assessment also revealed the following common priorities in the areas of advising, digital learning and developmental education/academic readiness:

• Advising: creating consistent policies, practices, and roles for centralized, decentralized and hybrid models
• Digital learning: Creating a master plan for coordinating the use of digital learning tools and strategies
• Developmental Education/Academic Readiness: revising placement policies and practices, gateway math course success, embedded student supports

We know that the needs identified by the IFS institutions are common across our Powered by Publics community. We are excited about what we have learned from this assessment and eager to identify ways to support other institutions in engaging in similar efforts to refine their student success priorities.

As we move into 2022, we will be using what we learned from the needs assessment phase of the IFS project to connect IFS institutions to technical assistance from content experts in advising, digital learning and developmental education. We look forward to supporting these institutions in their transformation journey and to leverage this experience to support all PxP institutions in identifying needs and driving institutional change. For more information on the project, please feel free to reach out to me.

The institutions participating in the effort are: University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; Clemson University; Illinois State University; Ohio University; Middle Tennessee State University; Montana State University; New Mexico State University; University of New Orleans; New Jersey Institute of Technology; Rutgers University-Newark; University of South Alabama; Texas Tech University; Tuskegee University; Virginia Commonwealth University; Western Michigan University; University of Wyoming.

Keep reading for other newsletter highlights, including:

• A February 22 APLU Black History Month Webinar exploring how HBCUs advance STEM talent.
• A post examining how Powered by Publics institutions are exploring the connection between transfer students’ credit loss and their degree completion
• A resource for charting an equity-focused continuous improvement journey.
• An op-ed from Center for Public University Transformation Executive Director Julia Michaels on tackling inequity in higher education head-on.

Happy new year to all our Powered by Publics members! As we enter the fifth and final year of Powered by Publics, I’m reflecting on all we have accomplished as a network, and the challenges yet to overcome. We’ve created spaces where hundreds of individuals from our 127 member institutions and systems can find community, learn new knowledge and skills, and problem-solve together. We have also produced valuable resources for the field, including:

• New research and publications on transfer student success, affordability solutions beyond financial aid, reducing DFW rate equity gaps, and how to engage students as campus change agents.
• A Data Literacy Institute and Data Maturity Index tool to help student success practitioners use data more effectively in their daily work.
• A website of resources on expanding and improving on-campus student employment opportunities (which, research shows, is associated with better academic outcomes than off-campus student employment).
• New approaches for advancing equity including a cross-campus, virtual faculty learning community; equity roundtables with students and alumni; optimizing degree pathways with Curricular Analytics; and a winner-take-all equity challenge.

The challenge at hand is how to apply this knowledge – and the powerful network we’ve fostered – toward making necessary changes at universities. How do you change a complex system, comprised of thousands of individuals, subject to volatile political and economic forces as well as the shifting sands of leadership changes? Some research suggests there are three drivers: structural change (policies and practices), relational change (relationships, connections, and power dynamics), and transformative change (habits of thought that influence what we think, do, and say).

Powered by Publics has dipped into all three, while leaving substantial room for improvement. The individuals in your clusters may have influenced how you see your work, and how you seek out relationships and connections across your campus. Structural change is possible when leaders are at the table and committed to improvement. We’ve heard anecdotally about policy and practice changes happening on a number of campuses, sometimes as a result of lessons learned through our network.

As we build a new future together, we hope to strengthen those individual connections through communities of practice, while influencing the field through our events, publications, and thought leadership. Engaging a coalition of committed leaders is the next step toward catalyzing tangible, structural changes at universities. We’re up for the challenge and look forward to working with you, our members, to make necessary changes that will eliminate race and class as predictors of academic success.

Two clusters have been using Improvement Science to identify strategic priorities and solutions for improving equitable student success. Cluster 10, the Evidence Improvement Cluster, used improvement science to identify advising, first-year experience (FYE) and first-year retention as its areas of focus, while Cluster 4 identified faculty development and sense of belonging as its priorities. Both clusters employed techniques such as empathy interviews and mapping to identify systemic barriers, opportunities for progress, and next steps needed to reach their goals and reduce equity gaps.

Supported in part by WestEd, the institutions in these clusters embarked on a collective Improvement Science journey by exploring the greatest common problems facing their institutions and understanding better the systems that may cause these problems, before implementing solutions to fix the problems. The institutions were tasked with investigating the question “How is our system designed to produce the current outcomes?” Responding to this question requires understanding the various components of a system and how they work together.

Cluster 4 – The Southern Cluster

Beginning in September 2021, Cluster 4 (led by the University of Arkansas) began its Improvement Science journey. Facilitated by the WestEd coach, and using the Fishbone Diagram below, the cluster identified student belonging and faculty development as the key areas of focus for reducing equity gaps. The cluster brought together student affairs and faculty members and drilled down these topics further using a Miro board to identify current systemic barriers, and “what needs to change.” Within the topic of student belonging and faculty development, the cluster identified the following four barriers: 1) faculty response to student needs, 2) faculty role in student success, 3) limited use of data, and 4) the need to incorporate student voice.

Cluster 4 institutions are currently embarking on empathy interviews with both students and faculty to learn more from their experiences about how faculty respond to student needs, and to identify the resources needed to improve. Below are specific questions the cluster is currently answering through these empathy interviews:

• Is there a set of standard procedures that faculty use to respond to students?
• What capacity do faculty have to respond?
• What roadblocks inhibit the meeting of student needs?

The cluster formulated a detailed action plan to accomplish its goals and will continue to meet to examine the findings of empathy interviews and identify next steps.

Cluster 10 - The Evidence Improvement Cluster

Cluster 10, led by the University of Texas at Austin, set out to develop a framework “…for assessing, testing, and implementing evidence‐based practices in advising and first‐year communities to increase student success in the entry year.” By testing student success initiatives through the framework, the cluster’s primary goals were to improve student‐centered advising and first‐year retention, with a focus on equity.

Cluster 10 began with taking inventory of member institutions’ student success initiatives, advising, and entry programs, including implementation, infrastructure, inputs, outputs, outcomes, and metrics. The cluster then created two working groups--advising and first-year experience--to tackle each area, along with a detailed work plan. The working groups developed problem statements, theories of action, driver diagrams, and stretch goals using small group mapping. The working groups continued to refine their theories and diagrams based on campus feedback and developed a “test of change framework” for reporting and monitoring campus tests.

Cluster 10 regrouped in 2020 to reassess the plan of action given the disruptions campuses faced due to COVID-19. Despite competing emergency priorities on campuses in response to the pandemic, the cluster moved forward with the collection of core data metrics from each campus. The working groups also met to brainstorm the advising and first year experience (FYE) processes and identified “Effectiveness of engagement with advisors in moving the needle on retention” and “Student sense of belonging created via instructors, peer mentors, peer-to-peer connections” as the top priorities to tackle. The cluster continued to refine its driver diagrams based on campus feedback about program components that work well and barriers to progress.

Like Cluster 4, Cluster 10 conducted empathy interviews to identify priority concerns, barriers, and insights that fed into a fishbone diagram. Currently, Cluster 10 is developing a “Roadmap for change” to document the impact of the work group and of advising overall and is collecting documented evidence about the efficacy of FYE and outcomes in students’ sense of belonging.

Cluster 4 Improvement Journey

Cluster 10 Theory of Improvement – Driver Diagram

Hi everyone, I’m passing the pen this month to my colleague Gregory Thornton to share what we have learned from the Intermediaries for Scale experience. Enjoy! – Julia Michaels, Executive Director and Associate Vice President, Center for Public University Transformation.

By Gregory Thornton

Although institutional transformation is a goal for many institutions, getting there can be a daunting challenge. Adding to the difficulty, each institution has a unique set of assets, needs, and characteristics that inform its journey.

In 2021, we launched an application for Powered by Publics institutions to participate in the Intermediaries for Scale (IFS) cohort learning experience, an investment program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Sixteen universities from eight different clusters were selected to collectively transform policies and practices on their campuses to increase equitable student success. Since the project’s inception, IFS institutions participated in an in-depth assessment of their student success needs, met monthly as a peer learning community, and shared data through the Postsecondary Data Partnership. For the next 15 months, the cohort will receive customized technical assistance in advising, digital learning, equitable design, data literacy, and/or strategic finance to support their institution’s transformation efforts.

With the project recently transitioning from the cohort-based work to the individually focused service delivery phase, we have learned some important lessons about the transformation process at various levels. One important lesson is that a carefully structured peer team-based cohort can help institutions throughout the process and share learning along the way. Transformation also takes time. It takes a shared leadership vision communicated with the campus community, backed with dedicated resources and the strategic use of data.

Institutions shared various lessons from the project as well. They noted excitement for additional resources to support transformation, but particularly amid a pandemic-constrained environment, they faced barriers from limited capacity to identify, communicate, and organize large cross-functional teams, difficulty getting buy-in, and initiative fatigue. Institutions also found value in connecting with peers in their “mini-service cohorts” and building a longer-term network focused on sharing ideas and learning about best practices from like-minded institutions.

Dr. @Samaad Keys, a program officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who led the Foundation’s involvement in the APLU Intermediaries for Scale investment, also shared insights gleaned from the project. Dr. Keys shared that true transformation requires that equity be explicit and prioritized in all transformation efforts. He also shared that transformation is people-reliant and process-heavy and that capturing faculty, staff, and particularly student voice is key. Finally, he said transformation takes time, resources, and evidence-based interventions to be successful.

We look forward to taking a deeper dive into these insights – and more – at our Powered by Publics convening on November 5 in Denver, CO. Register here!

How do we help students stay engaged, enrolled, and on track toward a degree? These are questions every institution grapples with as they seek to improve equity and student success on campus. The Western Land-grant Cluster in Powered by Publics is currently exploring steps institutions can take to improve the student experience.

Retaining students starts in gateway, general education courses – which not only provide foundational knowledge for subsequent classes, but also set the tone of the overall educational experience on campus. Even if students are succeeding academically, they can still feel disconnected from the university community. This means that at some institutions as much as half of students stopping out are actually in good academic standing.

Overhauling gateway courses with an eye toward cultivating student belonging can help. Syllabi, for example, can set expectations for students and instructors before a course begins. A good syllabus is warm and inviting, reinforcing to students that they belong in the course and at the university. The syllabus also provides an opportunity to make clear to students that academic challenges are universal and that the instructor and institution are there to help ensure every student succeeds. As institutions work to increase student belonging in entry-level courses, peer-led focus groups offer one path for institutions to better gauge students’ sense of belonging. The APLU co-led Student Experience Project recently released a host of resources to help faculty cultivate students’ sense of belonging from day one and support for institutions to help more instructors on campus learn about resources to bolster student belonging.

Yet even students who know about resources available for help can feel ashamed using them. Words such as academic probation can add to students’ sense that they’re outliers and struggling academically. To address this, some institutions have shifted to using framing such as academic warnings or making clear whether students are still in “good academic standing.”

Using communications framed with a growth mindset is key to helping students feel that academic setbacks are normal and that the institution stands ready to help them address challenges they’re facing. Instructors speaking about academic hurdles in their own educational journey or even challenges they’ve faced with mental health can help students can help students understand that they belong on campus and have tools to help them succeed.

Then there’s the challenge of re-engaging students who are no longer in good academic standing. Institutions have taken a variety of approaches to better serve these students and get them back on track toward a degree:

• New Mexico State University’s Aggies Back on Track program employs graduate students who can proactively reach out to students facing suspension and conduct outreach to suspended students with an explanation of how to return from a suspension and resources to help them do so.
• Montana State University has a “Second Wind” program allowing suspended students to bypass the reinstatement process so long as they take a course on growth mindset and how to succeed academically. All told, the program has helped roughly half of students facing suspension return.
• Oklahoma State University has been looking at administrative processes relating to suspension and reinstatement to find areas in which students may be getting lost, focusing especially on first-year students. The university provided additional time for suspended students to appeal their suspension, extending the window beyond the usual short time between the spring and summer terms. OSU is providing additional advising support to help these students reengage during the summer and recover academically in time for the fall.

College students do a lot of things. They eat, sleep, and sometimes even study. In addition, students participate in a variety of university-run co-curricular activities that allow them to have unique educational and social opportunities outside of the classroom. At Utah State University, these activities include Connections (the week-long first-year course that introduces students to the university), Residence Life, the Writing Center, the Student Nutrition Access Center, club and sporting events, and many other events. Each of these co-curricular activities is intentionally designed by the university to help students become more integrated with the collegiate experience and remain enrolled in their academic programs until graduation. For this reason, co-curricular programs are widely supported and participation in all kinds of events is frequently encouraged by university leaders.

Co-curricular activities are great and are very important contributors to student success. However, because co-curriculars have been a focus point in higher education for the past 50 years, the effect of actual curricular activities on graduation rates has not been examined. Such an investigation would involve studying the literal arrangement of courses that make up a degree program to determine its effects on graduation rates.

It seems logical that majors with fewer prerequisite courses would be easier to graduate from than majors with many prerequisite courses. This is because fewer prerequisites give students more scheduling flexibility and failure-tolerance in case a class needs to be retaken. However, prerequisites are often necessary in programs that require a large foundational knowledge, such as engineering. There needs to be a balance in the number of prerequisites in each academic program that 1) prepares students adequately for their careers and 2) allows them to progress easily through the curriculum.

To solve this problem, a theoretical framework called Curricular Complexity was developed. This framework allows administrators to quantify individual programs based on the organizational structure of their prerequisite and corequisite courses and assigns each program a complexity score in the process. In this manner, programs with many prerequisites are assigned a high complexity score, while programs with fewer prerequisites are assigned a low complexity score. This complexity score can then be used in a variety of analyses at Utah State University.

I recently completed one of these analyses while examining the effects of curricular complexity on graduation rates at Utah State University. After obtaining complexity scores for each academic program at the institution, I used logistic regression to determine if a basic trend existed between complexity scores and graduation rates. Here’s what I learned:

As curricular complexity goes up, graduation rates go down.

The initial observation of the following graph follows a trendline that indicates that as complexity score increases, the percent of students who graduate from the program decreases. In this graph, students were plotted as blue points either on the top of the graph (if they graduated) or the bottom of the graph (if they did not graduate). They were oriented horizontally by their complexity score (x-axis) and a trend line was plotted against the percentage of students who either graduated or not (y-axis). The result was a negatively sloped trendline that demonstrates the general trend for students in more complex academic programs to graduate at a lesser rate. In contrast, students in less complex programs tend to graduate at a higher rate.

Prerequisite courses cause increased curricular complexity.

The cause of higher complexity scores is prerequisite courses. While often necessary for building a foundational knowledge, prerequisites also serve to block students from progressing towards graduation. When degree programs have long prerequisite chains that prolong access to higher level courses, students have less flexibility in their schedules and many times are forced to postpone graduation if any changes to the plan are made. This would include a change of major, failure of a course, or transferring from another university. Program administrators know that less flexibility is a problem for students, but they must also ensure that each program provides sufficient foundation knowledge to students to help them excel later on in their studies and in their careers. Thus, program administrators face the difficult task of determining how to both reduce curricular complexity and maintain high standards of attainment for their students.

Re-evaluating prerequisite courses can lead to decreased curricular complexity and, therefore, higher graduation rates.

Fortunately, programs don’t need to get rid of perquisites to decrease their complexity, but rather simply reorganized. As noted by Heileman et al., two engineering programs with identical accreditation will experience vastly different graduation rates, even though both programs teach the same courses (2018). The difference between them lies in their curriculum structure, where the less complex program (with more graduations) combines, eliminates, or rearranges prerequisites to allow the program to be more forgiving and easier to manage for students. Likewise, program administrators at Utah State University should re-evaluate their programs to see where choke points and prerequisite requirements seem to impede student progression. As they do this, administrators will find ways to reorganize the prerequisites in a way that is failure-tolerant and flexible, and that allows students to graduate from the program at a higher rate while still providing them with the foundational knowledge they will need in their careers.

References

Heileman, G. L., Abdallah, C. T., Slim, A., & Hickman, M. (2018). Curricular analytics: A framework for quantifying the impact of curricular reforms and pedagogical innovations.

Last year, APLU invited Powered by Publics institutions to participate in the Intermediaries for Scale (IFS) cohort learning experience, an investment program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Sixteen universities from eight different clusters were selected to collectively transform policies and practices on their campuses to increase equitable student success. Over the course of the project, the IFS institutions participated in an in-depth assessment of their institutions’ student success needs, met monthly as a peer learning community, shared data through the Postsecondary Data Partnership, and are on track to receive technical assistance in advising, digital learning and/or developmental education to support their institution’s transformation efforts.

We are excited to share with you what we are learning so far! All IFS cohort institutions completed the Institutional Transformation Assessment (ITA) - a survey tool designed to capture the perceptions of student success leaders on how well the institution is performing in areas including digital learning, developmental education, leadership and culture, institutional research, information technology, and institutional policy.

Once the survey data is collected and compiled, the leadership teams who completed the survey participate in a facilitated sense-making meeting to review and discuss the data and identify areas for improvement that align with their institutions’ student success strategic priorities.

Creating a forum for institutional leaders across campus to discuss challenges and perceptions related to key institutional capacities to support student success proved to be very valuable. Institutions appreciated the opportunity to reach a common understanding of their institution’s challenges and to collaboratively identify what actions need to be taken to improve.

APLU synthesized the ITA assessment data across the IFS cohort to identify common priority areas for improving institutional capacity to increase student success. These include:

• Establishing shared ownership and shared definitions of student success
• Developing a cross-campus integrated approach to supporting students
• Clarifying roles and responsibilities related to student success, particularly faculty and advisor roles
• Establishing more mechanisms for cross-campus communication
• Coordinating technology systems
• Improving data governance, data sharing and data literacy
• Supporting faculty development and seeking faculty voice
• Meaningfully capturing and acting upon student voice

The assessment also revealed the following common priorities in the areas of advising, digital learning and developmental education/academic readiness:

• Advising: creating consistent policies, practices, and roles for centralized, decentralized and hybrid models
• Digital learning: Creating a master plan for coordinating the use of digital learning tools and strategies
• Developmental Education/Academic Readiness: revising placement policies and practices, gateway math course success, embedded student supports

We know that the needs identified by the IFS institutions are common across our Powered by Publics community.  We are excited about what we have learned from this assessment and eager to identify ways to support other institutions in engaging in similar efforts to refine their student success priorities.

As we move into 2022, we will be using what we learned from the needs assessment phase of the IFS project to connect IFS institutions to technical assistance from content experts in advising, digital learning and developmental education. We look forward to supporting these institutions in their transformation journey and to leverage this experience to support all PxP institutions in identifying needs and driving institutional change. For more information on the project, please feel free to reach out to me.

The institutions participating in the effort are: University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; Clemson University; Illinois State University; Ohio University; Middle Tennessee State University; Montana State University; New Mexico State University; University of New Orleans; New Jersey Institute of Technology; Rutgers University-Newark; University of South Alabama; Texas Tech University; Tuskegee University; Virginia Commonwealth University; Western Michigan University; University of Wyoming.

This report was co-authored by @Julia Michaels, Executive Director for Powered by Publics, and Dr. @Denise Nadasen, DM, Assistant Vice President for Research and Policy Analysis at APLU.  Please direct any questions to jmichaels@aplu.org.

Obtaining a four-year college degree remains one of the best determinants of one’s lifetime financial success and job satisfaction. College-educated workers are also key to fueling the innovation and growth that distinguish our nation’s economy. Yet far more Americans need to complete a college education to ensure a thriving middle class. Even more alarmingly, race and class remain the most reliable predictors of completion, and equity gaps persist among low-income and minoritized students. Left unaddressed, these gaps will lead higher education to reinforce, rather than reduce, inequity. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation even more dire.

Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that those with a high school education or less lost more jobs in the early days of the pandemic and have been left behind in the economic recovery. The disparities by race are significant, with Black women suffering more employment losses than any other demographic group. It’s more important than ever to help Americans, particularly those of color, access and succeed in higher education.

In November 2018, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities launched Powered by Publics, its largest-ever degree completion and equity initiative, to help four-year public colleges and universities collaborate to boost completion numbers. More than 125 universities and systems from 48 states – collectively serving more than 3 million undergraduates, including 1 million Pell recipients – signed on to the five-year initiative’s ambitious goals of:

1. Producing hundreds of thousands more graduates by 2025 with an emphasis on underrepresented minority, low-income, and first-generation students.
   
   
2. Cutting in half the equity gap by 2025 for underrepresented minority, low-income, and first-generation students while increasing access.
   
   
3. Sharing key data, learning, and effective practices to drive innovation and transformation across the higher education sector.

These universities began working together in “transformation clusters,” highly engaged peer learning communities focused on addressing key barriers to student persistence and completion. Crossfunctional campus teams, appointed by their presidents and chancellors, examine the complex system of determinants that lead to student success, identified institutional barriers, and began testing ideas for improvement. The clusters are highly social, with members nudging each other to make policy and practice changes that lead toward transformation. Together, the 16 clusters are tackling a range of issues from affordability to student support services to teaching and learning. An equity lens and key data for assessing progress inform all focus areas.

Even when launched, this initiative was ambitious with no guarantee of success. The challenges of the last two years have made our task even more daunting. From the rapid pivot to online courses, the necessary engagement of the campus community in protesting anti-Black violence and racial injustice, and unpredictable disruptions to college enrollment patterns – these changes have demanded campuses adapt, often in creative ways. Examples of innovations abound, some of which are highlighted in this report. The campus teams participating in Powered by Publics continued to maintain their focus on retention and completion even while navigating the ups and downs of their daily workloads.

This report seeks to document the progress of Powered by Publics at its halfway point. It contains the results of two years of data collected by APLU directly from institutions. Most importantly, this report seeks to document the significant, but often less tangible, examples of progress and innovation occurring within the clusters. The work of transforming a complex system is never straightforward, and APLU hopes that these examples will illuminate our successes and opportunities as well as ongoing challenges.

Here, we'll collect posts about the different ways you can use the PxP Learning Exchange to share your experience and knowledge and learn from your colleagues.

• PxP Learning Exchange Community Guidelines
• Explore and Engage on the Learning Exchange
• Learning Exchange Preview Video (from PxP Annual Meeting)

To Members of the Powered by Publics Community,

We invite you to submit your CDM data to help us measure progress we have made toward our degree completion and equity goals. When we launched the initiative five years ago, we committed to collecting data through 2025. Our Data Advisory Task Force developed the Core Data Metrics, a low-effort, high-value data collection that tracks 8 key student performance measures, disaggregated by 15 subgroups. We have 4 years of data and will now collect year 5.

This year’s Core Data Metrics collection will be open from March 11 through June 30, 2024. All Powered by Publics member institutions are invited to submit data. To prepare for this year’s collection, we recommend the following steps:

1. Confirm your CDM Main Contact. Prior-year contacts will still have access to the portal. If you need to add a new contact, please complete this form.
2. One-on-one support calls may be scheduled with our team upon request at CDM@aplu.org.
3. Submit your institution’s data (16 files) before June 30, 2024. If you need additional time for this submission, please send a request to CDM@aplu.org.

The information you need for the submission can be found at our website: http://www.aplu.org/cdm. The site includes detailed guidance for data submission, a data dictionary, the template for the Annual Metrics file, an FAQ document, and access to the data portal.

Note that there are 16 total files to submit. All institutions are expected to process student cohort data through the National Student Clearinghouse and submit the institutional cohort query reports (NSC-generated) to the portal along with the annual metrics (APLU-provided) template which contains enrollment, retention, and degree data.

For those institutions that participate in the Student Achievement Measure (SAM), this process is integrated with SAM so that data submitted to CDM will automatically flow into SAM. The datasets will also be accessible to Powered by Publics members through our VSA Analytics platform to allow for custom visualization and benchmarking. Institutions that are actively participating in the Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) may grant access to APLU to use those data to populate the CDM collection. Please reach out to us at CDM@aplu.org if your institution is a PDP participant and would like to consider using the PDP data for the CDM submission.

If you have questions or feedback, please feel free to reach out to us at cdm@aplu.org.

Introduction

In July 2023, New Mexico State University (NMSU) embarked on a transformative journey through the "Building an Academic Data Culture to Support Student Success" pilot program offered by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). This professional development program aimed to empower faculty, staff, and administrators to enhance student outcomes and build a robust academic data culture within their institution. The expected learning outcomes included improving academic data literacy, assessing institutional data culture, developing action plans for equitable student success, and instilling a continuous improvement mindset.

The Program

@Patrick Turner-NMSU, Associate Vice President for Student Academic Success and the NMSU lead, recognized the importance of bridging the gap between student success professionals and data professionals within a university. NMSU had experienced significant leadership turnover, which motivated Dr. Turner to foster collaboration and unity among various stakeholders. NMSU was actively involved in multiple projects through the APLU Intermediaries for Scale (IFS) initiative, which focused on gateway courses. Their intention was to engage multiple stakeholders in using data in improving success rates.

The data project selected by the NMSU team explored DFW rates for gateway courses. Through data analysis, the team learned that most students who failed these courses were also performing poorly on their mid-term grades. Armed with this information, the team identified two actions. First, they would examine student engagement data during the early weeks of class. Second, they would ask students what challenges they faced in completing the course. Based on the results, the team would identify interventions designed to improve student outcomes.

Feedback and Suggestions for Improvement

Feedback on the program's impact revealed Dr. Turner’s deliberate efforts to break down silos and build connections within the university. However, challenges remained in accessing data. As part of the program, almost 60 individuals within the NMSU community completed the Data Maturity Index (DMI).  The DMI is an assessment designed by the Powered by Public’s Data Integration cluster to assess strengths and weaknesses in the data culture on campus. The purpose of the assessment is to inform campus leaders where to focus efforts to maximize change in the data culture. The results were particularly helpful, guiding NMSU toward increasing data access and training. Dr. Turner emphasized the importance of encouraging everyone to engage with data, even if immediate actions were not taken. He acknowledged the value of the course and having a data coach who sought ways to optimize its impact.

Dr. Turner offered valuable suggestions to enhance the program's effectiveness, including inviting different speakers to increase engagement, promoting more interactive conversations, accommodating varying levels of expertise, and addressing issues related to participation and collaboration. He also highlighted the importance of offering supplementary materials for digital learning.

Conclusion

New Mexico State University's participation in the "Building an Academic Data Culture to Support Student Success" pilot program was marked by collaboration, introspection, and a commitment to fostering an equitable data culture. Dr. Turner and the NMSU team recognized the importance of data-driven decision-making, and their experiences in the program have paved the way for a more inclusive and data-savvy academic community. The program's impact at NMSU was instrumental in exploring existing data and shedding light on previously unknown aspects of data culture. The journey continues, as NMSU and APLU work together to shape a brighter future for their students through the power of data and collaboration.

On May 15, APLU hosted the second virtual Data Literacy Institute (DLI) convening. This event was co-sponsored by APLU and the Association for Institutional Research, with generous support from Ascendium Education Group. At this event, teams from four institutions in the second cohort shared the results of their capstone projects, in which they used data to explore solutions to a critical student success problem on campus. Presenters included the University of Maine, Bowling Green State University, Illinois State University, and Miami University of Ohio.

During the second half of the convening, five teams from the first cohort – Kent State University, Montclair State University, Oakland University, Wright State University, and the University of Minnesota Duluth shared how they are developing a data literacy program on their campuses to continue the work they started in the DLI.

Click here to view the video of the convening:

Bowling Green State University Slides: Bowling Green State University — Data Literacy Institute 2023 Convening Presentation | Powered by Publics Learning Exchange (crowdstack.io)

University of Maine Slides: University of Maine — Data Literacy Institute 2023 Convening Presentation | Powered by Publics Learning Exchange (crowdstack.io)

Miami University of Ohio Slides: Miami University (Ohio) — Data Literacy Institute 2023 Convening Presentation | Powered by Publics Learning Exchange (crowdstack.io)

Oakland University Slides : Oakland University — Data Literacy Institute 2023 Convening Presentation | Powered by Publics Learning Exchange (crowdstack.io)

University of Minnesota Duluth Slides: University of Minnesota Duluth — Data Literacy Institute 2023 Convening Presentation | Powered by Publics Learning Exchange (crowdstack.io)

Wright State University Slides: Wright State University — Data Literacy Institute 2023 Convening Presentation | Powered by Publics Learning Exchange (crowdstack.io)

A colleague recently shared an insightful article by Patrick Methvin, Director of Postsecondary Success at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, discussing key lessons learned regarding institutional transformation in higher education. These lessons emphasize the importance of a unifying framework for change, centering on race and income, aligned multi-level leadership, and a learning mindset. These themes align with our internal discussions about the crucial elements necessary for transformative change in higher education.

In our work with the Intermediaries for Scale (IFS) initiative and in Powered by Publics, we aim to help institutions create cross-functional collaborations that change culture, structures, and shared ownership of equitable student success. The article resonates with our focus, as it emphasizes realigning institutional structures, culture, and business models to create a student-centered, inclusive learning environment.

Methvin's working definition of institutional transformation highlights the significance of leveraging strategic data use, catalytic leadership, and continuous improvement to achieve dramatic, equitable outcomes and educational value. These insights reinforce the notion that the challenges we face in higher education transformation are shared across the field, providing valuable guidance on effectively addressing these challenges.

We encourage all higher education professionals, policymakers, and institutional leaders to explore this article and consider how to apply these strategies to their institutions or initiatives. By learning from one another, we can collectively drive transformative change in higher education and achieve more equitable student outcomes.

Direct link to the article: https://usprogram.gatesfoundat...s/10-lessons-learned