by Jason E. Lane
Taking Student Success to Scale (TS3) had its genesis in a recognition that moving the dial on college completion would take more than simply a bunch of scattered efforts across various institutions. Despite a decade of investment of millions of dollars from various funders, copious “networks”, and politically prominent support from the previous White House administration, the percentage of students completing a college degree has barely increased.
A deceptively simple question is, “Why?”
Issues of retention and completion are complex. Scholars have studied the issues for decades. The reasons are multifaceted and continue to evolve as do the students that we serve.
More important, disconnected efforts will not move us quickly toward substantial change. Instead, we should look to an untapped resource to improve completion numbers: higher education systems, which collectively serve about three quarters of all students in public four-year education.
Traditionally, the focus of systems has been on allocating, regulating, and coordinating efforts – not on student success. Our TS3 work turns this paradigm on its head by working with multiple systems to develop collaborative structures across campuses and re-center the student within a broader higher education ecosystem.
Systemness, or the idea that the whole can be more than the sum of its parts, is the fundamental concept that drives our work. Rather than seeing systems as collections of disparate actors, our work coordinates systems, leveraging their power to convene and facilitate, as well as their traditional roles in governing and policy, to build collaborations that support students and campuses. Our work facilitates and aligns instead of trying to mediate potentially competitive actions at the national and system levels.
TS3 began by advancing three evidence-based practices: high impact practices, redesigning math pathways, and predictive analytics. Each of these practices has been proven to positively effect college completion and to close equity gaps. A steering committee of representatives from system and campus leaders guide TS3 work, which includes an annual convening, interactive online learning opportunities, and development of adaptable tools to guide practice. The Systems Center at the University at Albany, State University of New York serves as the backbone for the effort.
Over the past three years, hundreds of participants have engaged in our work, which has been recognized by the Obama administration and supported by funders such as the Lumina Foundation.
Recognizing that there is more learning to be done through sharing among our system colleagues, we have launched this blog as a mechanism to allow system partners to share their work with each other. Some of these efforts align with the traditional pillars of TS3. Others may embark on new areas that can be advanced through similar approaches, such as student transfer.
We invite you to follow along as we learn from each other about how to more effectively advance our systemness and improve college student success.