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. Several researchers and scholars have found that the reasons for not moving the needle on completion are multifaceted and continuously evolving along with the students that we serve.
TS3 is a degree completion initiative led by a collaborative of higher education systems and campuses who are members of the National Association of System Heads (NASH). NASH is the association of the chief executives of 40 colleges and university systems of public higher education in the United States. By aligning student success efforts across systems and the campuses that compose them with a series of evidence-based practices, NASH hopes to create economies of scale and scope that lead to demonstrable gains in completions.
TS3 is based on the principles of collective impact and improvement science, and leverages student success interventions that are proven to promote student success, particularly for students of color, low-income and non-traditional students. By aligning student success efforts across systems and the campuses that compose them with a series of evidence-based practices, NASH hopes to create economies of scale and scope that lead to demonstrable gains in completions.
Since 2014, a vibrant network of 22 systems of public higher education, representing over 300 campuses, has made significant strides in improving student completion rates and closing equity gaps for 3 million students nationwide.
TS3 initiative uses improvement science and a collective impact approach as it convenes and provides support for systems and over 300 campuses, taking advantage of the reach of the network to scale and measure three sets of interventions:
- High Impact Practices
- Math Pathways
- Predictive Analytics
History
Taking Student Success to Scale (TS3) was created in 2014 under the leadership of then NASH Board Chair and SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. The initial idea was to identify a single evidence-based student success strategy that could be implemented across the NASH network. Three potential strategies were initially presented to the members of the NASH board – but the Board found each of them substantiated with a solid evidence base and useful for their campuses. Therefore, instead of picking one strategy, the Board decided to select all three and allow systems to adopt one or more of the strategies in a holistic approach to student success.
The original plan was to create a network of systems that would learn together and support each other in the implementation of their adopted strategies. Twenty-three systems initially agreed to self-fund the network and its activities. A Steering Committee comprising of representatives of engaged and committed systems was developed to guide the development of TS3. This Steering Committee included members from the California State University, State University of New York, Tennessee Board of Regents, University of Maryland System, University System of Georgia and was later expanded to include representatives from the University of Colorado, University of Wisconsin, Utah System of Higher Education, and the University of Texas.
The TS3 Network meets annually, bringing together approximately 150 faculty and staff from campuses and systems, gathered to learn and share. Systems are encouraged to send teams of individuals who can work together to develop and advance their implementation strategies. These two-day meetings, organized by the steering committee, create an intense learning environment that allows participants to learn new strategies for implementing the interventions, all couched within a context of systemeness, collective impact, and improvement science. The network first met in Dallas, and subsequently in Denver, Baltimore, and Minneapolis.
In 2016, the NASH Systems Leadership Academy was launched as a supplemental offering for systems to work through more specific implementation plans. This program has been designed to bring together teams of campus and system leaders to address a specific issue related to student success, not necessarily in alignment with the three TS3 interventions. The teams gather for two-days in Washington DC during January to develop an implementation plan and set goals. Teams then reconvene just before the annual TS3 meeting to provide updates on their progress and map out a strategy for the year ahead.
The network has received funding from Lumina Foundation to support its work in the area of High Impact Practices (HIPs). It has also been recognized by President Obama as an example of how the United States can scale evidence-based practices to increase college completion.