We combine administrative data from a regional public university with a novel revealed-preference indicator of student friendships to show that socially connected first-year university students are more likely to be retained into their second year. The impact of friends on retention is statistically and economically significant: each friend raises…

In this article, the author reflects upon the changes assessment professionals have faced because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Against the background of stressed faculty and staff and falling student enrollment, lower retention, and graduation rates, assessment professional must consider how to talk about the "quality" of student learning…

This article describes the Catch the Next Ascender model, developed under the aegis of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board as a corrective to increase persistence and completion rates among the Texas Latinx college population.

Online higher education has been a success in part because it is less costly to students and governments than conventional education, so both students and governments receive higher returns on their investment than in conventional higher education. However, many online institutions appear to have considerably lower graduation rates than…

An account of a persistently failing New York City high school's rapid transformation. Urban Assembly School for Green Careers had a 39% graduation rate in 2013 and ranked in the bottom 1% of high schools citywide. As a transformation strategy, the school employed an innovative educational design known as Learning Cultures, which distributes…

What do students learn in school? In the 21 century, this question has become a political dilemma for countries around the globe. It is a deceptively simple question, but there has never been an easy answer. The problem of measuring student learning appears to express an educational problem: What and how much do students learn? Most student…

The persistence of postgraduate research students is an ongoing challenge for many university programs. The author describes several curriculum innovations that were implemented based on the recommendations in the literature for improving student persistence and self-efficacy for conducting research and the results of a qualitative needs…

Guided pathways, a program that aims to improve college completion and student success through remodeling of the student journey, supports learners in choosing a program of study, ideally resulting in transfer to a four-year school or the start of a lucrative career with a two-year degree. Colleges that employ a guided pathways model are seeing…

This article highlights the College Level Examination Program -- or CLEP -- from the College Board, as another pathway for students to earn college credits toward degree completion. The renewal of interest in alternative pathways to degree attainment has come about in response to yet another round of national studies reporting declining rates of…

Many community college students majoring in education plan to transfer to four-year institutions, but they are hampered when course credits do not transfer. This disproportionately impacts low-income students, contributing to low graduation rates. A New York State community college professor and a four-year college professor collaborated to…

The Student Success Center Network (SSCN) is dedicated to advancing racial justice and economic mobility by dramatically and equitably increasing the number of students earning postsecondary credentials with labor market value. Managed by Jobs for the Future, the SSCN has worked since 2012 to develop, implement, and scale student success…

Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degrees are designed to prepare individuals for career opportunities, but they are increasingly prevalent among students transferring to universities. Still, transfer experiences for AAS holders are fraught with barriers such as credit loss and credit applicability toward baccalaureate degrees. Using statewide…

Charter high schools largely serving low-income, first-generation, Black and Hispanic students have long boasted of the comparatively high proportions of their students who graduate and go to college. But as these schools and their alumni grow older, charters also are looking at their rates of degree attainment, which remain lower than they'd…

This practice report details a large, four-year, public, research 1 (very high research activity), Hispanic Serving Institution's (HSI) approach to tackling barriers to timely graduation through the implementation of a virtual support center, the Graduation Help Desk (GHD). The GHD, established in late 2017, operates at the level of the provost's…

Florida State University (FSU) has a long-standing commitment to promoting success for all students. FSU's strategies for student success and equity have resulted in increased and more equitable graduation rates and record fall-to-fall retention rates. This article provides an inventory of student success and equity initiatives at FSU. The…