WHAT WE DO
Collaborative Initiatives
While there are many highlights of improvement and success from campus initiatives, our most meaningful metric of success is 100% engagement from public colleges and universities in Kentucky with the Student Success Collaborative.
Student Success Framework
Connect the Path
Chart the Path
Continue the Path
Complete the Path
Connect the Path
Strengthen partnerships with high schools, employers, and other colleges to enhance enrollment pathways
- Increase access to early postsecondary opportunities to help students strengthen academic preparation, improve confidence and worthiness, and save time and money.
- Strengthen individual and system transfer partnerships between two-year and four-year institutions to clarify pathway requirements, smooth institutional transitions, and increase affordability.
- Develop employer partnerships to increase enrollment pipelines for adult learners to provide opportunities for career mobility and align academic programs with industry needs.
Chart the Path
Create clear academic pathways with strong early onboarding and career exploration and planning
- Embed career exploration and planning within early onboarding and academic decision-making to improve degree efficiency and academic relevance to career goals.
- Provide strong academic supports for students to increase success in college-level mathematics and English courses and develop proactive study skills and a learning mindset.
- Build community, connection, and belonging among students to increase campus engagement and expand each student’s social support network.
Continue the Path
Provide wraparound services to ensure students stay on track and receive support when barriers arise
- Develop a proactive advising process to ensure students follow accurate and efficient academic plans and to provide timely outreach and support when students go off track.
- Develop a basic needs ecosystem of services and resources to increase a student’s social support network and reduce/remove nonacademic barriers that can derail academic goals.
- Integrate high impact experiences and work-based learning into the curricular and co-curricular plans for all students to improve career readiness and satisfaction.
Complete the Path
Evaluate learning outcomes and essential skills of every graduate and enhance career transition support
- Map essential skills for success in employment and further education across all programs to ensure every graduate has the skills to be successful in their chosen career.
- Ensure incorporation of effective teaching practice throughout all programs and courses to strengthen academic engagement and success.
- Provide effective career transition support for students as they approach graduation and beyond to increase employment outcomes and earnings for graduates.
Projects Launched Since October 2021
Summer Bridge – Community of Practice
22 Campuses Engaged
Campuses received grants to strengthen summer bridge programming for thousands of students and meet regularly to discuss best practices, challenges, and lessons learned.
National Association of System Heads (NASH) – Transfer Improvement Community
2 Campuses Engaged
A community college is partnering with a neighboring university to strengthen their partnership and participate in rapid improvement cycles to enhance communication and streamline processes for transfer students.
Transfer Strategy Convening
16 Campuses Engaged
KYSSC, working with Sova, facilitated a discussion of priorities, best practices, and persistent challenges for student transfer to inform statewide transfer strategy development and implementation.
Complete College America (CCA)– Purpose First Initiative
9 Campuses Engaged
KYSSC partnered with CCA to provide technical assistance related to the first-year experience with embedded career exploration to ensure strong academic fit and career planning.
Jobs for the Future (JFF) – Network Demonstration Project
9 Campuses Engaged
KYSSC partnered with JFF to provide technical assistance on 1) guided pathways early onboarding to strengthen orientation and advising within participating community colleges and 2) information technology audit to better leverage student success platforms at participating universities.
College Algebra Success Project – Community of Practice
8 Campuses Engaged
Community college math faculty leverage Pearson Math Lab data analytics to provide proactive outreach for academic and nonacademic supports.
Co-requisite Education – Community of Practice
21 Campuses Engaged
Campus leads discuss success strategies, persistent challenges, and identify opportunities for collaboration and continuous improvement.
Student Basic Needs – Community of Practice
6 Campuses Engaged
KYSSC partnered with CCA to offer five webinars with national leaders focused on student basic needs. Following the professional development, campus teams created action plans for improving student basic needs services and implemented change over a 90-day continuous improvement cycle.
Lumina Equity Audit – Student Basic Needs
9 Campuses Engaged
KYSSC is working with faculty researchers to conduct asset mapping of basic needs resources, interview program administrators, and lead focus groups with students to identify opportunities to strengthen basic needs services. KYSSC will convene a statewide Basic Needs Action Network to develop a state strategy for student basic needs security.
Average Percentage of Projects Launched Since October 2021
- Summer Bridge – Community of Practice - 24 %
- National Association of System Heads (NASH) – Transfer Improvement Community - 3 %
- Transfer Strategy Convening - 17 %
- Complete College America (CCA)– Purpose First Initiative - 10 %
- Jobs for the Future (JFF) – Network Demonstration Project - 10 %
- College Algebra Success Project – Community of Practice - 9 %
- Co-requisite Education – Community of Practice - 15 %
- Student Basic Needs – Community of Practice - 7 %
- Lumina Equity Audit – Student Basic Needs - 10 %
Common Priorities in Student Success
In pursuit of our mission to build capacity of higher education partners and accelerate progress on student success, the Collaborative will use the following model for change:
• Frequent campus engagement through campus visits and quarterly virtual meetings helps identify common priorities and challenges for collaborative action.
• The Scale of Adoption Assessment (SOAA) is a self-reflection tool used to benchmark campus policies and processes against best practices in guided pathways implementation. It is recommended for campus teams to complete the SOAA every 18 to 24 months. Feedback from the SOAA will also help the Collaborative identify in demand professional development and technical assistance offerings.
• The annual CPE Student Success Summit brings together state and national thought partners to collaborate and innovate around the most pressing student success issues. The Collaborative will leverage the convenings to share best practice and provide technical assistance leading to continuous improvement action plans in both the fall and spring.
• Following the student success convenings, coaches trained in change management will convene and facilitate communities of practice to support campus teams in the implementation of their action plans. Coaches will be Kentucky experts dedicated to supporting the improvement communities of practice.
Check out the events calendar for upcoming meetings and events.