Postsecondary Success Notes | Announcing our intermediaries for scale

Colleagues,

Happy New Year! I hope your 2020 is off to a good start.

We started the new year with some news – the announcement of our Intermediaries for Scale. These 13 organizations will dig into the hard but essential work of dramatically expanding the number of colleges and universities transforming themselves to become more student-centered.

For me, this work reflects the growth and evolution of the higher education transformation movement. A decade ago, we responded to bold attainment goals by launching initiatives like Completion by Design. And while the nation has not quite achieved those ambitious goals, institutions like Lorain County Community College are well on their way to meeting their student success targets because they met their initial benchmarks three years ahead of schedule.

It’s also a test of just how far the appetite and capacity for change extends. Yes, a growing number of colleges and universities are using the language of transformation. But according to a recent survey from the American Council on Education, only about one in 10 college presidents surveyed said they are very confident in their institution’s ability to adapt to key trends like changes in student demographics.

Will 2020 be a year for evolution or revolution for higher education? Our work suggests that the answer may be “both.”

Regards,
Patrick Methvin

Featured Stories

  • Intermediaries for Scale

    12 organizations will join Jobs for the Future as Intermediaries for Scale. Over the next two years, these organizations will build their capacity to support colleges and universities committed to transforming themselves to dramatically improve student outcomes. 

  • About A Quarter of U.S. Adults Think Higher Ed is Affordable

    A majority of American adults think postsecondary education is available to anyone who needs it, but only 1 in 4 think it’s affordable, according to a new poll by Gallup. These numbers have stayed stable since the last poll in 2015.

  • New Data on Higher Education Funding

    A recent survey shows a five percent increase nationwide in funding for higher education, to $96.6 billion — the highest annual increase since the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Only Alaska, Hawaii, and New York reported decreases.

  • What We’re Learning

    What does an institution’s transformation story look like from the inside? Our new series of case studies starts with a trip to Lorain County Community College in Ohio.

What Were Reading

Cathy N. Davidson’s book The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux is a must-read for anyone looking to understand how higher education in the U.S. came to be and how innovators should be seeking to change it.