Seamless Transfer Pathways

Posted by Education Design Lab on June 12, 2017

Research shows that 80 percent of students who enroll in one of our nation’s community colleges every year express an intent to complete a bachelor’s degree at a four-year institution. Yet, in the end, only 25 percent make the leap to a four-year school within five years, and only 17 percent complete a four-year degree within 6 years of transferring. This is a national failure. In an economy where the lifetime earnings premium for four-year degree holders is still over $1 million compared to a high school graduate ($500,000 more than an associate degree) and nearly three quarters of new jobs created since 2008 have gone to bachelor’s degree holders, the need to support more students in their attainment goal is more critical than ever.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has funded the Education Design Lab to lead an intensive one-year Design Challenge beginning Fall, 2017. Four pairs of two- and four-year institutions will develop customized sets of tested interventions that can dramatically move the needle on bachelor’s completion for community college students.

Teams from each institution will participate in three national cohort convenings and another three custom on-site design sessions. They will be provided access to subject matter experts, coaches and design specialists to help redesign the students’ journey from the student’s point of view via a structured process for developing transformative, not incremental, solutions. Pilots will launch in Fall, 2018, and results tracked for the next six years.

Deadline: June 30.

http://eddesignlab.org/design-challenges/seamlesstransfer/