Delivering Value on College 3.0: A New Website & Tools, New Grant Awardees, and a New Cohort of Aspen Presidents Fellows

An Opening Note

This fall, my colleagues and I have spent a lot of time on the road—learning about the exceptional practices at Aspen Prize finalist colleges; helping to kick off a new transfer initiative at an ATI member university in central New York; speaking to community college leaders in Arizona; and convening presidential fellows in Virginia and Colorado. Each of these was an opportunity to advance the mission of the Aspen College Excellence Program (Aspen): to strengthen higher education leadership and practice to improve student outcomes—with the ultimate goal of advancing economic mobility and developing talent for the good of all people and society as a whole.

There are many projects through which Aspen advances that mission. But often, those engaged in one or two of those projects know little about our other work. So I am delighted to share that we’ve just rolled out a redesigned website, one that offers college leaders and teams—and others engaged in improving student success—a more user-friendly location for Aspen’s assessments, research, and opportunities for engagement.?

Want to know the latest research on transfer and bachelor’s attainment among community college students? Considering an application for one of Aspen’s presidential fellowship programs?? Looking to assess your college’s practices on how to improve dual enrollment or to establish common purpose on your senior team? All that and more are now centrally and easily located on our new website.??

A feature on our website is a brand new benchmarking tool that community colleges can use to assess their performance against peers and other high-performing colleges identified through the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence selection process. Every community college nationally can access the tool free of charge using a dedicated link sent to a user’s community college-affiliated email address. The site also includes a new set of recommended metrics for community colleges to consider when assessing student learning, transfer/bachelor’s attainment, workforce, and other areas of student success.??

This month, we also want to highlight two recent announcements: $5 million in new grants to members of the American Talent Initiative (ATI) to advance access and success for lower-income students, and the selection of a new cohort of community college Presidential Fellows who start their intensive fellowship year this fall. More information on both can be found in this newsletter.?

Finally, for those of you who are working on student success and are interested in becoming a community college president, our application for the next cohort of the Rising Presidents Fellowship will be available on our website on November 4th. This will be the 10th cohort of rising presidents, and that group of fellows will join hundreds of alumni who are helping more students achieve post-graduate success so they and their families can thrive. If you would like to nominate an outstanding candidate for the fellowship, please use this form or contact program staff with any questions.?

We look forward to seeing more of you somewhere this fall—at the California-wide transfer summit, the Belk Center’s Dallas Herring lecture, our Unlocking Opportunity collaborative meeting in Chicago, the Talent Strong Texas Pathways convening, or elsewhere.?We know how hard so many in the field are working to improve student success, and we cannot wait to continue to learn from and support your work.

Best, Joshua Wyner

Vice President, The Aspen Institute and Founder & Executive Director, Aspen Institute College Excellence Program

Redesigned Website and New Resources

For 14 years, Aspen has been researching practices and leadership at excellent colleges—meaning those that achieve high, improving, and equitable levels of student success. That research has been translated into many reports and practice guides, including Playbooks on how to achieve strong student outcomes in dual enrollment, transfer, and workforce education. We have also developed assessment tools for colleges in each of those three areas, plus another nine that reflect field-leading practices in student success and institutional capacities (for example, one on how colleges can strengthen their senior teams).??

All of that and more has been reorganized on a new website at our same internet address: https://highered.aspeninstitute.org/. Our new site includes stories of excellent colleges, information about Aspen’s programs, links to our research, and access to tools that college leaders, faculty, and staff can use to advance higher and more equitable outcomes for students. Users with a particular area of interest can explore Aspen’s research and tools in seven focus areas: workforce, transfer, completion, teaching and learning, equitable outcomes, access, and leadership.

Community College Benchmarking Tool and List of Recommended Indicators

Over those same 14 years, Aspen has received hundreds of requests from community colleges wanting to assess their student outcomes against those of Aspen Prize winners and finalists. To facilitate greater use of the Aspen Prize data, we have developed a new benchmarking tool. Now, community colleges across the country can sign up to receive a unique link that will allow them to privately assess their performance against Aspen Prize-eligible institutions (as well as peer colleges with similar characteristics) on metrics including completion rates, completers per 100 full-time equivalent students, and first-to-second-year retention. Colleges that have applied for the Aspen Prize will also be able to see how the data they submitted compares with others’ data in additional areas of student success, including transfer, bachelor's attainment, and completion of math and English courses in the first year. If you have any questions about accessing the tools, please contact Ben Barrett .

However, the benchmarking tool has limitations due to constraints of the available national data on student success at different community colleges (failing to capture, for example, workforce outcomes or evidence of student learning). For this reason, we have posted a set of recommendations on the metrics community colleges should consider when assessing student outcomes across multiple domains: access, completion, equitable outcomes, student learning, transfer/bachelor’s attainment, and workforce. Learn more here.

Many thanks to Ascendium's Education Philanthropy , The Kresge Foundation , The Joyce Foundation , and 摩根大通 , without whom this benchmarking tool could not have been created.

Sixteen Funded ATI Projects

The 140 four-year colleges and universities that are members of the American Talent Initiative (ATI)—all with a graduation rate of at least 70 percent—have increased the enrollment of students with Pell Grants by 18,100 since ATI’s founding in 2015. To support continued progress, ATI is awarding $5 million in grants across 16 ATI-member institutions. These 16 colleges and universities will implement projects designed to strengthen transfer pathways from community colleges, enhance dual enrollment/credit programs, and expand targeted early outreach to and admissions for lower-income students.

While developing these proposals, ATI members participated in six-month-long communities of practice that connected members with research, data, and evidence-based practices to inform and enhance their projects. Learn more about each project here. ATI is a joint effort with the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program , Ithaka S+R , and Bloomberg Philanthropies .

Announcing the 2024-2025 Aspen Presidents Fellows

Aspen has selected 25 community college presidents from across the country to participate in the second cohort of the Aspen Presidents Fellowship, sponsored by 摩根大通 . The new cohort will engage in a unique year-long professional development experience designed to support the refinement and implementation of their colleges’ student success reform agenda. The diverse fellows—52 percent are women and 44 percent are people of color—will join a network of 439 fellows who have engaged in Aspen’s intensive year-long fellowships on how to achieve excellent and equitable levels of student success. Today, 201 of Aspen’s 439 fellows and alumni are community college presidents. Aspen connects and supports this growing network of community college reform leaders with opportunities for targeted professional development, research briefings, and convenings at national conferences. Meet the 2024-25 class.?

Stay Connected with the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program

Visit our website for more information about Aspen’s higher education projects, research, and fellowship applications. Follow us on social media for more news and updates. And if you found this newsletter of value, please share with your channels–you can also subscribe here to receive the newsletter directly to your email inbox.

Have questions? Reach out to Tatiana Johnson , Communications Associate, [email protected].