This report by Paul Woodgates explores change initiatives in higher education institutions, considering why they are needed and why they are difficult to deliver. He outlines how universities should carefully design change projects to maximise impact and likelihood of success.

While community colleges excel at expanding postsecondary enrollments, these institutions often struggle to help students succeed. A chorus of school leaders and policymakers increasingly agree that broad-based, comprehensive organizational change is needed to drastically improve community college student success and equity. The Guided Pathways…

National college completion rates for men of color at open- and broad-access postsecondary institutions (including community colleges) lag behind completion rates for White students and for female students of any race or ethnicity. Research points to several broad factors to explain these unequal outcomes, including precollege environments that do…

There is a constant interplay between the "people" ("agency") and the "parts" ("structure" and "culture"), not only in teaching and learning, but also in postgraduate supervision practices globally. However, in South Africa, the tendency to use "structure" (higher education architecture,…

College Promise programs aim to make students believe they can afford college, and to give them the opportunity to go to college and earn degrees without taking on significant debt. At the core of all College Promise programs is a scholarship: All eligible College Promise students receive scholarships that may cover up to 100 percent of tuition…

Colleges and universities have a commitment to improve the student experience, increase persistence, and provide paths to degree completion. Course redesign, focused on student success, is a promising strategy for realizing that commitment. This article examines some of the particulars when course redesign is explicitly linked to student success.…

Public school systems employ a range of professionals to provide support to children and youth in schools. For students living in poverty and experiencing trauma, the work of these professionals is particularly necessary and urgent. Ranging from the treatment of acute mental health issues and accommodations for students with special needs, to…

Two lines of research have emerged to study the causes and prevention of student failure in virtual (K-12) schools: studies of learner characteristics and studies of learning environment characteristics. To develop a useful model for predicting failure and promoting success in virtual school environments, a study was designed to measure the…

Inschool suspension programs often fail due to lack of planning, inadequate financial support, insufficient monitoring procedures, inconsistent counseling and followup, and a poorly developed evaluation design. This article outlines 12 essential program elements and offers program design recommendations. (MLH)

Discusses the following administrative factors that determine the success or failure of nontraditional programs: (1) the organization of the program, such as whether or not it is designated as a special division; (2) amount of resources available for its use; and (3) whether or not it has an advisory board. (JS)

Using the concept of organizational effectiveness to aid in the development of a statewide policy for educational information centers (EICs), a project described and analyzed selected organizational features of 28 Pennsylvania Educational Information Centers. Six organizational attributes, dealing with structure, policy, and process (legitimacy,…

Focusing on examination of the current status of small high schools, identification of the elements of successful programs, and formulation of a general program design, the report of the first year of the Small High Schools Project for Rural Alaska presents over 100 recommendations to help small high schools develop into effective institutions.…

This document contains information about the methodology and findings of a study that identified 20 programs across the United States that have been successful in raising student's academic achievement. Part 1 contains the following items: (1) an explanation of the process and criteria used to select the 20 examples of excellence drawn from the 96…