In This Issue:
- Letter from the Editors: New Year, New Transformations
- Webinar: Understanding Your Frontier Set KPI Reports
- Virtual Table Talk: It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Sustaining Momentum & Commitment for Change
- Reminders & News: 2019 Annual Convening, Fall 2018 Working Groups, Annual Report, and Degree Option in Georgia
Letter from the Editors
As we hurtle into a new academic year, the Frontier Set is forging ahead with transformational initiatives to make college success within the grasp of all students, regardless of their privilege or background. Check out Troy Markowitz’s “The Barriers To Success And Upward Mobility For First Generation Students And How To Fix The Problem” from Forbes (8/8/17) for a sobering run-down of the multiple factors weighing against first generation students in what he classifies as ‘The Opportunity Gap . . . The Awareness Gap . . . and The Achievement Gap.’
This month, as we all strive to close those gaps, our webinar will orient Frontier Set participants to the newly improved (per your requests) KPI reports. We’re also offering a Table Talk on Sustaining Momentum & Commitment for Change. You can also register for a series of working conversations on Student Success Technologies. All events are designed to provide a reboot for change-makers on your campus; students aren’t the only ones who need robust tools and timely support to propel them to success!
Take a moment to tune in to the first-time students on campus, especially at this time of year Statistics are clear: too many of our struggling and suffering students will fall by the wayside, usually with crippling debt. It brings to mind a young child at the beach, frantically tossing washed-up starfish back into the ocean, whose older sibling teases that all of the starfish can never be saved. The child retorts “It makes a difference to this one,” while gently throwing a starfish back.
Your work makes a difference, individually and collectively. We’re eager to support you.
Wishing you well,
Victoria, Gila, Lisa, and KD
frontierset@venturewell.org
Webinar
Understanding Your Frontier Set KPI Reports
Date for 4-Year Institutions: Wednesday, September 19 at 2:00pm ET
Date for 2-Year Institutions: Tuesday, October 2 at 2:00pm ET
Presenters: Kelle Parsons, AIR; a representative from National Student Clearinghouse (NSC); and Frontier Set Intermediaries
Target Audience: This webinar is NOT intended solely for Institutional Research people or those who submit data for the KPI report! Rather, we will be orienting administration, faculty, and staff leaders to the newly revised KPI reports that will be distributed this month (the week of September 10 for 4-year institutions and the week of September 24 for 2-year institutions) and thereafter. KPIs – especially disaggregated by key subgroups – are like a flashlight; you can use them to shed light on areas of student pathways or student populations that may need more attention, identify the best ways to approach a problem or further improve, and track progress as you implement changes. Anyone who leads portions of their institution’s continuous improvement or strategic planning processes and uses Frontier Set data should consider attending.
Description: This webinar will be an opportunity to understand the new Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reports from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) and how Frontier Set members can review their individualized report, understand the rich information available, and use it to support and inform their initiatives on campus. The new NSC report format includes even more information as requested by you and your peers. Disaggregation by key subgroups (like Pell students and by race/ethnicity) on critical first year indicators (as well as retention, graduation rates, and credentials awarded) is now a prominent aspect of the reports.
The webinar is designed to be interactive, providing perspective not just from Frontier Set data collection/analysis partners (AIR and NSC), but from Intermediaries, as well. Watch for your institution’s KPI report, which should reach your campus this month, and join us for a tour of its features. You have access to this robust tool . . . learn how to make it work for you!
4-Year Institutions: Register Here
2-Year Institutions: Register Here
Virtual Table Talks
It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Sustaining Momentum & Commitment for Change
Date: Wednesday, September 26 at 1:00pm ET
Target Audience: Frontier Set administrators and faculty and staff who want to improve individual and team efficacy for the sustained work of change-making
Description: Planning for change often channels enough energy and expectancy to keep teams engaged but in the implementation phase, it can be easy to lose momentum. As Frontier Set teams head into a new academic year, you’ve likely assessed what worked, identified what needs to get done, and have considered what resources you need in order to get it done. Do you have the right people at the table? Have you set up succession planning? You’re probably measuring quantitative student outcomes – are you also looking at institutional capacity outcomes, and team efficacy?
Susan Mayer, from Achieving the Dream, led a Table Talk at the 2018 Annual Convening (Leadership: Vision & Change Management), and she will extend the conversation in this virtual Table Talk, where we will hone in on strategies to keep teams on-track and energized over the long haul. Susan previously held a position at Miami-Dade College (Senior Partner and Leadership Coach for Miami Dade College’s Student Achievement Initiatives) and brings extensive experience in institutional transformation.
Bring your questions, ideas, and experiences to share: what’s working? What isn’t? And how can we solve to do it better?
Register here
Reminders & News
Frontier Set Annual Convening 2019
Save the date! Be sure to hold March 3-5, 2019 on your calendars for the next Frontier Set Annual Convening. Next year’s all-site gathering will be held at the J.W. Marriott Houston. It will begin with a welcome reception in the evening on Sunday, March 3, 2019 and will continue with engaging sessions and networking opportunities through the evening of Tuesday, March 5, 2019. You will receive more information about programming, travel, and logistics later this year. We look forward to seeing you there!
Student Success Technologies 2.0
Back by popular demand, Sarah Zauner of The Ada Center will bring another round of virtual working groups on student success technologies to the Frontier Set network during the Fall 2018 semester. Sarah will facilitate conversations on a variety of topics – from Early Alert Tools to Student Mobile Apps – that will be open to everyone in the Frontier Set.
- Technology Map Sharing and Troubleshooting
- LMS – Promising Policies and Practices
- Change Management for Software Implementations
- Early Alert Tools – How Are They Working and Not Working for You
- The Effective and Ethical Use of Predictive Analytics
- Student Mobile Apps for Navigating College
You can find working group descriptions and registration information here. Registration will be limited to the first 15 people who sign up, so be sure to register quickly to ensure your place in these exciting conversations!
Communication Audit Groups
Participating sites just completed their cohort calls with Laurie Fladd and Achieving the Dream; on to the next phase of work! Instructions and resources for members are available on the Platform.
Frontier Set Annual Report – Coming Soon
Working Together for Equitable Student Outcomes, the state of the Frontier Set annual report, will be published shortly. We will be providing sites with a toolkit to help you make use of the report – both internally and externally – to highlight your work.
New Degree Option in Georgia
The Georgia Board of Regents has approved a new college credential, a 60 credit-hour “nexus degree”, comprised of 42 hours of general ed and 18 hours of coursework focused on knowledge required for high-demand industries. The 18 hours must include six hours of experiential learning and at least 12 hours of upper division coursework. The curriculum was developed in collaboration with industry and degrees are designed to create stackable credentials as part of a bachelor’s degree. Learn more here, and on the Frontier Set Platform.
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