Access to Success

The Access to Success Initiative (A2S), a project of the National Association of System Heads and The Education Trust, works with 24 public higher education systems that have pledged to cut the college-going and graduation gaps for low-income and minority students in half by 2015.

     Each Access to Success participating system sets its own improvement targets and agrees to a common set of metrics to evaluate progress. The baseline report for the initiative and reports for each system appear in the grid below. Much of the information in the baseline reports, including the graduation rates of low-income and nontraditional students, has not previously been publicly available.

     A2S systems are drafting their own plans to cut achievement gaps and increase degree production through strategies attuned to the needs of their campuses and students. They have pledged to release progress reports every two years.

     A2S systems are joining forces with NASH and The Education Trust to pursue eight lines of work to (1) build system capacity to lead change and (2) engage and mobilize campuses around critical issues. The systems-change work focuses on assessing and building capacity, managing and leveraging costs and resources, and using “leading indicator” data to track progress toward A2S goals. The campus-change work focuses on such issues as using enrollment management to increase campus diversity, redesigning developmental math courses, and improving degree completion.

     For details about Access to Success, contact Margarita Benitez.