Network research helps develop shared language and knowledge on key topics.
Network Research
Implementing Systemwide Changes in the CSU
April 2023
This study suggests that the capacity and creativity for achieving equitable change exist within the ranks of the CSU. It also suggests that implementation of new policies instituted by the CSU Chancellor’s Office or campus executive leadership can benefit from having teams of faculty, staff, and administrators participate in the CSU Student Success Network’s year-long Middle Leadership Academy.
CSU Leaders Navigating the Pandemic and Racial Injustice
September 2022
The California State University (CSU) campuses, like many institutions, contended with the magnification of deep-rooted structural and social inequities when the COVID-19 pandemic and racial reckoning of May 2020 converged. These findings highlight that campuses need to address equity with the same level of responsiveness and action-orientation with which they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I Had to Surpass”: Administrative Barriers that First-generation College Students of Color Face
March 2022
We define administrative barriers as nonacademic processes and protocols that students must complete to succeed in the university. We share our findings with specific recommendations and actions to remove administrative barriers that can increase student success, such as providing clearer communication about requirements and deadlines and improving access to financial assistance.
Destination Integration: Perspectives of Students and Advisors about Improving Academic Advising
May 2019
In this second of our two part series exploring advising practices on five CSU campuses, we expand on the previous study by bringing in the voices of advisors and students at these five campuses, and summarizing the perspectives of faculty advisors, professional staff advisors, and students in the context of campus efforts to improve advising. Through this research advisors and students brought to light several areas that may need more attention and targeted improvement efforts as campuses move forward to improve the integration and efficiency of advising.
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Read The Report Here
Read The Report Here
Destination Integration: Strategies to Improve Academic Advising
December 2018
Many campuses across the California State University (CSU) system are seeking to improve academic advising as part of their efforts to increase student progress and graduation rates. In this exploratory study of efforts to improve academic advising at five CSU campuses, researchers at the Education Insights Center (EdInsights) working on behalf of the CSU Student Success Network identified a focus across the participating campuses on better coordinating advising services across colleges, divisions, and departments and improving their integration with other campus units, such as tutoring, career centers, and financial aid. Through their efforts, these campuses seek to better leverage their limited advising resources to improve student outcomes. This report, based on in-depth interviews with 36 administrators involved in improving advising, describes the campuses’ efforts and the context in which they are occurring.
“Get Me from Point A to Point B:” Student Perspectives on Barriers to Timely Graduation at the California State University
February 2018
Nearly all students enter the California State University system intending to graduate “on time,” and graduation rates are increasing systemwide. Currently, less than a quarter of incoming freshmen graduate within four years and a third of community college transfer students graduate in two years. This study investigates the personal and institutional obstacles that students experience as they navigate through college on the pathway to timely graduation.
Student Success Framework: A Tool to Characterize Strategies at Broad-access Universities
August 2017
This framework was developed based on a review of research and national initiatives related to improving student success in broad-access universities, as part of the report titled From Scatterplot to Roadmap: New Efforts to Improve Student Success in The California State University. The framework maps six broad categories of institutional actions along four developmental stages of the student pathway through college. This document, which characterizes common strategies in the form of questions, might be helpful in framing student success planning discussions at campuses.
From Scatterplot to Roadmap: New Efforts to Improve Student Success in the California State University
August 2017
This report aims to provide campus and system leaders with a scan of the current state of reform within the CSU, together with contextual insight into the obstacles and possibilities for broader scale adoption of coordinated, systemic change.