The Colorado State University System has been awarded a U.S. Department of Education grant for nearly $8 million to coordinate and enhance student success efforts across the System and its three campuses.
The multi-year initiative will centralize the collection and analysis of student data while creating a systemwide advising network and expanding use of a powerful learning platform, developed at CSU in Fort Collins, to CSU Pueblo and CSU Global.
“This grant is significant on many levels,” said Tony Frank, chancellor of the CSU System. “Yes, it will give us new tools and resources to customize support for our students so they can succeed in their courses and achieve their academic goals. At the same time, it builds on our strength as a system that offers three distinct educational options to meet the needs of students with different backgrounds, experiences, and aspirations. I offer my personal congratulations to everyone who worked to make this grant a reality.”
The grant to the CSU System – $7,844,905 over four years – is one of 10 awarded in December through the Department of Education’s Postsecondary Student Success Grant (PSSG) program, which aims to increase postsecondary completion rates for underserved students.
One focus area for the Systemwide Collaborative for Advancing Learning and Equity with Data (SCALED-CSU) initiative involves replacing the separate data systems now in place on each campus with a single system designed to offer insights into the interventions, techniques, and strategies that are most effective in supporting students and increasing degree completion.
“A new centralized data system will be instrumental in bringing a new level of transparency to our system-wide student success efforts and in further advancing our goals related to access and degree attainment,” said Roze Hentschell, chief academic officer for the CSU System. “The advising network will build on current effective undergraduate advising practices unique to each of our campuses, and it will advance that work as we share best practices, develop new approaches, and eliminate barriers for students for greater collective impact.”
Beyond creating new opportunities for coordination and collaboration involving the three campuses, the new initiative aims to significantly expand use of U-Behavior, an evidence-based learning tool that uses predictive analytics to coach students in developing effective study habits. The method, developed at CSU’s Center for the Analytics of Learning and Teaching, has been credited with boosting student performance roughly a full letter grade in an introductory microbiology course.
The initiative aims to steadily increase the number of courses across the System using the technology, with a focus on targeting courses that are critical for students to advance in their chosen fields of study.
The grant builds on investments made by the Board of Governors to support student success initiatives across the System. The new initiative reflects these efforts and the partnership involving the three campuses.
Donna Souder Hodge, vice president of operations and advancement at CSU Pueblo, said the true impact of the grant begins with the system-wide coordination that will take place around data analytics, advising, and student support.
“This initiative really is about drawing on strengths across the CSU System so we can give all students the tools they need to be successful,” Souder Hodge said. “At CSU Pueblo, we are thrilled to bring new approaches and resources to work we are already doing to support students and help them complete degrees.”
