The Important Role of Minority-Serving Institutions February 18, 2019 By Pat Roe Read Time Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice Employers Equity & Oppo... Value Engagement & ... ... At Strada Education Network®, we’re interested in supporting all students on their education-to-career journey and we are fortunate to have great partners in this work – partners who understand the value of engaging with students wherever they are on that journey and supporting their success. Many devoted educators have worked for decades to address the challenges their students face, developing college admissions policies that truly welcome a diverse student body and deploying student success teams to help students stay on track. They have embraced the promise of using meaningful data to measure students’ progress and to determine which interventions will be successful in helping students transition from school to career, and to continue to learn throughout their working lives. Our Philanthropy team is determined to support and scale programs that work – especially those aimed at helping students of color, students from low-income households, and those who are the first in their family to pursue an education beyond high school. Why? Because if we level the postsecondary playing field for all students we remove barriers that prevent them from succeeding. We are continuing our engagement with a select group of five innovative Minority Serving Institutions through Strada’s MSI Measuring College Value initiative. Now entering its third and final year, this initiative has provided $325,000 grants and other support to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis; Wiley College in Marshall, Texas; St Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida; and Martin University in Indianapolis to develop and scale their student success efforts to help students earn on-time degrees and successfully transition to meaningful careers in their chosen fields. By next fall, we expect that each of these institutions will report not only on their success but also on their plans to continue the work into the future with the strategic focus on Strada’s mission of Completion With A Purpose®. The work by these five institutions is ground-breaking: They are eliminating barriers to employment by engaging employers in their work with students to assist them in building professional networks, increasing opportunities for internships and real-time work-based learning in the classroom, using and training on new technology to provide certifications and design e-portfolios, and helping adult learners who are also working part-time to update and enhance their skills. Already, this work is attracting attention—and funding—from sources beyond Strada. Critical-thinking exercises and the augmentation of communications courses at St. Thomas University have resulted in the university winning a $1 million grant for their work in Bobcat Analytics, an initiative that is equipping students with the technical and digital skills they need to launch and maintain careers in high-demand fields. Engineering, Business, Education, Communications, and IT are areas in which the campuses are working. An unanticipated benefit of this work has been the professional development of faculty. One faculty administrator shared that because her entire career has been on campus, her external employer network and engagement had been limited until this project was initiated. Now she and others are paying closer attention to their own networking and professional development, realizing that faculty working in the fields they are teaching can enhance campus relationships with students, employers and the community. Grantees also are focusing on curriculum redesign, engaging employer partners to determine what is expected of students and to incorporate these areas into the academic setting. Employer partners are a part of each team and are considered experts in the field who share insights, new products, and services with the institutions. Finally, all five of the institutions are weaving alumni engagement throughout this work as campuses leverage the Strada-Gallup Alumni Surveys to understand how their alumni feel about their experiences on campus, and how they can engage with current students as mentors and/or potential employers. I’m looking forward to seeing the results next fall, and more importantly, to exploring how these five institutions can continue to help students while serving as role models and consultants to other institutions like them. MSI Measuring College Value The work by these five institutions is ground-breaking: They are eliminating barriers to employment by engaging employers in their work with students to assist them in building professional networks. Group 13 Group 11 Group 12 To create a PDF of the webpage, choose in opened window 'Save as PDF' option in 'Destination' select or something like that and click to save or print button. Got it Our Contributors Pat Roe Vice President, Philanthropy Strada Education Network Learn More In the news from Strada April 8, 2021 Public Viewpoint — Alumni Perspectives: Are Student Loans Worth It? Over the past 15 years, the number of student loan recipients has increased by 51 percent and the debt associated with those loans has more than doubled. More Americans are borrowing more money to go to college Center for Educat... Article Measuring the Val... Pathways with Pur... Career Connection Completion Consumer Voice Navigating Education Value ... February 25, 2021 Public Viewpoint Takeaways: Helping Americans Get Back to Work Expert panelists discuss the value of short-term programs, employer investments, and skills-based hiring Center for Educat... Article Career Connection COVID-19 Employers Equity & Oppo... Navigating Education Nondegree ... May 26, 2020 Pandemic puts education plans in flux as Americans prefer nontraditional sources of continuing education After weeks of uncertainty, precaution, stay-at-home orders, and economic turbulence, Americans are beginning to plan for the next stage of their lives. For many, that means making decisions about whether to pursue education and training. In the eighth week of Strada’s Public Viewpoint survey centered around Americans’ attitudes during the pandemic, we gathered insights about Americans’ plans for their education and training, which groups are most likely to enroll, and who Americans are consulting for advice on their education plans. Center for Educat... Article Adult Learners COVID-19 Navigating Education Nondegree ... May 9, 2019 Intertwining Education and Career Paths Keeps Lifelong Learners Skilled and Employed In partnership with Gallup to interview more than 300,000 Americans between the ages of 18-65 about their expectations and experiences with post-high school education. Center for Educat... Article Career Connection Consumer Voice Value ... February 18, 2019 The Important Role of Minority-Serving Institutions At Strada Education Network®, we’re interested in supporting all students on their education-to-career journey and we are fortunate to have great partners in this work – partners who understand the value of engaging with students wherever they are on that journey and supporting their success. Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice Employers Equity & Oppo... Value Engagement & ... ... January 31, 2019 Mentors Matter: Students Value Advice and Guidance from Faculty and Employers Career mentoring is more important than ever in helping learners of all ages and stages navigate pathways between education and employment. Everybody needs the support of a mentor, from young adults entering the workforce to adult learners looking to advance professionally. Having a mentor can mean the difference between seeking more education to jumpstart a new career or settling for an at-risk job soon to be automated. Center for Educat... Article Advising Career Connection Employers Navigating Education Engagement & ... ... October 21, 2018 Mentoring Matters This week, recent college graduates affirm a growing body of research: faculty-student relationships matter. At colleges and universities across the nation, professors play an important role as mentors providing both academic and career advice to their students. Center for Educat... Article Advising Career Connection Navigating Education ... September 7, 2018 America’s Employers Place Technical Skills and Work Experience Above College Rankings Important news for all students when it comes to getting a job: what you can do is more important than the ranking of the university you attended. Center for Educat... Article Career Connection Employers ... July 17, 2018 Students Are Consumers. It’s Time to Treat Them That Way. Your opinion matters. Tell us about your shopping experience. No sooner do we pay for coffee or exit an Apple Store, than we are inundated with questionnaires, surveys, or flash polls that solicit our views as consumers. Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice February 13, 2018 Why Go to College? Student Perspectives on Higher Ed This article by Carol D’Amico originally appeared on RealClear Education. Center for Educat... Article Career Connection Completion Consumer Voice Value ... June 27, 2017 Building On-Ramps to Student Success Postsecondary training is an expensive proposition without a guaranteed payoff. To make matters worse, many students find themselves in the position of making large financial investments and never completing a degree, a near worst-case scenario that often leaves individuals with lots of debt and no credential to earn the wages needed to pay back those borrowed dollars. Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice Navigating Education ... June 20, 2017 Strengthening CTE Opens More Pathways to Success for Students and Employers This week Congress will vote on a bill to reauthorize federal support for career and technical education (CTE). The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 2353) is a bipartisan effort to elevate these programs in our nation’s schools and community colleges and to better align them with in-demand, skilled jobs. Center for Educat... Article Career Connection Employers Nondegree ... June 9, 2017 Do You Regret Your College Choices? Research from Strada Education and Gallup finds 51% of Americans regret higher education decisions. Center for Educat... Article Advising Consumer Voice Navigating Education Value ... June 2, 2017 Empowering the Consumer Voice to Transform Postsecondary Education Strada Education Network is proud to partner with Gallup, the world leader in consumer insights, to launch the Education Consumer Pulse™. Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice June 1, 2017 Second Thoughts About Higher Education Decisions "Most former college students say they would change either their major, college attended or credential pursued if they could do it all over again, survey finds." Center for Educat... Article Advising Consumer Voice Navigating Education Value ... June 1, 2017 Survey: Second-guessing Often Accompanies Degrees More than half of adults in the U.S. would change at least one aspect of their higher education experience, according to a new survey from Gallup and the Strada Education Network. Common regrets were choice of institution and major or field of study. Comparatively, relatively few regretted their degree type. Center for Educat... Article Advising Consumer Voice Navigating Education Value ... May 22, 2017 Institutions must think broader when utilizing analytics Forcing institutions into data-based accountability around achievement metrics is difficult due to a variety of factors that can make pushing students through a system difficult. Center for Educat... Article Value May 15, 2017 New data shows low-income students equally likely to thrive These students are just as capable of thriving as those from more affluent households, but institutions and policymakers must also consider that they may need more resources. Center for Educat... Article Equity & Oppo... Engagement & ... ... May 12, 2017 3 key questions to consider in building ‘on-ramps’ to higher ed success A panel of thought leaders at ASU+GSV tackled issues ranging from who's to blame for failure to the rising cost of tuition Center for Educat... Article Navigating Education February 16, 2017 The Intersection of Instruction and Outcomes What is the relationship between college instruction and student outcomes? Center for Educat... Article Navigating Education Engagement & ... ... January 27, 2017 Advancing the Higher Education Innovation Agenda Sixty years ago this October, the Soviet Union’s launch of a tiny satellite called Sputnik shocked the United States out of its complacency over the education levels of its citizens. Our nation responded with an array of innovative new policies and practices to enhance Americans’ skill levels — especially in science, math and engineering — and open the doors of higher education to millions of new students. Center for Educat... Education at Work Inside Track Roadtrip Nation Article Career Connection Consumer Voice Navigating Education ... May 20, 2015 Our Team Center for Educat... Article Completion