Stalled on Student Success

The Bottom Line

Institutions find themselves in one of four categories on the road to achieving an ideal advising situation for their students. Where is your institution on this road?

Institutions Face Several Barriers on the Road to Ideal Advising

Tyton Partners recently conducted its first annual postsecondary planning and advising survey of more than 1,400 administrators, faculty, and advisors, in partnership with The Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA), Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA), and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). With over 1,000 institutions represented, it’s the largest publicly-available study ever completed.  An analysis of stakeholder perspectives shows that institutions generally are in one of four categories on the drive toward an ideal advising function:

• Equipped Navigators (29%) have an overall positive view of advising success. They exhibit strong ownership, alignment, and coordination on student success initiatives, and use advising technology at a much higher rate than other segments.

• Check Engines (19%) do not view themselves as having achieved advising success overall. They struggle most with how to integrate advising technology with other institutional systems, as well as coordination across departments.

• Low Fuels (23%) do not view themselves as having achieved advising success overall, but conversely, struggle with a lack of commitment to the potential for technology to improve advising. These institutions also lack clarity of ownership and accountability over student success initiatives.

• Limited Technology Users (29%) do not report widespread use of any technology application to support planning and advising activities. They also struggle with ownership, coordination, and capacity on student success initiatives.

Making Progress? Or Stalling Out?

Institutional leaders need to understand their current location to determine directions to the finish line. Implementing specific technologies might help; Equipped Navigators have the highest adoption rate of a suite of technology solutions shown to have an impact on advising success. Yet there are several paths for institutions to consider, including improvements to leadership, processes, and student engagement. Finding where you are on the road to ideal advising will help to determine the route to improved completion rates at your institution.

To Learn More…

For more insights and targeted tips on how to improve planning and advising at your institution, we invite you to visit drivetodegree.org, a data-driven resource for institutional leaders and vendors on advising reform and the related report, “Driving toward a Degree: Establishing a Baseline on Integrated Approaches to Planning and Advising”.

Want to Connect?

Trying to figure out how best to improve student outcomes at your institution?  If you’re a supplier, want to discuss how your technology is perceived by these institutions? Click here to set up a meeting with members of our team.