Two adult-student organizations merge
The Graduate Network, which has been helping adults and “comebackers” find pathways to postsecondary education since 2005, has just announced a succession plan for itself. The network will now be run by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, or CAEL, a national nonprofit that became part of the Strada Collaborative in 2018.
I first encountered the Graduate Network in 2018, when I was researching my big report “The Adult Student.” I learned a lot from the organization and its co-founder, Hadass Sheffer, about the barriers older students face in trying to return to college and the ways that states and colleges can tap into employers and community groups to develop better on-ramps for students.
The Graduate Network has always been smaller than CAEL, with a more explicit focus on helping states and other organizations develop data-driven practices and systems for advising adults. But after Sheffer left, in 2020, and Sallie Glickman, another co-founder, became president, its next steps weren’t clear. “We didn’t know if the organization should still exist,” Glickman told me last week.
The network’s board considered several other organizations as merger partners and landed with CAEL because that group has strong ties not only with colleges but also, increasingly in recent years, with employers and work-force-oriented organizations. To reach millions of potential adult students, Glickman said, “we have to think about where millions of people are.”
CAEL’s ties with “the more blended ecosystem” of higher education were also a plus, she said. While the Graduate Network has generally encouraged adults to complete college, Glickman said it recognizes the value of other routes to education beyond high school. The goal, she said, is to “create options for adults that align with their aspirations.”
Being in a position to advocate for public policies that would benefit adult students is another benefit of CAEL, said Glickman. The Graduate Network, she said, “didn’t have that reach.”
The move means the Graduate Network will cease to exist, but most of its programs, including its tools for engaging employers and its model for “institution-neutral navigators” to advise students, will become known as TGN@CAEL. “It’s not just a benefit for Graduate Network,” Glickman said. “It’s a benefit for CAEL.”
I imagine some of what’s been distinctive about the Graduate Network may eventually become a little less distinct, but I respect that the organization recognized a new direction that didn’t depend on preserving itself. As Glickman said to me, ensuring that the work of the organization continued was more important than perpetuating the organization itself. There’s probably a lesson in that for other groups as well.
Tactics for transfer
Despite years of attention to the obstacles faced by students seeking to transfer from two-year to four-year colleges, the process remains challenging for too many, with a disproportionate impact on Black and lower-income learners. Yet experts in a recent Chronicle forum pointed to partnerships that have led to greater success.
Here are two takeaways from the panel, which was moderated by Katherine Mangan, a Chronicle senior writer, and underwritten by the Ascendium Education Group as part of our yearlong series on student success.
Talk about transition rather than transfer.
So said Rita Snyder Furr, associate director of community-college partnerships at Georgia Mason University. She described the Advance program between Mason and Northern Virginia Community College, which aims to increase the number of students earning a two-year credential on their way to a four-year degree. “Completion leads to completion,” she said.
Aligning curricula and early-intervention advising helps remove guesswork on course selection and avoid costly mistakes for students, said Furr. And those admitted to the program, which starts at the community college, are initially given non-degree-seeking status at the university. That’s been a “game-changer,” she said, because it opens access to more courses and signature experiences.
Focus on common goals between institutions.
A forum viewer mentioned that it can be difficult to get faculty members at four-year colleges to sit down with those at two-year institutions to work on issues like curricular alignment. In response, Lia Wetzstein, director of community-college research initiatives at the University of Washington, who works with nine pairs of institutions across the state, suggested trying to find common ground. “This isn’t about one versus the other,” she said. Involving people who are excited to collaborate is key, and the team needs to commit to “finding the barriers and figuring out solutions together,” she said. “Faculty want to help students be successful.” —Graham Vyse
Development to watch
California’s vaunted Master Plan for Higher Education could soon have a companion: a master plan for career education. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has asked state officials and others to submit ideas by October 2024. I found it notable that the leaders of the three public higher-ed systems in California — the University of California, California State University, and the California Community Colleges — took part in Newsom’s announcement. That’s a signal, perhaps, that the governor sees this plan as a complement to existing educational offerings, and that all types of institutions have a role to play. This account, from EdSource, offers a good summary of what’s in the works.
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