Telling the Completion by Design Story: The Institutional Change Study

1. Telling the Completion by Design Story: The Institutional Change Study Presentation by MDRC for the Completion by Design Cross-Cadre Retreat Charlotte, NC February 2013

2. MDRC study is one of several ways we will surface CBD learning and tell our collective story

3. Input for Refining Approach • Feedback from the Cross-Cadre Advisory Committee • Focus on institutional change (including culture change) • Less focus on fast trials of individual interventions • Excellent work by colleges to set realistic, evidence-based improvement targets on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) • Feedback from experts on how to research institutional change in higher education

4. Principles Guiding Revisions to Study

5. Purpose of the Initiative-level Study on Institutional Change • Provide the higher education field with practical information to consider when aspiring to CBD-like transformation • E.g. Time, money and skills to make these types of changes and how students experience the changes • Build knowledge about institutional change in higher education in general • The study is NOT designed or intended to evaluate each individual college

6. Refined Research Questions • How does the systemic change envisioned by CBD occur? • What changes do the colleges make in pursuing the CBD goals? • What factors facilitate or inhibit change? What is the role of cross-college fertilization? • What does change cost? • What is the cost-effectiveness of the new student pathway compared to the pre-CBD pathway? • How do the colleges cover these start up and ongoing costs? • What are the revenue implications? • How do students experience the changes?

7. Case Studies in 5 Sample Colleges • To develop a rich and nuanced understanding of what happens when colleges make these types of changes, we plan to deeply study the process of change in a subset of the CBD colleges • Sample colleges will be chosen to represent the diversity of community colleges nationwide. Chosen to provide diversity in size, region, student mix, degree mix and data availability. • Case study colleges will not be identified in reports; readers should see these colleges as archetypes of community colleges, not particular institutions

8. Likely Research Activities in the Sample Colleges • Track the process of change by: • Talking to administrators, staff and faculty multiple times a year • Observing key activities • Reviewing documents • Understand student experiences by: • Talking to students multiple times a year • Review changes in the KPIs • Track costs (start-up costs, maintenance costs) and revenue implications by: • Reviewing budget and expenditure data • Talking to key staff and administrators

9. How all CBD colleges will be involved • KPIs from all colleges will be used to put case study college experiences in context • All colleges will review early findings and provide input on how case study college experience compares to their own • Cross-cadre evaluation advisory committee will continue to provide feedback as well as advice on sharing findings with the field

10. Key MDRC Staff and their Roles • Jean Grossman—Project Director • Sue Scrivener—Project Manager and co-lead of the Institutional Change Study • Janet Quint—Co-lead of the Institutional Change Study • Adriana Kezar—Senior Advisor, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California