More than 60 thought-leaders, policy experts, foundation leaders, researchers and practitioners convened last week at the Pullias Center’s “National Summit on Transformative Efforts to Support the Postsecondary Success of At-promise Students.” The summit was organized and led by researchers from the Pullias Center’s Promoting At-Promise Student Success (PASS) project, and supported by a grant from the Susan T. Buffet Foundation.

The Summit’s purpose was to bring together higher education leaders to identify challenges and opportunities in creating transformative, research-based practices for bolstering postsecondary student success among students from low-income, racially minoritized and/or first-generation backgrounds.

“Whether we are funders, researchers, practitioners or policymakers, we know we can be doing better and working smarter in support of students who have been marginalized or under-served by postsecondary institutions and state policies,” shared Zoë Corwin, Research Professor at the Pullias Center and one of the lead organizers of the convening. “The summit provided a unique opportunity to bring committed and thoughtful higher educators leaders together across sectors. We usually function in siloes, so to collaborate meaningfully around shared goals was really powerful.”

Plenary sessions at the Summit highlighted current initiatives that are making an impact on the postsecondary pathways of entire regions, such as the Growing Inland Achievement (GIA), Kentucky Student Success Collaborative, and the PASS Project. Interactive roundtables fostered dialogue around the challenges and potential of transformative approaches, how to navigate complex postsecondary partnerships, and how to assess and amplify good work being done. The group identified future directions for research, policy making and investment. The Pullias Center will be sharing details later this summer.

The Promoting At-promise Student Success (PASS) project is a multi-year mixed-methods research project at the USC Pullias Center for Higher Education. Conducted in partnership with three University of Nebraska campuses, PASS is dedicated to deepening understandings of at-promise student success in postsecondary institutions.