Executive Director’s Note

By Julia Michaels

During the first week of November, we hosted a successful Powered by Publics Annual Meeting – drawing more than 100 attendees across all clusters. In peer-led breakout sessions, attendees had great conversations on shared topics like student belonging, advising, faculty engagement in student success, and more. If you weren’t able to attend, here’s a quick writeup of some highlights from the breakout sessions.

We also released preliminary data from this year’s Core Data Metrics collection. Although the data are still being validated, these early results show that retention has increased across the Powered by Publics network, with greater gains for Black students; degrees have also increased, and so have six-year graduation rates. The bad news is that equity gaps have widened slightly for Black and Latinx students, making it even more imperative that we focus on equitable outcomes for these populations.

Speaking of equity, we have created a new section on our website with equity tools and resources highlighted during the meeting, as well as our commitment to equity. Cluster managers will be using some of these tools in the new year while working with your clusters, as we transition from investigating the root causes of inequitable student outcomes to testing ideas for change on campus.

Sharing what works and what doesn’t across institutions is key to tackling these equity gaps. That’s why we’re thrilled to officially launch the Learning Exchange, our new online platform for sharing ideas and knowledge originating in and related to your institutions’ and your clusters’ work in the Powered by Publics initiative. If haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to sign up to participate.

Have a burning student success question that another Powered by Publics member might be able to answer? Want to share a pioneering program others might be interested in learning about? Want to connect with colleagues in other clusters? The Learning Exchange is the place to do it. Keeping in line with two of the primary objectives of Powered by Publics, the Learning Exchange will provide opportunities to learn from other clusters, see what they’re working on, share data, and network with colleagues at other institutions.

Finally, I’d like to share that I will be out on maternity leave starting mid-January. Dr. Denise Nadasen will be taking over as Interim Executive Director while I am out and will be the main point of contact for Powered by Publics. Her email is dnadasen@aplu.org. While I’m gone, I will be turning over the “microphone” for these Executive Director notes to Denise and other members of the Powered by Publics team to share their reflections on our work.

Thanks everyone who attended and made this year’s convening such a great success! Keep reading for more highlights from the network, including (list a few other items from the newsletter here):

• Student Success in Focus: The Tech Cluster’s Equity Winner-Take-All Equity Challenge
• A New Report from Strada Education: Measuring Student Outcomes Beyond Completion