HOW INSTITUTIONS TRANSFORM
Evidence-Based Practices
What are Evidence-Based Practices?
Transformation begins with intentional changes to student-facing practices—how students learn, receive support, and move toward a credential.
Research and field experience point to a set of evidence-based practices that institutions can use to reduce barriers, strengthen momentum, and improve completion. These practices focus on high-leverage moments in the student experience where redesign has consistently led to stronger outcomes and greater equity.
These practices represent what institutions intentionally change to improve the student experience.
Advising Reform
This practice focuses on how students get guidance and make choices.
Advising is a critical touchpoint in the student experience—especially when it helps students clarify goals, navigate pathways, and stay on track to completion. As institutions pursue transformation, they redesign advising to ensure students receive timely, consistent guidance throughout their academic journey.
These reforms typically focus on improving:
- Centralized advising models to improve coordination & accountability
- Proactive use of data and technology to support early intervention
- Integration of academic and career planning into the student journey
When done well, advising shifts from transactional interactions to a coordinated, student-centered system that helps students maintain momentum, feel supported, and progress from entry to completion.
What Effective Advising Reform Looks Like
Across institutions working to improve student outcomes, advising reforms that produced the strongest gains were designed as coordinated, proactive systems focused on helping students make timely progress through clearly defined pathways.
Centralized Advising Model
Coordinated advising structures helped students know where to go for support, receive consistent guidance, and understand expectations regardless of how or where they entered advising.
Technology-Enabled, Proactive Advising
Data, alerts, and planning tools helped advisors identify students who needed support early, prioritize outreach, and address barriers before they disrupted progress.
Integrated Academic and Career Planning
Ongoing academic and career planning helped students see how courses and milestones connected to longer-term goals, supporting informed decisions and sustained momentum.
Developmental Education Reform
This practice focuses on how students begin and move into college-level coursework.
Developmental education plays a critical role in helping students enter and succeed in credit-bearing coursework. As institutions pursue transformation, they redesign developmental education to ensure students receive the right academic support at the right time, without unnecessary delays.
These reforms typically focus on improving:
- Placement practices that increase access to credit-bearing courses
- Instructional models that accelerate learning with embedded support
- Pathway alignment that reduces detours and loss of momentum
When aligned with broader academic and student support strategies, these reforms can shift developmental education from a gatekeeping function to a structured on-ramp that helps students build confidence, earn early credit, and progress toward completion.
What Effective Developmental Education Looks Like
Across institutions working to improve student outcomes, developmental education reforms that produced the strongest gains were designed to reduce time to credit-bearing coursework while maintaining academic support.
Multiple Measures Placement
Using multiple measures helped students avoid unnecessary remediation, access college-level courses sooner, and begin their programs with stronger momentum.
Co-Requisite Instructional Models
Pairing college-level courses with just-in-time support enabled students to earn credit while addressing learning gaps, leading to higher gateway course completion.
Pathway-Aligned Course Sequences
Aligning developmental coursework with programs of study reduced confusion and excess credits, helping students move efficiently toward credentials.
Digital Learning Reform
This practice focuses on how instruction is delivered across formats.
Digital learning can expand access and flexibility when it is designed intentionally to support student learning. As institutions pursue transformation, they redesign digital learning to ensure students receive high-quality instruction and support across online, hybrid, and technology-enhanced courses.
These reforms typically focus on improving:
- Intentional design of online and hybrid courses and programs
- Use of adaptive and instructional technologies to support learning in high-enrollment courses
- Faculty development that strengthens digital pedagogy and course quality
When implemented thoughtfully, digital learning moves beyond modality to become a strategic lever for equity, quality, and student success.
What Effective Digital Learning Looks Like
Across institutions working to improve student outcomes, digital learning reforms that produced the strongest gains were designed to strengthen learning, expand access, and maintain instructional quality.
Online and Hybrid Course Design
Clear learning objectives, consistent quality standards, and alignment with student needs helped students stay engaged and persist across digital environments.
Adaptive and Instructional Technologies
Adaptive tools and learning technologies helped students identify challenges early, receive targeted support, and stay on track in high-enrollment and gateway courses.
Faculty Development for Digital Pedagogy
Investing in faculty development strengthened instructional quality and consistency, improving student learning experiences across digital courses.
Student Support
Focuses on how colleges respond to barriers that affect enrollment and persistence.
Student support plays a critical role in helping students stay engaged, overcome barriers, and persist toward completion. As institutions pursue transformation, they redesign support systems to ensure students can access help when and where they need it.
Key strategies include:
- Integrated and coordinated support models
- Proactive outreach and early support
- Expanded access to supports that meet student needs
When aligned with academic pathways, student support shifts from a collection of services to a coordinated system that helps students remain enrolled and progress toward completion.
What Effective Student Support Looks Like
Across institutions working to improve student outcomes, student support reforms that produced the strongest gains were designed as integrated systems rather than isolated services.
Integrated and Coordinated Support Models
Coordinating advising, tutoring, financial assistance, and basic needs supports helped students know where to go for help and reduced fragmentation.
Proactive Outreach and Early Support
Using data to identify risk early allowed institutions to intervene before small challenges became reasons for stopping out.
Expanded Access to Supports
Extended hours, virtual services, and flexible delivery helped working students and adult learners remain engaged and persist.
Career Support
This practice focuses on how learning connects to careers and work.
Career support helps students connect their education to future opportunities and see clear value in their academic pathways. As institutions pursue transformation, they integrate career-aligned learning into into the student experience to support purpose, persistence, and successful transitions.
Key strategies include:
- Early and integrated career exploration
- Career-connected learning aligned to programs of study
- Clear pathways to careers and transfer
When embedded across the student experience, career-aligned learning strengthens motivation and supports momentum toward credentials of value.
What Effective Career Support Looks Like
Across institutions working to improve student outcomes, career-aligned learning reforms that produced the strongest gains were designed to intentionally connect coursework, advising, and employer engagement.
Early and Integrated Career Exploration
Early career conversations helped students make informed choices about programs of study and stay engaged.
Career-Connected Learning
Work-based learning and employer-informed curriculum helped students see the relevance of coursework and build applicable skills.
Clear Pathways to Careers and Transfer
Aligning credentials, labor market information, and transfer agreements reduced friction and supported smoother transitions.
Financial Aid
This practice focuses on how aid influences enrollment and persistence.
Financial aid plays an important role in shaping students’ ability to enroll, persist, and complete their education. As institutions pursue transformation, they focus on reducing financial barriers and improving clarity so cost does not derail student progress.
Key strategies include:
- Targeted financial literacy and communication
- Reducing the cost of attendance through low-cost materials
- Flexible program design that supports affordability
When aligned with academic and student support strategies, financial aid reforms help stabilize enrollment and support sustained progress.
What Effective Financial Aid Looks Like
Across institutions working to improve student outcomes, financial aid practices that supported stronger persistence focused on reducing uncertainty and addressing financial barriers early.
Targeted Financial Literacy and Communication
Clear, timely financial information helped students make informed decisions and remain enrolled.
Reducing the Cost of Attendance
Low-cost materials and transparent costs reduced financial pressure, particularly in high-enrollment courses.
Flexible Financial Structures
Flexible payment options and targeted aid helped students navigate short-term financial challenges without stopping out.
Related Components of How Institutions Transform
HOW INSTITUTIONS TRANSFORM
Core Institutional Capacities
Big changes require strong foundations. This section looks at the core capabilities—like leadership, finance, and data use—that help institutions organize, execute, and sustain transformation.
HOW INSTITUTIONS TRANSFORM
Continuous Improvement Process
Lasting change doesn’t happen all at once. It’s built through cycles of reflection, action, and learning—powered by people across the institution. This section explores how colleges use structured routines like PRPAM and student-centered frameworks to empower teams, embed improvement into daily work, and align strategy with long-term goals.
