SHEEO is partnering with Sova on the Pursuing Alignment for Student Success Across Higher Education Institutions & State Agencies (PASS) project. This initiative supports the alignment of student success policies and practices between state agencies, state systems, and higher education institutions. PASS aims to enhance student success by strengthening formal state networks and fostering collaboration between institutional leadership and state higher education leaders.
Participating States
A cohort of four states includes education leaders from Kentucky, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Wyoming at state higher education agencies and institutional campuses. Each participating state team receives planning grants and tailored technical assistance to support their unique contexts and needs. Through generous support from Ascendium, the states can appropriate programmatic funding for in-state convenings or other project activities promoting collaboration.
Background Information
The PASS project is designed to address the critical need for better alignment between state higher education offices and institutions to support equitable student success. By adopting a networked strategy, PASS promotes collaboration and best-practice exchange between state and institutional leaders through the establishment of a new learning community. This initiative emphasizes the importance of understanding the impacts of state policy on campus transformation efforts and aims to promote more resilient campus-based student success solutions for sustained state- and system-wide impact.
Key Objectives of PASS Project
The partnership between SHEEO and Sova aims to foster a collaborative relationship between state agencies and higher educational student success teams that results in greater alignment. Institutional chief academic officers engage in Student Success Academies, which are evidence-driven recurring forums promoting equitable student success professional development specifically in Academic Affairs. At the same time, state Chief Academic Officers will seek to curate deeper relationships with institutional academic officers in-state and with fellow state academic officers across borders to develop intentional collaboration networks, serve as resources for each other, and make continued connections long after formal project activities end.
State Chief Academic Officers and Institutional Chief Academic Officers come together to gain a better understanding of the impacts of state policy on campus transformation efforts by focusing on a specific policy area (e.g., transfer). State agencies use their state and system-wide platforms both to serve as conduits of best-practice exchange to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges institutions face and how best to coordinate advocacy for their students with key policy stakeholders.
These project activities will enable scaling the impact of student success efforts statewide, formalizing state networks to support student needs and catalyze campuswide success, enhancing access to policy development across sectors, missions, geographic regions, and service areas, as well as facilitating a deeper understanding of institutional challenges and coordinating advocacy for students.
