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Academic Planning for Equitable Student Success

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A Partnership by AASCU and Ad Astra

The Academic Planning for Equitable Student Success project is an eighteen-month initiative designed to analyze the importance of the course schedule in improving student outcomes in higher education.

 

Created in partnership by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and Ad Astra, the project includes: two convenings, monthly webinars, benchmarking with technical assistance, data coaching, and change management consulting.

 

After an initial application process, 11 institutions from AASCU’s Student Success Equity Intensive were selected to participate in this exploratory project funded by Ascendium (ascendiumeducation.org). 

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Participating Institutions

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Removing barriers to student success.

 

One of the most essential elements to a student’s academic success is getting the courses they need to complete their degree. Yet, research indicates that at most institutions, the course schedule has become a structural barrier to success.

 

AASCU received funding from The Ascendium Education Group to improve course scheduling and ensure that access to courses required for degree completion is not a barrier to success, especially for low-income students and students of color.

 

To advance the field’s knowledge and identify viable strategies, AASCU works with a broad network of trusted partners to help its members achieve their goals for student success. One of those partners has been Ad Astra.

 

Over the course of eighteen (18) months Ad Astra provided technical assistance to eleven AASCU institutions interested in leveraging course scheduling as a strategy to improve student success and equitable outcomes on their campuses. These eleven institutions made up the Academic Planning for Equitable Student Success (APLES) cohort.

 

The APLES cohort experience is designed to build on the institution's strengths and the population it is targeting. Technical assistance providers and coaches encourage participating teams to explore the root causes of challenges in the course schedule and scheduling behavior instead of relying on assumptions or misconceptions about those causes. 

Through this work, institutions have identified actionable strategies to:

 

1. Close equity gaps
2. Improve course scheduling practices
3. Align academic resources with student needs and academic pathways.

 

These engagements have informed a series of field-facing assets, including this playbook. We hope that insights gathered from participating AASCU institutions and partners will support other institutions in reimagining relevant course scheduling policies, practices, and behaviors.

Fast Facts

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Participating Institutions in the APLES cohort

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Project Solution Focus Areas

 

“I believe when we can place the data in front of others, it becomes undeniable that changes must be made.”
- Fresno State University

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Meeting Pattern Analysis

A foundational component of scheduling infrastructure is the meeting pattern grid. Sometimes called a block schedule or clock schedule, the meeting pattern grid defines the standard patterns that an institution uses to offer sections.  Scheduling outside of the standard grid can impact all students, but can it impact low-income students and students of color more?  Institutions in the cohort found that a review of section adherence to the standard grid can be a key student success strategy.

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General Education Scheduling

Most students need to start by taking key general education courses in their first semester and year of college, but for most four year institutions, these courses are the most bottlenecked during registration.  Students can often register for a schedule but is it the right schedule for them? Institutions in the cohort are addressing course scheduling bottlenecks to ensure students have access to the required courses in the first year.

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DFW Analysis and Course Combinations

Institutions often analyze the number of students who make a grade of D or F or withdraw from a course when analyzing student success.  This data can be used to determine instructional supports required for individual courses.  Within the cohort, institutions are analyzing courses that when taken together are more likely to result in a negative outcome.  While this initiative can help advisors to provide excellent guidance in the course selection process, it also can assist institutions in revising their pathways or student plans to encourage student success. 

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Momentum Year

The data from Ad Astra and Complete College America (completecollege.org/momentum/) clearly show the impact of early momentum on student success.  Institutions in the cohort are utilizing data to determine students who are not on track to complete the key English and Math gateway courses in the first year with the intention of encouraging registration in a future semester.  The data indicates that students of color and low income students are less likely to complete Momentum Year requirements and ensuring seats are available for these students can be an important way to improve momentum and Degree Velocity®. 

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Data Socialization and Awareness

No one wants to offer sections with less-than-optimal enrollment and no one wants to inhibit a student’s ability to get a section that they need, but every schedule has some elements of these problems.  Course scheduling is a complex activity on all campuses.  One of the early steps in this project was to provide scheduling effectiveness benchmarks.  These benchmarks allow institutions to see where they stand relative to goals in the industry, and making key scheduling stakeholders aware of the data can be a necessary first step in accelerating the need for change. 

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Success Stories

550+ institutions. 4.5 million students. And counting.

Learn how institutions just like yours are achieving their outcomes with smarter planning and scheduling solutions.
Efficient scheduling for 15,000+ unique class sections a year.
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Efficient scheduling for 15,000+ unique class sections a year.

Discover how the University of Missouri-Kansas City improved student success through smart academic course scheduling.

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8% increase in retention year over year

See how Northwest Missouri State University leveraged Ad Astra’s scheduling tools to create operational efficiency, transparency across departments, and ultimately help improve student outcomes.

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20+ hours per term saved

Discover how Butler Community College said goodbye to manual processes & automated their scheduling process, saving 20-30 hours of work each term.

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Reduced canceled classes term-over-term from 15 to two.

Learn how South Louisiana Community College streamlined manual processes to improve efficiency and ROI. 

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$350k savings during a multi-year configuration of academic building resources

When Western Kentucky had to reallocate 156 rooms due to a building shutdown, Ad Astra powered fast rescheduling decisions using room and resource data – ultimately helping the university achieve a six-figure savings.

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“Six-year graduation rates improved by 6% and average student contact hours improved by 4.2%”

Discover how Lamar University achieved something many universities haven’t been able to do: Multi-term scheduling centralized within their registrar’s office. But the story doesn’t end there.

Resources for smarter scheduling and planning.

Explore tools, strategies, and reports from experts in higher education academic operations.

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The Smart Scheduling Guidebook

A guide to tackling the four essential pillars required to create efficient, financially sustainable schedules that promote equitable student retention and completion.  This guide provides step-by-step, practical advice to help level up your scheduling strategies to accelerate progress.

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2024 Student Benchmark Report

This comprehensive analysis of more than 1.3 million students explores the impact of progress bands, flexible schedules, and financial sustainability on retention and completion. Discover key insights, including the pivotal role of "taking one more course" on timely degree completion.

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Essential
Scheduling

Collaborative academic scheduling software that improves operational efficiency.

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Data-Informed Scheduling

Smart scheduling systems to facilitate targeted schedule optimization. 
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Student-Centered Scheduling

Intelligent insights that maximize student outcomes and minimize disruption.
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Integrated
Planning

Annual planning software that aligns stakeholders and optimizes student and financial outcomes.

Ready to learn more about how Ad Astra can help you streamline processes and achieve a student-centered schedule?

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Education is a journey. We set the course.

Ad Astra is the trusted partner of colleges and universities committed to graduating more students faster. ​Through data-informed planning and course scheduling, we empower institutions to remove barriers to completion while also ensuring financial sustainability.

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