Author: Ashley Woods

Dr. Tasha Dannenbring serves as the primary Institutional Research expert for the South Dakota Board of Regents. She works with various councils and groups in the university system to develop, revise, interpret, and implement data management and analysis solutions to inform decision making.

Dannenbring also oversees system assessment of General Education. She works closely on other system initiatives including Complete College America, the Midwestern Higher Education Compact and Interstate Passport.  Dannenbring serves as both the state Passport State Facilitator of South Dakota and is a representative on the Interstate Passport Registrars and Institutional Researchers Committee. As the Passport State Facilitator, she works to implement Interstate Passport and facilitate data reporting across all Interstate Passport Network members in the state. As a committee representative, she is able to provide feedback on data reporting.

“Students experience many benefits as a result of their campus participating in Interstate Passport. They appreciate the benefit of being able to transfer their entire General Education experience from one awarding institution to another. This offers them the flexibility to be able to maintain a career path of their choosing, regardless of the institution offerings, and without spending excess time or money retaking courses. They achieve an official landmark, a Passport, and the sense of pride of accomplishment. As employers look increasingly at the broad range of skills required in the workforce, a Passport signals that students have earned a significant level of General Education achievement. Earning a Passport propels a student toward degree completion in a timely fashion so that they can move to the next step. I firmly believe that the process of transfer and the pedagogical strength of Interstate Passport offers us an insight into to the future of student transfer, and eventually this will become a common and even expected process across higher education and industry. We have a duty to our students to ensure that they gain a high quality and well recognized credential, Passport Interstate affords us that opportunity.”

“As we have implemented Interstate Passport across our system communication has been critical. Given the cross-disciplinary nature of the components of Interstate Passport, it has been vital that I communicate and understand the intricacies of a number of units across our system. While email serves a purpose in this process, I have found that speaking with necessary constituents provides me so much more insight on what is going well and pain points we need to work on. Other tools I have relied upon include many of our system level policies, and on the technology side, well designed cognos reports and sql code.”

“It has been extremely rewarding to be able to serve as the Passport State facilitator, and have a role in reporting Interstate Passport data to the National Student Clearinghouse, and assessment of General Education. I feel privileged to be able to work in these three areas critical to the Interstate Passport program. A next step will be to work with our faculty and advisor groups to identify strategies on how we can better communicate the benefit of earning a Passport through faculty and academic advisors.”

Dannenbring is also a member of the Association of Institutional Research Data Policy Analysis Group, recently guest edited a special edition of the Mid Western Educational Researcher focused on institutional research. She holds a B.S. from Rockford University, a M.S. from Northern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. from the University of South Dakota.

By Heather McKay, director and Renee Edwards, senior researcher, Education and Employment Research Center at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

The Education and Employment Research Center (EERC) at Rutgers University in New Jersey is the third party evaluator for the Interstate Passport’s Department of Education First in the World grant. As a part of the evaluation, EERC team members held focus group interviews with advising representatives from both Interstate Passport Network member institutions and prospective member institutions who were gathered for a train-the-trainer workshop in Boulder, Colorado in Fall 2018. The workshop focused on learning about the benefits of Interstate Passport, sharing best practices on training staff, and advising students regarding Interstate Passport. The majority of interviewees were supervisors of advising staff, and many were there to learn more so that they could offer training to their staff members after the workshop. We asked these attendees what they felt the benefits were of earning a Passport to their institutions and students.  The most common themes that emerged from those conversations are noted below. These themes reflect the thoughts of those we spoke with about the role that the Interstate Passport may play at their institutions and for their students.

The Interstate Passport creates both awareness and an assurance for students that the work they put in to complete their general education courses will count towards their future education.

• Respondents spoke about the value of Interstate Passport for students and noted that it offered students an assurance that the work they put into their general education studies would not be wasted if they found that they had to transfer.

Interstate Passport may help change both the process and perceptions of transfer.

• Respondents discussed how the Interstate Passport might change both the perceptions and the process of transfer at their Institutions.  Some respondents indicated that the value to both the institution and the student of being able to share that earning a Passport means that students who choose to transfer from or who transfer in from a Network institution will not have to retake general education courses.  One respondent noted that saying “you don’t have to retake this” to students allows advisors to build a positive relationship with students that can also reflect well on the institution.

• Others talked about how Interstate Passport might change the way transfer is perceived by students. One respondent said that many four-year universities have a reputation as being “unfriendly” to transfer students and as having strict transfer policies. Respondents thought that Interstate Passport could play a role in alleviating these perceptions. Others talked about the role that Interstate Passport can play in making the transfer process easier. One person noted that most institutions have an interest in “smoothing the transfer process for any student”.

Interstate Passport may play a role in increasing student retention and persistence

• Many respondents commented how earning a passport may have the potential to serve as either an educational “milestone” or “momentum” point for students. One respondent said, “I think it serves as a momentum point, and it must serve as a connection point; success builds upon success, so I think from an institutional standpoint, retention and persistence could be positively affected by Interstate Passport.”

Interstate Passport aligns with other educational reforms like Guided Pathways.

• Nearly all interviewees mentioned a primary goal of their institution involved a shift to guided pathways. The work they did to build the Interstate Passport block and implement the Interstate Passport aligned with that institutional goal.

Through continued evaluation we hope to investigate some of the initial ideas about the possible benefits of the Interstate Passport to students and institutions.

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Looking for more ways to connect with Interstate Passport? Follow us and our Interstate Passport Network members on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

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• https://twitter.com/InterstatePort
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As the California Community College system invests in Guided Pathways, leadership teams are considering equity, impacted programs, cost-of-living, and employment opportunities when building successful transfer models. Interstate Passport offers an approach to guiding students in a world that’s increasingly, as Thomas Friedman suggests, hotter, flatter, and more crowded. To succeed in such a world, students will need opportunities both inside and outside of California.

Many Interstate Passport Network (IPN) institutions are located in states with competitive living standards and significant employment opportunities. For example, a student who wants to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing may find an opportunity with a nationally ranked nursing program and high-quality instructors at the University of Utah.

With an Interstate Passport, the University of Utah takes all lower-division coursework completed from either California IPN institutions (Cerritos College and College of the Siskyous) and qualified students may enter into the nursing program as a junior.

California IPN institutions appreciate a broad understanding of workforce development and the importance of portability in higher education’s future. Cerritos College and College of the Siskyous demonstrate their willingness to meet students wherever they are in post-secondary education as the first two Interstate Passport adopters in California.

The great British explorer and mountain climber Edmund Hillary renowned for his successful expedition to the summit of Mt. Everest needed a great guide. Tenzing Norgay, his companion and very talented guide, is less remembered in history but equal in importance to Hillary’s success. California’s guided pathways project is headed in the right direction and needs to build a system of capable guides that expands on student achievement. Interstate Passport, currently with a membership of 30 institutions in 12 states and growing, allows exploration into high quality institutions that may not be on the radar of our students.

Cerritos College is currently in the early stages of implementing Guided Pathways. We are focused on improving student success with better alignment of all areas of the student experience. Student learning outcomes are essential to improving classroom instruction and completion rates. As our Guided Pathways committee meets, the quantitative, oral, and written communication skills required in successfully earning an undergraduate education occupy much of our conversations. The state requires that community colleges maximize the possibility of students completing college-level courses in English and math within a year. The Passport Learning Outcomes adopted by our college emphasize these important foundational skills. As the Interstate Passport Institutional Liaison, I believe that the IPN foundational skills in college-level speaking, writing, and quantitative literacy ensure that our college maintains high educational standards and best teaching practices held by our IPN partners.

Jim Collins’ books Built to Last and Good to Great take a deeper look at successful organizations and find that there is really no single lucky break, no miracle moment that makes for a lasting great organization. Within the continuum of change in higher education, there remain enduring values that shape our performance. Cerritos College, like all great colleges in the IPN, understands the value of foundational skill attainment for all post-secondary students at a deep organizational level. Our partnership within the IPN aligns our core values with other great colleges and universities outside of California. We are proud of the work we do for our students and proud to be part of the higher education IPN team.

DeAnn Johnson serves as the academic advisor for completion and transferability at North Idaho College (NIC). In this position she advises students in coursework required for their intended transfer institution degree requirements to meet their career goals. Working together with staff and faculty, NIC has implemented Interstate Passport on its campus via its college catalog and advising materials. As students identify educational paths, they also learn how to earn a Passport along the way. In addition to advising students on the benefits of earning a Passport, Johnson also represents Idaho on the Interstate Passport Academic Advising Committee and presented to attendees at the Train-the-Trainer workshop for Academic Advisors at Interstate Passport Network (IPN) member institutions this year.

Johnson is an active member of the North Idaho Consortium of Higher Education (NICHE). It includes North Idaho College, Lewis-Clark State College, University of Idaho, Boise State University, and Idaho State University. Johnson serves as chair of NICHE’s Student Service Task Force which focuses and creates shared student resources among consortium schools. Additionally, she sits on the NICHE Recruiting Task Force, representing higher education opportunities for North Idaho communities.

Johnson states that “Interstate Passport brings higher education institutions together, creating a collaborative network to benefit students in reaching their education goals. With an increasing number of college students transferring between schools, it is more important than ever make the most of their time, effort, and finances. Interstate Passport provides clear guidelines to assure quality standards for the participating schools. The resources provided to NIC for both students, and advisors, are easy to use and effective in facilitating the process. Working together, we can make a difference in the number of students obtaining their degrees, and achieving their dreams.”