Higher Education has been pushing “Student Success” as an outcome model.  I would say that over the past 5 years or so, this term has been used to define a wide variety of things relating to students.  I’ve heard it talked about with small wins, like course completion.  It is also used to celebrate larger wins like degree completion and university transfer.

Don’t get me wrong, measuring and celebrating small and large wins are important.  Knowing the uniqueness of each student can be important as well in measuring true success.  The challenge in higher education is coming to a consensus on what “Student Success” really means.  It seems like the target constantly moves.  I also wonder if the definitions that institutions use is coming up short.

Should we be measuring student success beyond what they did at our colleges?  If you are a community college, should you measure the graduation rates of your transfer students?  What about job placement in you occupational programs?  For Universities, should you be measuring job placement?  What about graduation rates from graduate programs for your students who moved on to graduate schools immediately after their undergraduate degree?  I guess I wonder if student success should be tied more to longterm outcomes rather than short term wins?

If your average student goes to college to get a job in their chosen field after graduation or make more money, it seems like this should be a top indicator of student success.

What your definition of “Student Success?”