Advocacy Alert: USDE Releases RFI to Develop Postsecondary Student Success Recognition Program

The United States Department of Education’s (USDE) Attaining College Excellence and Equity Summit recently released a Request for Information (RFI) to develop a new Postsecondary Student Success Recognition Program.

As part of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s (MSCHE) strategic priority to promote advocacy initiatives for its members and others, we encourage our constituents to submit comments by USDE’s deadline of May 28, 2024. The Federal Register includes instructions on how to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. 

According to USDE’s statement, 

The Department is requesting insights from the field to better understand institutions’ efforts to promote student success and economic mobility to help evaluate and select institutions to receive the recognition. This includes information about which metrics the Department should use for eligibility and selection for the award, how institutions use data to drive success efforts, how institutions can demonstrate an intentional, scaled, and sustainable commitment to supporting student success, and how institutions evaluate the effectiveness of their student success and economic mobility strategies and policies. For this recognition program, the Department aims to promote a more inclusive definition of student success that includes providing access to an affordable education including to underserved populations, supporting students through to completion of credentials of value, and helping students navigate to career pathways that improve their lives through economic opportunity and mobility.

Read the full statement. 

The Summit is part of USDE’s Raise the Bar initiative. MSCHE Senior Director for Research Diana Barbu attended a national Raise the Bar summit on improving the student transfer process in November 2023.

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