About the Power of Systems
Our strategic agenda will advance prosperity for the nation through the approach of seeding, testing, and scaling practices that move the dial on student success.
Nearly a decade ago, NASH began utilizing a collective impact approach to address its top priorities: improving student success and closing gaps. By generating consensus around opportunities and challenges, and identifying potential solutions with a sound body of evidence, system leaders promote the effective organization of campuses that have assessed the value of adopting such innovations.
The Power of Systems takes the commitment to the next level. The plan calls for a network of higher education systems working collaboratively to deliver better outcomes for students and communities. We are tracking our progress on student success toward our aspirational goals on increasing credential and degree completion, enhancing upward social mobility, and reducing student loan debt by 2030. moving the dial on these national metrics for systems will indicate meaningful progress toward the plan’s ultimate goal of advancing prosperity for the nation.
Our focus is taking evidence-based practices to scale and sustainability, building on well-established programs with proven track records on individual campuses. The strategy focuses on organizing a group of like-minded systems and campuses that are ready to adopt an evidence-based approach, as it allows for early central coordination that can be quickly decentralized by working with coalitions of the willing. These efforts have emphasized the benefits to states that result from increasing student access and success in college, especially for low-income students and students from underserved communities. Issues of quality and access have been paramount.