Proactive Advising

Monitoring Advising Analytics to Promote Student Success (MAAPS) was a 10,000 student randomized control trial seeking to validate the effectiveness of proactive advising in increasing retention and graduation rates for low-income and first-generation college students. As of fall 2019:

campuses

showed positive results after the 3-year intervention, and the 3 institutions with the highest degree of implementation fidelity show statistically significant results.

institutions

with statistically significant results all maintained maintained small advisor caseloads of 1:150, a consistent calendar of targeted analysis and outreach, predictive data tracking and early alerts, and regular degree planning with students.

positive outcomes

included higher credit success rates, increased credit accumulation, and higher GPAs when compared to the control group.

Launched

2016

Learning and Impact Highlights

In addition to generating data on student outcomes, the MAAPS project also yielded lessons about adopting a specific model of advising developed at one institution in 10 different contexts. The project prompted participating campuses to think more deeply and critically about organizational structure, data, and culture.

We found that addressing these five components helped participating UIA campuses make the most of proactive advising:

Assessing the university’s organizational structure and advising culture.
Understanding and using degree plans and academic maps effectively.
Leveraging strong, data-driven tools to help advisors guide students.
Ensuring dedicated advisor capacity and training to deliver targeted support.
Securing ongoing leadership support and investment. In this playbook, we will discuss these findings and share considerations for how to navigate adoption of proactive advising in your context.

Read more about what we learned and explore our proactive advising playbook.

Funders