This infographic explores three evidence-based advising strategies with the potential to support students on their path to college completion as well as shares seven advising strategies widely used by colleges that show low evidence establishing their effectiveness.

To better understand how colleges are using advising policies, programs, and practices to support student success, the College Completion Network conducted virtual focus groups with administrators at 47 colleges. College administrators can use the findings from this study to learn about approaches to advising other colleges are using, and the successes and challenges of implementation, and researchers who study advising and other student success initiatives can use the findings from this study to identify directions for future research.

The College Completion Network conducted a systematic review of the research literature on advising policies, practices, and programs (hereafter referred to as “strategies”). The systematic review provides policymakers and practitioners with a summary of evidence for a wide range of advising strategies that have been the focus of research conducted during the past two decades. It also highlights high-quality evidence based on What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence reviews. This systematic review complements a recent WWC practice guide, Effective Advising for Postsecondary Students: A Practice Guide for Educators (Karp et al., 2021), which draws on reviews of research, the experiences of practitioners, and the expert opinions of a panel of nationally recognized experts to provide evidence-based recommendations to college practitioners.

From fall 2021 to summer 2022, the College Completion Network conducted virtual focus groups with administrators at 47 2-year and broad-access 4-year colleges with the goal of better understanding the advising policies, practices, and programs (hereafter referred to as “strategies”) that colleges use to support student success. Simultaneously, the network conducted a systematic review of the research literature on advising strategies, summarizing the evidence for a wide range of advising strategies that have been the focus of research conducted during the past 2 decades. This brief considers the findings from each study side by side, distilling gaps between policy and practice and research.

This study sought to better understand how colleges support returning students. The study team conducted focus groups with administrators at 59 2-year and broad-access, 4-year colleges across the United States. The focus groups centered on strategies colleges use to identify, recruit, and support students who left college without a degree (hereafter referred to as “returning students”). Based on the information learned in the focus groups, this brief shares five lessons for practitioners interested in supporting returning students. 

This document presents high-level summaries of the approaches and findings of each network project as well as links to additional resources related to the projects. These projects examined interventions for which there was strong interest at open- and broad-access institutions. College leaders, practitioners, and policymakers can use the findings to guide decision making related to the use and refinement of these interventions.