Questions for Boards

Recommended Resources

All Resources

Why this is important.

Student success is central to the mission of higher education. Colleges and universities strive to prepare students to join the workforce and become leaders in their fields and engaged members in their communities. In today’s rapidly evolving economy, students must cultivate diverse skill sets beyond narrow technical training to become truly successful.

It is up to colleges and universities to provide students with the tools to success. AGB empowers our members to focus on student success in all its forms—student work readiness, graduation rates, personal growth, and retention rates— to ensure their students’ successful transition from the classroom to the workplace.

The idea of student success has become much more comprehensive and complex. Boards must be ready to create policy and metrics to ensure that student success is actually occurring.

Sources: “Hear the Voices of Your Students and Invite Them to Serve,” AGB Blog Post by Lynnette M. Heard, October 19, 2020
“Educating Students for an Uncertain Future” by Morton Schapiro and Gary Saul Morson, Trusteeship September/October 2020

 

Questions for boards.

Click below to reveal key questions for your board to consider:

Goals

Consequential Questions:

  1. Does our current mission statement reflect our institutional commitment to student success?
  2. Does our board have clear goals and benchmarks in place for measuring student success?
  3. Does our institution adhere to narrow definitions of student work readiness based on job-specific technical skills or have we adopted more inclusive and expansive notions of skills that span careers?

Sources:

“A New Way to Gauge Student Success Rates” by Terry W. Hartle, Trusteeship July/August 2019
“Educating Students for an Uncertain Future” by Morton Schapiro and Gary Saul Morson, Trusteeship September/October 2020

Metrics

Consequential Questions:

  1. What is our completion rate? How have these numbers changed over time?
  2. How many of our students have graduated with jobs? How have these numbers changed over time?
  3. Did our students acquire the tools they needed to get and keep a good job during their time with our institution?
  4. Do our graduates have a higher income because they attended college?

Sources:

“A New Way to Gauge Student Success Rates” by Terry W. Hartle, Trusteeship July/August 2019
“Educating Students for an Uncertain Future” by Morton Schapiro and Gary Saul Morson, Trusteeship September/October 2020

Ongoing Success

Consequential Questions:

  1. Given today’s student debt crisis, is our institution doing everything in its power to financially support our students?
  2. How is our institution preparing our students to thrive at a time of profound economic and democratic disruption?
  3. How successful is our alumni network in connecting recent graduates with alumni regarding job opportunities?

Sources:

“A New Way to Gauge Student Success Rates” by Terry W. Hartle, Trusteeship July/August 2019
“Educating Students for an Uncertain Future” by Morton Schapiro and Gary Saul Morson, Trusteeship September/October 2020

We carefully curated these staff-picked resources for you:

Board Responsibility for Equitable Student Success

Toolkit
AGB

Measuring Student Success Beyond Completion

Trusteeship magazine, March/April 2024
By David Tobenkin

More of What We Need

Trusteeship magazine, March/April 2024
By Kristin D. Hultquist and Harrison Keller

Navigating Our Volatile Environment by Placing Student Success at the Center of Strategy

Blog Post
Lisa Foss

Linking Student Debt and Student Success

Blog Post
Lisa Foss

Building a Strong Board-Faculty Partnership for Student Success

Blog Post
Lisa Foss

All resources.

Trusteeship Article
Focus on the Presidency The Swing of the Pendulum. Or as We Say in French, Plus Ça Change….
Five decades ago, university curriculums were highly structured. Faculty created and selected the most appropriate courses. They carefully defined prerequisites, prescribed the depth and breadth of inquiry, and expected outcomes. University administrators started with the essential courses and built from …
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Toward an Inclusive Campus Community
Events on campuses this year have resonated in boardrooms across the country. Not many could have predicted the issues that would ultimately unseat a number of college presidents. Yet for many of our students, these events have been brewing for …
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Holistic Admissions
For the first time in the history of our school at the University of Cincinnati, last fall the entering class had more women than men. Many members of our board of trustees and I can remember the time, decades ago, …
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Trusteeship Article
Governing Boards and Student Learning Outcomes Assessment
Members of governing boards carry the ultimate responsibility for an institution’s assets and activities, including its core values, strategic vision, and academic mission. Although the faculty and academic leadership are on the front lines, questions of student success—including learning, personal …
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Trusteeship Article
Board Responsibility for the Oversight of College Completion
AGB is more than halfway through an 18-month Lumina Foundation-funded project intended to ensure the fulfillment of college and university missions and student success, as measured by outcomes such as graduating more students with high-quality credentials. Board members’ responses to a …
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Higher Education's Critical Role in Increasing Opportunity in America
Board members who want to be great stewards of the institutions they are entrusted to lead—today and into the future—must ensure two things: that they truly understand what the numbers say about their institution’s contributions to restoring opportunity in America …
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AGB Board Statements
AGB Board of Directors’ Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of College Completion
Monday, February 1, 2016 The below is excerpted from the preface; download the full statement.  One of the most important challenges for American higher education today is increasing the number of students who enroll in and complete their postsecondary education with …
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AGB Reports
Governing Board Oversight of College Completion
The issue of college completion has become a hot-button topic for higher education and the public in recent years. While completion is not a new issue, several national and state-level efforts, including President Obama’s 2020 college-completion goal to increase the …
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Trusteeship Article
A Question For Jamienne S. Studley
Jamienne S. Studley, deputy under secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, was president of Skidmore College, associate dean of Yale Law School, and a board member of AAC&U, the Association of American Colleges & Universities. We asked her about …
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Trusteeship Article
View from the Board Chair: The Importance of Student Stories
At every meeting of the Trinity Washington University board of trustees, we have an opportunity to hear from students. We enjoy lunch together and then listen to their stories. We have heard from graduate students and student athletes; we have …
Read Article

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