New Anti-Poverty Program Spans 5 Counties

The program was devised with help from The Institute, a collaboration among 13 higher education institutions, with support from CEO and The Robin Hood Foundation, a New York City poverty fighting organization. Other partners include Unite Pennsylvania, a coordinated care network of health and social service agencies that use a shared technology platform to allow electronic Read more about New Anti-Poverty Program Spans 5 Counties[…]

Keep in Touch: How to Increase Student Engagement and Retention Through Text

P+ partner Kevin Li: “When more institutions are aware that this is not just a communication tool but that there’s a lot of science behind it, they will come on board and follow the same approach to benefit more students at scale and in a more cost-effective manner. In addition to nudging students toward certain Read more about Keep in Touch: How to Increase Student Engagement and Retention Through Text[…]

The Edge: Nudges for Academic Progress

Goldie Blumenstyk: Delaware Tech used text messages to connect students’ “personal values to their pursuit of health-care credentials, reframe misconceptions about who belongs in allied health, and appreciate the everyday practical utility of what they learn in class.” Such supportive counseling is more common in STEM fields, and not necessarily via text. If this approach Read more about The Edge: Nudges for Academic Progress[…]

Nudging Students Toward Holistic Supports and Postsecondary Success

Since 2017, our organizations, Jobs for the Future (JFF) and Persistence Plus, have partnered to learn more about nudging and tackle two of higher education’s thorniest challenges: increasing racial equity and developing talent for in-demand jobs. Instead of trying to determine whether nudging works or not, we recently engaged in research to identify the conditions under which nudges Read more about Nudging Students Toward Holistic Supports and Postsecondary Success[…]

Values-Based Interventions Increase Reenrollment and Equity among Community College Pre-Allied Health Students

Addressing labor shortages within nursing and allied health professions, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, requires increasing persistence and equity among community college students pursuing these fields. In this study, we adapted and combined three values-based interventions (values affirmation, goal congruence, and utility values) into one treatment, delivered via interactive text messages, with Read more about Values-Based Interventions Increase Reenrollment and Equity among Community College Pre-Allied Health Students[…]

Hearing What Students Have to Say About Success in Online Learning­­­­­

While the internet is saturated with “hacks” for online learning, I want to connect you with the best experts I know: Students. Since March, the Persistence Plus mobile nudging support platform has asked more than 25,000 students from both two- and four-year institutions about their experiences with remote learning. Specifically, we gathered their advice about how to Read more about Hearing What Students Have to Say About Success in Online Learning­­­­­[…]

Nudging Financially Insecure College Students to Success

To finish college while navigating the challenges of everyday life, these students need to plan well and access resources designed to keep them enrolled—with very little room for error. At Persistence Plus, we’ve spent the last 7 years using behavioral science and text messaging to support college students through difficult times so they can stay Read more about Nudging Financially Insecure College Students to Success[…]

Giving a Nudge: How Digital Alerts Can Keep Students On Track

Put simply, nudges are interventions that steer someone toward a better decision without taking away their choice. In higher ed, they take the form of messages delivered through texts, emails or the learning management system that warn a student if they’ve fallen off track, alert them to important deadlines and make them aware of campus Read more about Giving a Nudge: How Digital Alerts Can Keep Students On Track[…]

Texting App Offers Students Encouragement and Advice

Persistence Plus is a texting service designed to help learners, especially first-year, first-generation, and adult students, succeed in college. Students receive periodic check-ins via text from an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot with questions such as ‘What’s your biggest concern about school right now?’ The bot offers advice and resources specific to each student and rooted Read more about Texting App Offers Students Encouragement and Advice[…]

Community College STEM Students Getting ‘Nudged’ Toward Success

The ubiquity of cell phones make text nudges one of the more effective way to reach students, according to educators like Julie Ranson, vice president of student success at John Tyler Community College. “There’s a psychological component to these behavioral nudges, about talking to students about how other students cope with college. It’s not the Read more about Community College STEM Students Getting ‘Nudged’ Toward Success[…]

Text Messaging Initiative Will Nudge STEM Students Toward Success

A new project is tapping into mobile technology to increase community college completion for students in STEM fields. Nudging to STEM Success — a joint initiative from Persistence Plus, maker of a mobile app for student success, and nonprofit Jobs for the Future — will use text messages to help students navigate the complexities of college, succeed Read more about Text Messaging Initiative Will Nudge STEM Students Toward Success[…]

Press Release: Jobs for the Future and Persistence Plus Launch Initiative Using Behavioral Science to Help Students Complete Community College & Earn a STEM Degree

Starting this fall, tens of thousands of students will receive evidence-based behavioral nudges over text message to help them navigate the complexities of college, succeed in STEM studies and move toward college graduation. JFF is partnering with Persistence Plus to strengthen student success rates broadly, and in particular in STEM pathways.

Nudging Students to Succeed: A New Approach to Retention and Graduation

We know that despite the high support that may be offered, students are often afraid to ask for help regardless—especially if they already lack confidence in their academic skills. These students struggle to manage their time and responsibilities and setbacks can lead them to question whether their sacrifices are worth it, or if they belong Read more about Nudging Students to Succeed: A New Approach to Retention and Graduation[…]

The Most Important Factor in a College Student’s Success

Middlesex Community College in Connecticut recently launched a program that regularly sends personalized text messages to students’ smartphones based on individual student needs, activities and performance. For example, messages will remind a student about an impending financial aid deadline or remind a student before an exam about available tutoring resources. These messages are specifically designed Read more about The Most Important Factor in a College Student’s Success[…]

Targeting Behaviors and Student Success: A Q&A

One student commented how “it’s like you can’t really fail” because the nudges help motivate you. Students in developmental education, specifically, have mentioned the sense of community that nudges foster. One student said that nudges were a reminder that they were not “the only one having a crisis in the middle of the semester or Read more about Targeting Behaviors and Student Success: A Q&A[…]

Keeping Students on Track with a Mobile Nudge

Looking for a way to help these “new traditionals” persist from freshman year into succeeding years, UWT turned to a technology that is already ubiquitous to most students: mobile. The institution was the first school to use Persistence Plus, a personalized mobile support system that uses behavioral interventions to reach out to, engage and support students Read more about Keeping Students on Track with a Mobile Nudge[…]

Nudge Nation: A New Way to Prod Students Into and Through College

Perhaps even more than some other technology nudges, the Persistence Plus model shows that worries about the potentially dehumanizing effects of technology in an educational setting are misplaced. The firm’s model, while still a work in progress, may show just the opposite—that technology can be used to personalize student support through outreach of a kind Read more about Nudge Nation: A New Way to Prod Students Into and Through College[…]

The ‘Personalization’ of Higher Education: Using Technology to Enhance the College Experience

An early example of this technology is being introduced by a social enterprise called Persistence Plus. Founded by Jill Frankfort and Kenneth Salim, who previously worked at the Kaufman Foundation’s Education Ventures Program, Persistence Plus uses smart software in mobile platforms such as cell phones and iPads to engage and motivate students to complete college. Think Read more about The ‘Personalization’ of Higher Education: Using Technology to Enhance the College Experience[…]