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 work—or don’t work. That information could help schools design strategies for nudging students in a thoughtful, nuanced manner. Our findings indicate that nudges can become an invaluable tool for holistically supporting learners in career pathways programs.

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 the goal to support reenrollment among pre-allied health students during the pandemic. The treatment significantly increased reenrollment by 3 percentage points (74% vs. 71%). Examination of individual differences revealed that effects were concentrated among men (+11 percentage points), Black/African American students (+7 percentage points), and students who were not enrolled in Spring 2020 (+13 percentage points).

Simmons said, "All my life I have cared for others, never putting myself first, so you can imagine how surprised I was the first time Queensborough texted me to see how school was going."

In the 2018, Episode 120 of Teaching Matters, we learned about Persistence Plus, a communication platform that uses text messages to give students behavioral nudges toward academic success. Now, 3 years later, we can dive into the successes of this platform and how it has been expanded to address a variety of student needs, including those surrounding the pandemic. We are joined by Dr. Ross O’Hara, Director of Behavioral Science and Education with Persistence Plus, and Marisa Vernon White, Vice President of Enrollment Management at Lorain County Community College, which has been an institutional leader in use of the Persistence Plus technology.

"Students appreciate that sense that someone's actually paying attention to whether or not I succeed and they care and they want me to be successful and that really goes a long way."

Lakeland and Persistence Plus have partnered since 2017 to bolster student success via a marriage of behavioral science, mobile technology, and on-campus efforts. The strength of our partnership allowed us to tap into students’ hidden barriers with the onset of the pandemic and keep their experiences at the center of our interventions and programs. 

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 excel in this format, and I saw four key themes emerge.

We’ve learned a lot in the past month about supporting students and staff in crisis, and we’re thinking about how those lessons play into the larger story unfolding in higher education today. In that spirit, we want to share the steps we’ve taken to help others during COVID-19, so we can all be better prepared for the future.

Gentle reminders and offers of support via text, email or alerts may be just the motivation college students — especially minority and adult learners — need to continue in courses perceived as being tough.

Jobs for the Future (JFF) and Persistence Plus selected three institutions in Ohio and one in Virginia to implement a campuswide nudging initiative, which involved nearly 10,000 students total, after a successful pilot of the program in 2017. 

Two organizations working to instill innovation in American education found big success in "nudging" strategies for STEM students within community colleges.

A behavioral "nudging" campaign at four community colleges improved student persistence rates, according to the report "Nudging to STEM Success" released Tuesday by Jobs For the Future, a nonprofit group, and the technology company Persistence Plus.

Discussing college as a public good in the same way that we do K-12 education could shift the entire concept of risk away from the individual student and toward something that all 257 million of us share so that nobody feels the weight of it. Only when we move away from these economic descriptions of college can we see it as something that everybody is entitled to and that benefits all of us.

Three local community colleges are trying to reach students where they are: their phones. The text message "nudges" started as part of a joint initiative by educational and economic-focused nonprofit Jobs for the Future and Persistence Plus, the company behind the messages.

Many students withdraw when they find themselves facing insurmountable debts, both financial and academic. Offering a fresh start could motivate them to finish their degree.