Gardner Institute: Transformative Student Success Strategies

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Partnering with Institutions to Transform the Postsecondary Experience

For nearly three decades, the Gardner Institute has partnered with colleges, universities, and higher education systems to build the capacity for lasting institutional transformation.

Together, we strengthen teaching and learning, redesign the student experience, and create the conditions for every student to thrive, complete credentials and degrees of high value, and lead a purposeful life.

Transformation Begins with Partnership

Every institution has its own history, strengths, challenges, and aspirations. Meaningful transformation begins by understanding that unique context.

The Gardner Institute works alongside institutional leaders, faculty, staff, and students to develop shared understanding, strengthen institutional capacity, and align the people, practices, policies, and systems that shape the student experience.

Our partnerships are designed to help institutions move from identifying challenges to implementing, sustaining, and scaling meaningful change.

Turn Your Greatest Challenges Into Sustainable Student Success and Institutional Growth

Lasting Transformation Requires an Institution-Wide Approach

Institutional transformation is the intentional alignment of leadership, culture, teaching and learning, policies, systems, and the student experience.

It connects work that is too often addressed separately and helps institutions build a more coherent, student-centered approach to change.

The Gardner Institute partners with colleges, universities, and systems to develop the capacity, structures, and shared practices needed to improve experiences and outcomes for every student.

Hear how Houston Community College worked with the Gardner Institute to examine institutional practices, empower faculty and staff, and strengthen the student experience.

Transformation Through Partnership

Featured Services

We’ll never prescribe a one-size-fits all model. Explore solutions that meet you where you are and take you farther than you thought possible.

Transforming the Postsecondary Experience™ | Institution-Wide Redesign

Undergo a rigorous transformation of the most crucial touchpoints during a student’s first and second year of college.

Curricular Analytics Academy | Improve Retention & Graduation

The Curricular Analytics Community is designed to involve faculty and staff in a process that leverages improvement science and curricular analytics tools to identify opportunities for equitable curriculum redesign at their institutions. High curricular complexity has been correlated with low retention rates, extended time to graduation, and increased credit accumulation for students.

Retention Academy

Undertake a 5-week analysis into data retention planning processes proven to improve retention.

Transformation

Embark on a comprehensive redesign of where it matters most – the first two years of the student journey.

Redesign

Enhance pivotal aspects of the student experience to increase the speed and rate of graduation.

Practice

Expand your network and institutional capacity through targeted academies, peer learning, and our expertise.

Guidance

Find contextualized support – from speaking engagements to site visits – from our passionate strategists.

We Work Hard to Win Your Trust:

colleges and universities and over 5 million students served.

lower DFWI rate in one academic year following Course Redesign participation

0 %

made by participants in retention revenue for every $1 used to work with us

$ 0

“The Curricular Analytics Community tools helped us to look deeply into the various systems that affect our students, to identify causes of delays and unintended obstacles, and to consider why systems were designed in certain ways. More than that, these tools led us from those analyses to action plans that we can implement immediately.”

Sarah L. Peters, Ph.D.

Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies, East Central University