Transformation Vision
Our Mission
The John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education is a non-profit organization dedicated to partnering with colleges, universities, philanthropic organizations, educators, and other entities to increase institutional responsibility for improving outcomes associated with teaching, learning, retention, and completion. The Institute supports postsecondary education’s efforts to ensure that every learner earns a credential that leads to a meaningful career and a highly fulfilling life. Through its work, the Institute will advance higher education’s broader mission of expanding opportunity and success for all students.
The Transformation Vision – the Gardner Institute’s North Star
The Gardner Institute will be the nation’s leading organization dedicated to helping higher education institutions and systems transform themselves so every student can thrive, earn credentials/degrees of high value, and lead fulfilling lives.
The Means – The Transformation Approach
The Gardner Institute is currently advancing Phase 1 of its Transformation Vision by working with 30 institutions across three national cohorts to redesign the first two years of college where 75% of all attrition occurs. The three cohorts include two- and four-year institutions as well as public and private colleges and universities. Collectively the institutions serve nearly 250,000 undergraduates, including large numbers of first-generation and Pell-eligible students.
The Institute tracks progress with leading, intermediate, and long-term indicators, while also piloting artificial intelligence tools to scale insights and sustain quality. Early evidence shows measurable improvements in retention, course success, and closing of performance gaps as institutions embrace Transformation not as another initiative, but as a systemic, integrative approach to student success.
Even amid leadership turnover and policy volatility, the work is proving resilient and catalytic. Phase II of the effort – the National Transformation Collaborative – will be conducted in partnership with SHEEO. In Phase II, the Gardner Institute is poised to expand this Transformation effort into upper-division years, transfer pathways, and post-completion outcomes, deploying the work at the state / system level to drive change at scale.