What We Believe
Technology is not a silver bullet for any problem, but with the right planning and implementation, software can play an important role in advancing student success and equity.
We’ve seen colleges dramatically increase retention and completion by using case management systems and student planning tools. We’ve also seen colleges sink hundreds of thousands of dollars—to say nothing of staff time—into software that is not integrated with college processes and people, detracting from college goals. Our mission is to help more colleges look like the former and avoid the latter. Here are the ways we can support your institution:
Mapping your college’s technology ecosystem and communication flow, detecting addressable ‘pain points’ in the student and staff experience
Creating an implementation and training strategy for a new technology initiative roll-out
Consulting on software vendor selection, including RFP processes and integration planning
Moving the college toward a student-centric online presence, focusing on website and student portal content
Supporting colleges with overcoming a challenged implementation or struggling with integration
Engagements with The Ada Center typically begin with something we call a Student Success Technology Opportunity Assessment. From there, engagements vary in structure to meet the needs of your institution. The first step is to get in touch through email or phone to share what you’re working on.
In addition to The Ada Center’s work with individual institutions, we support a number of national and state initiatives including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Frontier Set, Achieving the Dream, AACC Pathways, HBCU Intermediary, the State Student Success Centers, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, NCII, and others. Through these efforts we conduct practical research for the field, develop open-access materials on navigating today’s emerging software landscape, conduct interactive regional and state workshops on technology planning, and disseminate lessons learned on software implementations. As our organization grows, we look forward to growing our library of resources and forging deeper communities of practice.