The second edition of the Transfer Playbook is the culmination of two years of quantitative analysis and qualitative fieldwork that builds on the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program and CCRC’s 2016 Playbook and subsequent work with thousands of higher education leaders and practitioners nationwide. This research centers on the practices that exemplary community colleges, universities, and transfer partnerships used to achieve relatively strong transfer and bachelor’s attainment outcomes overall and specifically for low-income, Black, and Hispanic students. Based on their findings, the authors present a practical framework for achieving better outcomes that is organized around three broad strategies:
- Prioritize transfer at the executive level to achieve sustainable success at scale.
- Align program pathways and high-quality instruction to promote timely bachelor’s completion within a major.
- Tailor transfer advising and nonacademic supports to foster trust and engagement.
For each strategy, the authors also discuss three essential practices; each practice, in turn, features several key ideas and is supported by field examples from institutions selected for the study. This framework can guide leaders, practitioners, and faculty members at community colleges and universities as they develop plans for their own campuses.
