During the third installment of its Raise the Bar series last week, the Department of Education released new data and complementary research highlighting the most successful transfer partnerships, based on student outcomes, between community colleges and four-year institutions.

Even though 44% of undergraduate students nationally start at community colleges, there has long been a dearth of public data on how well four-year institutions serve these students. The Department’s new data identifies the top transfer-serving two-year and four-year institutional partnerships in each state and provides outcome data on how well these partnerships serve transfer students across several measures, including transfer-out rates, transfer-in bachelor’s completion rates, and more.

The Raise the Bar Summit is a series of gatherings hosted by the Department as part of an initiative to address issues within the higher education system. The theme of last week’s summit was “Transfer Student Success,” and over 200 higher education leaders and government officials from 11 states were in attendance. In attendance were NAICU members Lola Brabham, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York, Kristen Soares, president of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU), Ann McElaney-Johnson, president of Mount Saint Mary’s University, and Mark David Milliron, president of National University. Additionally, representatives from the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities , Heritage University, Stevenson University, and McDaniel College also participated.

In his recorded speech, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stressed that, given the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, it is more urgent than ever to create a more equitable system of higher education, and leaders must “dramatically level up their support for transfer students.” As part of this effort, the Department and attendees made commitments to support more effective state transfer policies, implement best practices for transfer policy at the institutional level, improve transfer student advising, and incorporate data- and technology-enabled transfer solutions.

Cardona also noted that many students of color or those from lower-income backgrounds begin their higher education at two-year institutions and stressed that the commitments made during the summit can serve as critical pathways for these student populations and can help lead to more diverse student bodies at colleges and universities.

This new research is the first of its kind by the Department, but officials have already announced that the agency will release its next report, focusing on tracking community college students and outcome measures, early next year.