Complete College America today announced the first-ever recipients of the GPS Direct Seal of Approval and Emerging Technology awards. The two awards recognize software tools that most effectively promote college completion and student success through alignment with the organization’s Guided Pathways to Success (GPS) initiative.
For 2016, the award program evaluated vendors and their software solutions for functionality that supports pathways, including the ability to default register students onto their chosen academic map, easy integration of the registration process and software, and the mechanisms for ongoing monitoring and reporting for when students get off track.
The 2016 GPS Direct Seal of Approval recipients are EAB and CollegeSource. The Emerging Technology Award recognizes EduNav and Full Measure Education.
“With student debt now totaling $1.3 trillion, states and institutions must recognize that one of the most powerful steps we can take for college affordability is to ensure many more students graduate on time” – Stan Jones
Each of the four award recipients met the standards established by CCA’s Seal of Approval Advisory Board – a blue-ribbon panel of top technologists and higher education leaders. Seal of Approval recipients exhibited a wider scale of implementation and longer tenure in pathways work. Emerging Technology Award recipients show smaller-scale implementation, but demonstrate innovative approaches and new thinking on the role of higher education technology in student success and the trajectory towards completion.
“With student debt now totaling $1.3 trillion, states and institutions must recognize that one of the most powerful steps we can take for college affordability is to ensure many more students graduate on time,” said Stan Jones, president of Complete College America. “GPS Direct is laser-focused on this goal, and we’re thrilled that these developers are providing technology solutions that help students get on track, stay on track and ultimately graduate.”
Complete College America Senior Vice President Tom Sugar, who oversaw the selection committee, stated, “Technology plays an important role in promoting on-time completion. These vendors have not only shown the efficacy of their solutions, they have fully embraced the transformative and proven philosophy that putting students on highly-structured degree maps and monitoring their progress can dramatically boost college completion rates.”
The award recipients will be recognized as part of Complete College America’s 2016 Annual Convening in San Francisco, California on November 11th.
