We conduct rigorous applied research on past institutional transformation and new transformation strategies.

The research base points to clear strategies that help build more equitable, student-focused higher education institutions. It is, however, less clear on how to make those strategies happen on individual campuses, or on how to support leaders as they shepherd equity-forward, adaptive change. Plus, there's always more to learn. Phase Two Advisory uses the tools of academia to conduct rigorous research that builds the field's knowledge of "how" to shepherd transformation. Our research is explicitly targeted towards those in the field; we write reports and build practical tools to help those doing the day-to-day work on campus.

Phase Two Advisory conducts applied research that:

  • Scans the field for new innovations and equity strategies

  • Examines campus-based implementation practices

  • Explores adaptive leadership, particularly among middle-leaders

  • Emphasizes student voice, agency, and expertise

  • Distills lessons for on-the-ground, equity-forward practitioners

Our Work

  • Higher education has been reforming developmental education assessment and placement practices, as well as approaches to developmental education more broadly, for over a decade. These efforts have led to significantly improved outcomes for students in introductory English and math courses and slowly started to close equity gaps. However, these reforms haven’t completely solved the puzzle of how best to ensure that new college students have access to courses and pedagogies that will lead to academic momentum and progress towards degree completion.

    Our work with colleges around the country, as well as conversations with our funders, made us curious. What might “next generation” placement approaches look like? Can colleges use the energy surrounding placement reform to spur bigger institutional change in order to improve student experiences and outcomes? And how can we use the answers to these questions to provide a new vision of what is possible when it comes to supporting entering students?

  • With funding from the Ascendium Education Group, we launched an exploratory study aimed at uncovering innovative placement approaches around the country, and examining how those approaches might be used to spur institutional transformation. Using the tools of high-quality, IRB-approved qualitative research, we identified colleges engaged in placement reform and conducted virtual interviews with stakeholders to understand their work, how it centered equity, and how it might lead to broader institutional change.

    We’ll code the data and answer our questions around what innovations are occurring, and how placement can be used as transformation. We’ll also identify emergent themes that might matter to practitioners–for example, unpacking the role of middle leadership in designing and shepherding reform.

  • As with all Phase Two research, we want this project to inform practitioners and field leaders. Throughout 2024, we’ll be releasing our findings in briefs, practitioner reports, and funder memos. We will also be sharing what we’ve learned at conferences around the country so that individuals on the ground can take lessons from their colleagues and put them into practice on their own campuses. And, we’ll work with funders and policymakers to translate the research findings into new funding and policy approaches wherever possible.

    You can find our reports as they come out, here.