The Research Alliance for New York City Schools and Graduate NYC! invite you to a Community Best Practices Forum to identify and discuss practices that have demonstrated promise in increasing college persistence and completion rates. The Forum will look at relevant policies, programmatic interventions, and research taking place at two- and four-year institutions, as well as at community-based organizations. 

The morning’s featured keynote speaker will be Dr. Martha Kanter who is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Higher Education and Senior Fellow at New York University. President Barack Obama nominated Dr. Kanter in 2009 to serve as the U.S. Under Secretary of Education. She has also served as President of De Anza College and Chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District in California. Dr. Kanter began her career as a teacher in an alternative high school. She will frame the topic of persistence and completion from the unique perspective she brings from both higher education and government/policy.

Following the keynote, Vanessa Coca of the Research Alliance will present a brief overview of persistence and completion patterns among NYC students. She will be followed by a panel of researchers who will discuss the evidence base for various types of interventions designed to increase persistence and completion. The panel will be moderated by Saskia Levy Thompson of the Research Alliance.

The day will conclude with breakout sessions co-facilitated by researchers and local practitioners focused on persistence and completion.