Research & Resources
The Degrees When Due initiative was created from evidence-based strategies that emerged from Project Win-Win (adult reengagement) and Credit When It’s Due (reverse transfer). These two initiatives led to changes in policy and practice at hundreds of institutions and resulted in more than 20,000 new associate’s degrees. DWD builds on this evidence base, and the DWD research agenda is extending and expanding research from both initiatives.
Explore past research on adult reengagement and reverse transfer from PWW, CWID, and other research.
DWD Research Priorities
- Attainment and Equity
- We are documenting the number and types of new degrees conferred through degree reclamation, who receives these degrees, how DWD influences institutional and state degree attainment, and how DWD helps close equity gaps.
- Impact
- We are examining the impact of degree reclamation strategies on students’ educational and employment outcomes. This includes both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of how degree reclamation influences students.
- Implementation and Capacity
- We are studying how DWD leads to institutional change and builds institutional capacity to develop and implement degree reclamation strategies.
- Employers and Innovation
- We are examining the potential of employers and innovative educational policies and programs (e.g., PLA, CBE) to facilitate degree reclamation and degree attainment.
- We are testing innovative strategies for re-engaging students with some college and no degree.
Existing Degree Reclamation Research
Degrees When Due initiative was created from evidence-based strategies that emerged from Project Win-Win (adult reengagement) and Credit When It’s Due (reverse transfer). These two initiatives led to changes in policy and practice at hundreds of institutions and resulted in more than 20,000 new associate’s degrees. DWD builds on this evidence base, and the DWD research agenda is extending and expanding research from both initiatives.
Click to explore past research on adult reengagement and reverse transfer from PWW, CWID, and other research.
Degree Reclamation Research (Adult Reengagement and Reverse Transfer)
The Potential of Degree Reclamation
By Katherine Wheatle, Jason L. Taylor, Debra D. Bragg, & Julie Ajinkya
This brief examines evidence-based and equity-focused degree reclamation strategies that support potential college degree completers—students who have accumulated roughly two or more academic years’ worth of credit and have stopped out of an institution or transferred from a two-year to a four-year institution before receiving a degree—in attaining degrees that are meaningful to their education and career goals. The brief provides a rationale for degree reclamation strategies and provides institutional, state, and federal policy recommendations to support degree reclamation.
Adult Reengagement Research
Searching for Our Lost Associate’s Degrees: Project Win-Win at the Finish Line
By Clifford Adelman
The report reveals the results of Project Win-Win’s national efforts to locate former students, no longer enrolled anywhere and never awarded a degree, whose records indicated that they were within striking distance of qualifying for associate’s degrees, and to award those degrees retroactively.
Bringing Adults Back to College: Designing and Implementing a Statewide Concierge Model
By Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
To better understand the barriers faced by students in the reenrollment process and how a Concierge Model can help potential students reengage and earn a degree, WICHE collaborated with the Nevada System of Higher Education to convene a meeting of staff from each of the seven public institutions who serve as the campus concierge. This brief highlights effective strategies of ready adult concierges and provides a framework for those interested in implementing this model.
Reverse Transfer Research
Optimizing Reverse Transfer Policies and Processes: Lessons from Twelve CWID States
By Jason L. Taylor and Debra D. Bragg
This brief examines five dimensions of reverse transfer: student identification, consent, transcript exchange, degree conferral and advising. The brief identifies ways in which reverse transfer can be maximized.
The Implementation and Outcomes of Credit When It’s Due (CWID ) in 15 States
By Jason L. Taylor, Sheena A. Kauppila, Edén Cortes-Lopez, Maria Claudia Soler, Cari Bishop, Elizabeth Meza, Heather McCambly, and Debra D. Bragg.
This comprehensive technical report describes the results of a study that examined the implementation and outcomes of Credit When It’s Due, a 4-year, multi-state initiative intended to develop and implement reverse transfer policies. The report describes the implementation and outcomes in each CWID state.
By Matt S. Giani
This data note illustrates that although many transfer students have the right number of credits for an associate’s degree, the majority of potentially eligible students do not have the right type of credits.
CWID DATE NOTE: Reverse Credit Transfer and the Associate’s Degree Advantage
By Jason L. Taylor and Sheena Kauppila
This data note reviews descriptive retention and bachelor’s degree outcomes for students who received an associate’s degree via reverse transfer, and it shows that students who received an associate’s degree via reverse transfer have higher retention and bachelor’s degree completion rates compared to similarly eligible students who did not receive an associate’s degree.
CWID DATA NOTE: Reverse Credit Transfer: Increasing State Associate’s Degree Attainment
By Jason L. Taylor and Edén Cortes-Lopez
This data note shares associate’s degree conferral numbers by state and illustrates how reverse transfer increased the annual number of associate’s degrees conferred in CWID states.