Re-Imagining the First Year
Re-Imagining the First Year (RFY) was a project aimed at ensuring success for all students, particularly those who have historically been underserved by higher education: low income, first generation, and students of color. With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USA Funds, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) created a coalition of 44 member institutions that worked together for three calendar years (2016-18) to develop comprehensive, institutional transformation that would redesign the first year of college and create sustainable change for student success.
The goal of RFY was to dramatically improve the quality of learning and student experience in the first year, increase retention rates, and improve student success. The RFY project was a groundbreaking collaboration to substantively and sustainably alter the first-year experience for students at participating AASCU institutions.
The first year of college has emerged as the critical barrier to college success, the point at which colleges experience the greatest loss of students. The RFY project recognized that no single intervention will solve student performance, and that solutions that fail to reflect the differing needs of a changing student body will not be successful. RFY sought to inspire redesigned approaches that would work effectively for all members of an increasingly diverse, multicultural, undergraduate student body, eliminating the achievement disparities that have plagued American higher education for generations. Ultimately, re-designing this critical first year will allow for broader reform of the undergraduate experience in the future.
Institutional Participation
Southern Oregon University was one of the 44 participating institutions. Together, we formed a learning community to review and share evidence-based practices, programs and implementation strategies. The RFY initiative entailed a comprehensive, “top-down, bottom-up” approach that engaged the whole campus in focusing on four key areas to help first-year students succeed:
- institutional intentionality,
- curriculum redesign,
- changes in faculty and staff roles, and
- changes in student roles.
Participants received extensive support through national meetings, expert webinars, individual consultation, and online resources and tools. The project was intended to build a robust collection of integrated strategies, programs and approaches that participating campuses could adapt to improve student success. The RFY team leaders from each of the 44 participating universities met in Austin, Texas in February 2016 as part of AASCU’s Academic Affairs meeting to formally kick off the project.
Learn more at SOU's RFY website and the AASCU RFY Project site.
