Starting college is never easy. But for working adults, it can feel almost impossible. Many are returning to higher education after past starts and stops, often carrying the weight of student debt and previous college experiences. In parallel, adult undergraduates are balancing full-time jobs, caregiving responsibilities, and the demands of everyday life.
Now imagine adding an intensive, rigorous degree program on top of it all.
At Reach University, we’ve built the Apprenticeship Degree to work for working adults. In recognizing an opportunity to increase first-year persistence, in 2024, our faculty presented an important question: “What more can we do to make that critical first year not just possible, but successful and sustainable, for every candidate?”
The answer came in the form of a bold redesign of an undergraduate’s first year, known as the Foundation Year. What began as a traditionally-structured year of five separate classes, five professors, and five sets of expectations, was reimagined into a fully-integrated, manageable, and immersive degree experience, mirroring that of the remainder of the degree experience.
The goal? Beyond persistence, the primary goals were to reduce stress, strengthen relationships, and support candidates in transitioning from surviving college to thriving in it.
The Redesign: Centered on Candidates, Driven by Data
Led by Provost & Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Anastasia Wickham, and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Lisa LeBoeuf, the Foundation Year Redesign Team dug into syllabi and content across courses, ultimately transforming the structure into an immersive cluster model aligned with the larger undergraduate experience. The aim was clear: reduce chaos, build stronger relationships, and ease the workload for first-year candidates.
To assess the impact, candidates who experienced both versions – the Spring 2024 traditional term and the redesigned Fall 2024 cluster model – were surveyed. The results spoke volumes:
- Candidates overwhelmingly prefer the cluster model: Fewer professors and courses at one time led to reduced stress and deeper learning.
- Workload and responsibilities were more manageable: Candidates felt supported to thrive, not just survive, in their first year.
- Most importantly, first-year retention jumped from 77% in Spring to 89% in Fall – a meaningful improvement in just one semester.
The outcomes also validated Reach’s commitment to the Reach Tutorial Method, which is a unique instructional strategy aimed at cultivating relationships, facilitating collaborative learning, and enhancing job-embedded learning. The tutorial method is interwoven throughout Reach’s Apprenticeship Degree.
Scaling Candidate-Centered Design
This redesign confirmed what Reach’s faculty already believed: that candidate-centered design and relationship-based teaching make a tangible difference in a learner’s experience. As faculty move forward, data will continue to inform how best to deliver the candidate experience. This includes:
- Further Enhance the Candidate-Centered Approach: We will continue to prioritize candidate feedback and utilize data-driven insights to refine program design and implementation.
- Deepen the Reach Tutorial Method: We will further explore and implement strategies to leverage the Reach Tutorial Method, fostering a supportive and interconnected learning community.
- Iterate with Purpose: The redesign is not a one-off effort. It is the reflection of an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement from year one through program completion.
“The redesign of the Foundational Year was the result of dynamic collaboration, driven by a shared goal: ensuring our courses better meet the academic and social needs of our candidates. Based on feedback and data, we’ve created a year that is not just candidate-centered, but truly transformational.” — Dr. Chris Dier, Faculty Lead and Professor
Meet the Faculty Driving Change
This impact would not be possible without the thoughtful, collaborative leaders of practice who made the redesign a reality:
Redesign Team:
Leigh Ann Erickson (Composition), Brianna Young (Metacognition), Carmen Hercules (Early Child Development), Chris Dier (History), Consuela Amos (First Year Experience), Juaquana Lewis (Placements), Mary Arrasmith (Child Development), Alex Hill (Science), Samantha Friar (Speech), and Jamillah Gabriel (Librarian).
Advisors:
Lisa LeBoeuf (Curriculum), Torrence Williams (Craft Tracker), Emily Thomforde (Computational Thinking), Rose Chantiluke (Reach Tutorial Method).
“The ability to remain agile and responsive to the needs of our candidates is a complete game changer. The cross-curricular collaboration—even just the general sharing of resources—has been so supportive on the faculty side as well.” — Mary Arrasmith, Faculty Lead and Professor
Reach is proud of this candidate-focused progress – and even prouder of the passionate leaders behind it and its positive impact to Reach’s ever-growing candidate community.
