Q&A with CPE President Aaron Thompson: Keeping up the momentum of student success
January 13, 2025
You’ve always talked about bridging the gaps in the P-20 pipeline. While Kentucky has made some progress, which of the gaps has been the hardest to bridge?
Yes, we’ve made great progress, especially with dual credit. We still have some work to do - like improving the quality of programs and participation by underserved groups, like rural students and Black males – but we’re improving by leaps and bounds.
But to answer your question about the hardest thing …. Something I’m hearing more and more about is how our students don’t know enough about career options while in high school. That might not seem pertinent to postsecondary, but in fact, it is. When students come to us without a career in mind, they tend to change majors, sometimes multiple times. And for many, that means it’ll take them longer and it’ll cost more for them to get their degrees. For us in postsecondary, it negatively effects all our key success metrics – retention rates, graduation rates, affordability, etc.
That’s one reason why CPE has integrated workforce readiness and outcomes into our operations and accountability system. We’re trying to strengthen and expand our K12, postsecondary and employer networks to get these students the information, programs and opportunities they need to succeed in both college and career. And we’re hoping that will contribute to improvements in postsecondary performance….
I’m really happy that our KYSSC is having this summit because it’s focused on taking the lead on collaborations like these. Because CPE can’t do it alone. Yes, we’ve got the Advising Academy out there encouraging K12-workforce partnerships, but we’ve got to increase the number of postsecondary-employer partnerships. And it’ll be dependent upon our college and university staff to not only make them happen, but also sustain momentum.
Kentucky’s enrollment seems to be recovering after the pandemic. What do you see as our challenges in retaining and graduating these students?
Well, speaking of momentum, we lost quite a bit of learning momentum due to the pandemic. And by learning, I don’t just mean academic, but also social and emotional. I’m a sociologist and know how vital it is to have students experience certain milestones in person, among others… And now we’re seeing that affect test scores and mental health outcomes. And because every grade cohort – from kindergarten to high school – experienced this loss, it’s going to take time for us to fully recover. I like to tell people, much like the virus, we as an education system will be experiencing a version of “long covid” for several years.
But I don’t want to dwell on the negative. We are making gains, in spite of all that. We just announced that Kentucky was second in the nation for completion rate gains. I credit the work of all our campuses and the support systems they’ve heavily invested in, especially for underserved students. All their hard work is making a difference. And I commend them for it – I hope their leadership will continue, and also hope that the legislature will continue providing the funding to keep these programs in place.
With that in mind, the legislature has heavily invested in postsecondary as a means to improve Kentucky’s workforce. In what areas do we need to ramp up our efforts to meet these expectations?
I mentioned before about more frequent and earlier information about careers. But another need is strengthening alignment among academic programs and regional or state workforce needs. The idea that postsecondary should be held accountable, not only for producing skilled graduates, but for ensuring they get quality jobs, and those jobs are preferably located in Kentucky.
And that’s why the legislature is giving funding to CPE to award grants to our institutions – we’ve got to recruit students and retain graduates in areas like healthcare, aviation and advanced manufacturing. And our institutions – getting back to that leadership theme – need to be the leaders in this effort. CPE can encourage collaborations and partnerships, but it is the campuses that lay the groundwork for their success and sustainability.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Only that I hope that those reading this consider attending the Summit. I can tell you, as someone who goes to or speaks at a lot of national events, that Kentucky is considered a leader on student success. But there’s always more than can be done, and I’m confident that we have the talent and determination to make that happen.
CPE's Student Success Summit will be held Feb. 10-11 at the University of Kentucky. Registration closes Jan. 31.
Last Updated: 1/13/2025