National Coaching Nonprofit Releases Report Highlighting Two Decades of Impact in Education and Student Success

InsideTrack’s impact report celebrates 20 years of growth, outcomes, and impact in education and workforce development, reaching more than 2.6 million learners

PORTLAND, ORE. (NOVEMBER 4, 2021) –InsideTrack, the national student success nonprofit that pioneered the application of success coaching in education and workforce development, released a report highlighting more than two decades of growth, innovation and impact as it celebrates its 20th anniversary. The interactive digital report—entitled “The Power of Coaching”—is rooted in research spanning more than two decades of the organization’s work at the intersection of education and economic mobility, featuring case studies, student outcomes and first-person narratives from students and individuals whose lives have been positively impacted through coaching

“Students and working adults are facing an array of new challenges created by the upheaval of the past year, and existing equity and completion gaps have been exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic,” said Ruth Bauer White, president of InsideTrack. “As we look to the next 20 years, we need to embrace the opportunity ahead of us to eliminate barriers to educational success, address equity gaps in education and the workforce, and help more learners and families achieve social and economic mobility.”

Since its inception, the organization has served more than 2.6 million students and working adults across thousands of academic programs of every type and size, including high-performing charter school networks, community college systems, residential four-year universities, online education providers, and organizations looking to upskill employees and working adults. InsideTrack first launched in 2001, working face-to-face with fewer than a hundred students on two college campuses in northern California, with a team of just four staff members and coaches.

From those early origins, InsideTrack evolved into a social impact organization with national reach, introducing new capabilities and expertise over time to help eliminate barriers to student success and equity in student outcomes and improve enrollment, persistence, and completion. Its Capacity Building programs enable schools to build and sustain their own coaching programs, improve outcomes and generate insights into the student experience.

Today, InsideTrack works with organizations across the education and workforce development landscape to increase social and economic mobility. Its partners include colleges, universities and state systems, such as Ivy Tech Community College, Penn State World Campus, California State University System, and the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, along with UNCF and eight of its private HBCU member institutions and one predominantly-Black institution; philanthropic and nonprofit organizations, such as the Kresge Foundation, Arnold Ventures, and the John M. Belk Endowment; and mission-aligned education and training providers such as Futuro Health and the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet of Indiana.

The organization has received philanthropic support to not only provide coaching as a service to students and working adults, but also expand its research activities to surface new insights on the student experience and barriers to postsecondary access and success. In recent months, the organization has expanded its research and evaluation impact through partnerships with national nonprofits and philanthropies including UNCF and the John M. Belk Endowment.

Over InsideTrack’s 20-year history, empirical research has established the organization’s methodology as a proven approach for improving student persistence and completion. InsideTrack success coaching has emerged as one of the few higher education interventions that has satisfied the rigorous standards of evidence established by the U.S. Department of Education for inclusion in the What Works Clearinghouse.

InsideTrack is part of Strada Collaborative, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower all learners — and those who serve them — by providing the critical resources, educational support, and career experiences that lead to equitable education and employment pathways.To view the report and learn more about InsideTrack’s work visit: https://www.insidetrack.org/reports/impact-report-2021

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About InsideTrack: InsideTrack is passionate about helping all learners achieve their education and career goals through the transformative power of coaching. Since 2001, we've served 2.6 million learners, partnering with more than 250 institutions and organizations to directly improve enrollment, persistence, completion and career readiness. Our coaching methodology is evidence-based and research-confirmed, with proven outcomes for every type of learner — from traditional to adult, part-time to full-time, online to in-person — including first generation students and those who face systemic barriers to postsecondary success. We also work with partners to build internal coaching capacity through staff training and professional services — designed to sustain advances in-house for lasting, scalable impact. InsideTrack is a mission-driven nonprofit and a part of Strada Collaborative. To learn more, visit www.insidetrack.org and follow us on Twitter @InsideTrack and LinkedIn @InsideTrack.