Applying the 2025 Student Success Impact Report: Insights from the Civitas Learning Customer Development Team

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In this episode of Next Practices, we explore the key insights from the 2025 Student Impact Report, Civitas Learning’s flagship research publication. The report reveals which student success initiatives are making the greatest difference in persistence—and how initiative-level analysis is helping institutions act with more precision and confidence.

Joining the conversation are Nova Davidson, Robert Freidhoff, and Nathan Miller from Civitas Learning’s Customer Development team, along with host Katy Oliveira. With nearly 75 years of combined higher ed experience, they bring practical perspective to the findings. Together, they discuss the most compelling takeaways from this year’s report and how campuses are translating insight into measurable results.

Measuring What Moves the Needle

One of the biggest challenges institutions face isn’t collecting data—it’s knowing how to use it to drive meaningful change. The 2025 report uncovers which programs, practices, and interventions correlate with persistence gains across a diverse group of Civitas Learning partner institutions.

Whether it’s learning centers, peer mentoring, or proactive advising, the findings emphasize that student success doesn’t hinge on one magic initiative. Instead, it’s about consistently reviewing what’s working (and what isn’t) through the lens of real student behavior and outcomes.

“Institutions are hungry for ways to go beyond guesswork. This report helps them zero in on what’s really working—and gives them a framework to have smarter conversations around impact.” — Civitas Learning Customer Development Team

Initiative Analysis in Action

During the episode, the team discusses how more institutions are using the Initiative Analysis feature within the Civitas Learning Student Impact Platform to evaluate programs and strategies with precision. Instead of waiting until year-end to assess results, institutions can monitor initiative effectiveness in real-time and course-correct as needed.

This shift—from retrospective to real-time insight—empowers campuses to be more agile, collaborative, and student-centered.

A Conversation Grounded in Experience—and Informed by Data at Scale

What makes this episode stand out is the powerful mix of frontline experience and rigorous, large-scale research. Conversation is led by former higher ed leaders all now supporting partner institutions at Civitas Learning.

But the real depth comes from the data behind it. The 2025 Student Success Impact Report draws insight from nearly 700,000 student records across 29 institutions—including both two-year and four-year colleges—and analyzes the effectiveness of more than 140 student success initiatives implemented in 2024.

Beyond the 2025 report, the conversation also highlights a multi-year analysis that spans approximately 5.7 million students, 58 institutions, and over 850 initiatives tracked from 2021 to 2024—making it one of the most comprehensive initiative-level evaluations in higher ed today.

Together, the team breaks down how these insights are helping colleges move beyond assumptions, use evidence to guide strategy, and drive measurable student outcomes.

Explore the Full 2025 Student Impact Report

For a deeper look at what’s driving persistence gains, and how thriving and belonging fit into the picture, explore the full report here: Download the 2025 Student Impact Report →