Student Success Evaluation Framework: Determining causality in activities to improve attendance and attainment

This paper provides an overview of the Student Success Evaluation Framework as a mechanism to assess and identify the outcomes and areas of impact of Student Success interventions on students’ attainment and engagement. Delivered across academic schools, these interventions are examined in the context of the Student Success Programme, an institutional research and practice initiative to address attainment and continuation differentials at the University of Kent. The paper provides insights into the rationale behind the Student Success Programme, the institutional factors that have influenced the requirement for an evaluation framework of its implementation and delivery, the challenges faced, and journey undertaken so far to develop, pilot and embed this evaluation framework in the mainstreaming of Student Success across the University of Kent academic divisions. To this end, this paper contributes to the higher education endeavours to assess outcomes and impact of initiatives to reduce and address awarding and continuation gaps, by providing a case study and a model of evaluation that combines process and impact evaluation through the application of Theory of Change, mathematical testing and Contribution Analysis as the main pillars of an innovative evaluation model.