Catalyzing Change at Scale: How Intermediary Organizations Promote Cross-Sector Innovation and Collaboration for Student Success

• In Event: The Role and Potential of Intermediary Organizations Within the New Politics of Higher Education Policy Making

Abstract

Current data suggest that the American higher education system must better serve students from historically underrepresented populations (i.e., first-generation, working class, adult, Black, Latinx, and certain Asian American populations) if it is to meet the economic demand for more highly skilled workers (see Witham et al., 2015). This has led to a national call on behalf of policymakers and philanthropists for postsecondary systems to focus on student success. Intermediary organizations are often instrumental to realizing these calls for reform in institutional priorities and practices. This study uses Honig’s (2004) definition of intermediaries as “organizations that operate between policymakers and implementers to affect change and practices for both parties” (p. 66), an innovation diffusion framework (Rogers, 2003), and a collective case study design (Stake, 1995) to explore how and why intermediaries support student success at postsecondary institutions. The author finds that intermediaries drive higher education collaboration and innovation through four reinforcing strategies: (a) convening the field of higher education to discuss common challenges and solutions, (b) (re)framing issues to help educational leaders better understand the policy contexts in which they are working, (c) elevating exemplars of institutions and individuals that are thriving within the current policy environment, and (d) setting a national agenda for postsecondary education across institutional types, nudging professionals into new practices and collaborations that benefit their students. These findings suggest that intermediary organizations are particularly useful in helping colleges, universities, and postsecondary systems tell their stories to other actors in the field and that the work and structure of traditional membership and policy organizations may evolve as education continues to change and the demand for intermediary services increases. At the same time, many intermediary organizations’ leaders and staff are disproportionately from privileged backgrounds and work within normative paradigms, leading to questions of how these groups can diversify and partner with advocacy organizations to advance educational equity.

Honig, M. I. (2004). The new middle management: Intermediary organizations in education policy implementation. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 26(1), 65-87.

Rogers, E.M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.

Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. London: Sage.

Witham, K., Malcom-Piqueux, L. E., Dowd, A. C., & Bensimon, E. M. (2015). America's unmet promise: The imperative for equity in higher education. Association of American Colleges and Universities. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/publications/unmet-promise

Author

• Anna Drake Warshaw, University Innovation Alliance