Findings From Gates Foundation Funded Project

Rio Salado has a long history of innovating. Innovation is even found in our vision statement: "We reinvent the learning experience to change lives." 

When the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offered grants related to improving the college experience through innovation, we jumped at the opportunity.

Rio Salado College received a $575,000 grant to build a roadmap on how to improve the college experience for other colleges to replicate.

It all started when Rio Salado leaders began looking at ways they could transform out-of-state online education-- specifically for under-served populations.

Rio Salado was awarded the grant in November 2015, and completed the project in June 2016.

Through the process, Rio Salado learned how to better serve its students and designed a new approach to online education.

Thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, Rio Salado was able to outline a plan to change education for student success. Rio Salado College Business Planning: Student Success and Scaling Initiative provides suggestions and tools to help other institutions design their own roadmap toward transformational change.

Shannon McCarty

Rio Salado Dean of Instruction and Academic Affairs Shannon McCarty, who spearheaded the project said, “The support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has provided Rio Salado College the opportunity to consider the future possibilities of transforming the student experience to increase success and completion. The grant opportunity allowed Rio to reflect on current practices, focus on the ideal state and develop a plan of action that will allow Rio to scale effective practices."

Visit this webpage to read the full white paper.

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