Washington state has ambitious goals for postsecondary attainment—and equally ambitious students, educators, researchers, and community partners working to make those goals a reality.

The Washington Educational Research Association (WERA) brings together many of these individuals who are committed to improving postsecondary outcomes statewide. Education Northwest’s Postsecondary Success team has been fortunate to connect with many WERA members and discuss ongoing efforts in Washington, including the Limitless Learning Network. We recently participated in two WERA events: a webinar and an in-person roundtable at the annual WERA conference. Together, these conversations surfaced what it will take to improve the transition from high school to postsecondary education for students.

What stood out across both engagements was this: Washington students have incredible strengths, and challenges with transitions to postsecondary are fundamentally cross-system challenges. No single institution can solve them alone.

Washington students have incredible strengths, and challenges with transitions to postsecondary are fundamentally cross-system challenges. No single institution can solve them alone.

Surfacing the Challenges—and Opportunities

In our November webinar with WERA, our team shared emerging insights from the Limitless Learning Network, a community working to strengthen the high school-to-postsecondary transition statewide. The network brings together 26 regional partnerships—including school districts, colleges, community-based organizations, and workforce partners—to focus on financial aid completion, advising and navigation, dual credit alignment, family engagement, and data use. As manager of the network, Education Northwest collaborates with all the partnerships to foster learning and knowledge sharing, document challenges, and codify effective practices and tools.

Early insights from the Limitless Learning Network point to five themes:

• Authentic family engagement is needed at every step​
• Novel, student-centered practices support authentic engagement​
• Data and systems challenges can limit real-time problem solving
• Solutions should reflect local community needs​ and priorities
• Collaboration and trust drive engagement

Taken together, these insights reveal that barriers to postsecondary enrollment and completion are systemic rather than individual. Therefore, any efforts to address barriers must focus on systems change.

Statewide data show that 90 percent of Washington high school students aspire to college, but just over half enroll within a year of completing high school. During the webinar, both the Limitless Learning Network and WERA attendees noted that we cannot close this gap by focusing solely on student actions. Our conversation underscored a shared belief: Students are doing their part; systems need to do the same.

Students are doing their part; systems need to do the same.

From Webinar to Roundtable: Deepening the Dialogue

A month after the webinar, we brought these insights to the WERA conference for a roundtable discussion with educators, researchers, district leaders, higher education institution staff members, and state partners. The format gave participants space to reflect on:

• Where their own institutions experience friction in the transition
• What data or research questions remain unanswered
• Where statewide alignment would create the most benefit for students

Across the table, there was broad agreement that the transition between high school and postsecondary sits at the intersection of two systems that were not designed to work together. That disconnect affects everything: FAFSA completion and advising, course placement and credit transfer, and even how families navigate financial aid award letters.

The transition between high school and postsecondary sits at the intersection of two systems that were not designed to work together.

A Shared Appetite for Collaboration

What gives us great optimism is the rising interest across Washington to address these issues through shared data, shared problem solving, and shared learning.

The Limitless Learning Network’s year two evaluation, led by Sankofa Consulting, highlighted that 100 percent of surveyed partners reported exchanging knowledge with peers. The evaluation also found that cross-network interactions had tripled. This is a significant signal that statewide infrastructure for collaboration is taking root. As one network member put it, “Intentionality in this work … will reap large benefits for students in the present and in the future.”

Looking Ahead

Washington has the ingredients for a more seamless postsecondary transition ecosystem:

• Robust financial aid
• Strong regional partnerships
• Institutional commitment
• Shared goals
• A growing community of data and research practitioners willing to collaborate

Our engagements with WERA affirmed that Washington also has what it needs to accelerate progress: the appetite for evidence, aligned learning, cross-system dialogue, and a focus on student and family perspectives and needs.

We look forward to continuing to partner with educators, policymakers, and researchers across the state as the Limitless Learning Network grows and Washington works toward ensuring that postsecondary aspirations become postsecondary opportunity for every student.