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Ascendium Announces Ready for Pell, a $4.7M Strategic Initiative for Postsecondary Education in Prison
Ascendium Education Group is announcing Ready for Pell, a two-year, $4.7 million strategic initiative to strengthen postsecondary education in prison programs ahead of the restoration of Pell Grants in 2023-24 for learners who are incarcerated.
CivicLab Receives $750,000 Grant
A recent grant from Ascendium to CivicLab is making a new education and workforce initiative possible. Through the initiative, several rural community collaboratives will receive funding and technical assistance to strengthen postsecondary education and workforce development systems.
New Report: College Transfers Plunged Last Year, But Highly Selective Institutions Saw Gains
Ascendium and ECMC Foundation funded the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s COVID-19 Transfer, Mobility and Progress Report series to provide institutions and researchers with near real-time data on how the COVID-19 health crisis is impacting transfer students. This is the year-end report and analysis for the 2020-2021 academic year.
The Turning Point
Educational offerings within correctional institutions not only impact incarcerated learners, but also workforce systems and communities. With grant funding from Ascendium, the Iowa Department of Education continues to study barriers and pathways to postsecondary education for incarcerated learners.
Community College Baccalaureate Research Roundup
Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) degree programs have the ability to change higher education. With grant funding from Ascendium and Joyce Foundation, New America continues to research the impact of CCBs on learners from low-income backgrounds and their communities.
A Recommendation to ‘Reset,’ Not ‘Fix,’ Broken Transfer System
The Tackling Transfer Policy Advisory Board released a report on rethinking the traditional focus on transfer to address the need for a modern, student-centered transfer system through changes in federal, state and higher education policies. The board collaborated with the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, HCM Strategist and Sova Solutions to produce this report promoting transfer policy reform. Ascendium supports the Aspen Institute's transfer efforts through our focus area to streamline key learner transitions.
Ripon College And Marian University Win Grant To Explore A Partnership
Ripon College and Marian University have jointly received a grant from the Transformational Partnership Fund, funded in part by Ascendium. Their goal is to determine how their institutions might best work together to improve how they operate and serve students. The Transformational Partnership Fund assists postsecondary institutions in better serving students from low-income backgrounds through the exploration of partnerships and collaborations.
Colleges’ Changing Roles in Rural Communities
Rural community colleges are being recognized by Education Design Lab for un-tapped potential and emerging engines of growth in their local communities. Education Design Lab recently received funding from Ascendium to complete a three-year design challenge to develop and pilot transformative new programs for rural learners from low-income backgrounds and their communities.
Remote and Rural
The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges, supported by Ascendium, is providing rural Maine students with a free training program on remote work. As industries move towards increasing remote work options, this program aims to break down barriers for learners from low-income backgrounds living in rural Maine by preparing them for and gaining access to more remote work opportunities.
Report Proposes Higher Education COVID-19 Recovery Policies
Ascendium is supporting New America and the State Higher Education Executive Officers’ year-long research project to develop a better understanding of the overall effect of the health crisis on the postsecondary education sector. This article shares how their findings are being used to make policy recommendations to ensure a robust recovery as learning transitions back to in-person.
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