News

Rural Isn’t Going Away: New Initiative Launches to Help Rural-Serving Community Colleges

Leaders at 10 North Carolina community colleges are participating in the Rural College Leaders Program (RCLP). RCLP is an immersive learning opportunity for rural-serving community colleges designed to close equity gaps, improve student outcomes and pave the way for greater social and economic mobility.

Ready for Pell Grant Partners Announced, Ascendium Looks Forward in 2022 and More

• Ready for Pell Announces 22 New Grant Partners, Representing Diverse Postsecondary Education in Prison Programs
• Ascendium’s Education Philanthropy Looks Forward in 2022
• Competency-Based Education Field Guide Launches

Public, Private Grants Add Momentum to UW System Prison Education Initiative

The University of Wisconsin System’s Prison Education Initiative aims to build degree programs in prisons throughout the state. It’s an example of work in our Expand Postsecondary Education in Prison focus area that aims to remove barriers to academic and career success by helping incarcerated adults gain equitable access to high-quality postsecondary education.

RAND Report Shines a Light on Career Navigators Role in the Carceral Setting

Career navigators help postsecondary learners bridge the gap between their education and career goals. Career navigators who serve incarcerated learners must learn to address the unique challenges facing this population. Ascendium supported the RAND Corporation in evaluating a pilot career navigators program in the Minnesota Department of Corrections. The effort yielded a report that shines a light on the importance of career navigators and documents some valuable lessons for the field, which should be of interest to educators of incarcerated adults, subject matter experts and corrections officials and policymakers.

Ready for Pell Announces 22 New Grant Partners, Representing Diverse Postsecondary Education in Prison Programs

Ascendium and Jobs for the Future are pleased to announce 22 new grant partners for Ascendium’s $4.7 million Ready for Pell postsecondary education in prison initiative. RTI International has been named evaluator and The Council of State Governments (CSG) will provide technical assistance. The diverse cohort of grant partners will incorporate evidence-based best practices as they build out and refine their postsecondary education in prison programs. Results and learnings will be shared widely with the field as incarcerated learners’ access to Pell Grants is restored in the 2023-24 school year.

Competency-Based Education Field Guide Launches

With grant funding from Ascendium, the Competency-Based Education Network and Kentucky Community and Technical College System explored what it would take to reimagine a systemwide approach to competency-based education (CBE). To advance what was learned through their process, a team documented their activities and developed a comprehensive field guide. Now available, the field guide provides colleges, higher education systems and state education agencies with insight into one system’s planning process to guide their own CBE efforts.

New Study Presents Compelling Evidence on the Benefits of Multiple Measures Assessments

A rigorous new study by MDRC and Community College Research Center makes a strong case for more widespread adoption of multiple measures, an approach that more accurately places incoming college students in introductory English and math classes. Better placement in these courses can lead to more timely progress to a degree, a key goal of Ascendium’s philanthropy.

Ascendium’s Education Philanthropy Looks Forward in 2022

Ascendium’s Education Philanthropy is excited to begin another year where we explore new ideas and approaches in support of our mission. We’ll continue funding important work that aims to change postsecondary education and workforce training systems so that more learners from low-income backgrounds can achieve academic and career success. Read more about our aspirations for 2022 across our four focus areas as shared by our Grantmaking team.

Shining a Light on Rural Colleges

Two mapping tools, supported by Ascendium, aim to expand the field’s understanding of rural colleges. Complementary to each other, one tool explores where rural colleges are located while the other focuses on colleges that serve rural learners.

Why a Rural-Serving College May Look Different Than You Think

There’s a lot of complexity around the term ‘rural,’ particularly when classifying postsecondary institutions as such. Using a new metric and definition, the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges has identified over 1,000 rural-serving institutions.