Opportunities in Building and Applying Evidence for Student Success
Scaling
This grant supports the Lab for Economic Opportunities at the University of Notre Dame in convening practitioners, researchers and policymakers to develop a shared understanding of the research on student advising and counseling. Six rigorously evaluated programs, including Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, will be examined to develop policy recommendations on how to build and apply this evidence base to improve student outcomes more widely.
Expansion of the Promise Ecosystem Initiative and Employer Symposiums
Scaling
This grant supports the College Promise Campaign in expanding their efforts to build awareness and generate momentum for the College Promise movement across the country, with a particular focus on tying Promise programs to career and workforce development.
Ascendium Chronicle Partnership
Scaling
This grant supports The Chronicle of Higher Education in promoting awareness of the issues related to Ascendium’s four focus areas during a year‐long campaign.
Alliance for Higher Education in Prison Capacity Building
Exploration
This grant supports the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison as it works toward a 501(c)(3) designation, hires core staff, builds infrastructure, solidifies key partnerships and develops three primary strategic focus areas: programmatic support, resource and information sharing, and research and data.
Adult Learner 360 Academy: Hispanic Serving Institutions
Scaling
This grant supports the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning in developing a process for Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to implement new policies and practices to drive better enrollment, persistence and completion among adult students. A cohort of 10 HSIs will develop and implement data-driven, adult-learner focused improvement plans and produce and disseminate case studies describing measurable changes.
Optimizing Delivery Systems for Higher Education in Prison
Exploration
This grant supports Minnesota Department of Corrections, in partnership with the "Just Education" Collaborative at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota, Inver Hills Community College/Dakota County Technical College and Augsburg University, in preparing to launch their “College at Prison” effort to reimagine postsecondary education offerings across all prison facilities in Minnesota.
Scaling Education to Employment Solutions
Exploration
This grant supports America Achieves in developing actionable recommendations for how philanthropy and the public sector can work together to scale high potential postsecondary education to employment initiatives.
Distance Learning in Prisons Amidst the Pandemic
Scaling
This grant supports Open Campus in designing and hosting a full day, virtual convening focused on distance learning in postsecondary education in prison. The goal of the convening is to provide stakeholders a forum for robust discussion on the important considerations and practical realities of implementing high quality distance education for incarcerated learners.
Encouraging Additional Summer Enrollment
Validation
This grant supports MDRC in evaluating the impact of the Encouraging Additional Summer Enrollment (EASE) project at four two-year colleges in Ohio. EASE is an effort to improve community college persistence and completion by increasing the number of students who enroll in summer term through two types of intervention: targeted messaging and financial incentives.
Career Navigator Initiative
Exploration
This grant supports the Minnesota Department of Corrections in increasing access to high-quality career and technical education for incarcerated students at four prisons in Minnesota. New certification (OSHA and Forklift) and training (Heavy Equipment Operation) opportunities will be combined with advising to help students obtain gainful employment post-release.
