How We See the Problem
Today’s learners often aren’t well served by the educational systems that were built years ago for more traditional students. Now students are often older, more diverse, working one or more jobs, raising families, and struggling to make ends meet.
Colleges and universities are complex, and often don’t have a student-centric approach to course offerings or availability, advising and other institutional policies. The problem shows in the equity gaps in completion rates: just 11% of low-income students graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Almost 6 times as many students — 58% overall — from higher-income households graduate.
Our Three Investment Priorities
Grants to Remove Structural Barriers to Success
From Opening Doors to Ushering In- Strategic Enrollment Management for Adult Learner Success
Exploration
This grant supports Achieving the Dream (ATD) in supporting five community colleges as they design and implement enrollment management plans focused on identifying, recruiting, and supporting the enrollment and success of adult learners. ATD will assist colleges in assessing the needs of potential adult learners in their regions, identifying strategies to enroll those learners, and implementing practices to ensure their success.
Advancing Equitable Outcomes through Leadership
Exploration
This grant supports North Carolina State University’s Belk Center for Community College Leadership in building capacity for presidents, senior teams and trustees of the state’s 58 community colleges. Learner-centered leadership development is needed to address structural barriers to student success and implement solutions that will achieve equitable outcomes for learners from low-income backgrounds.
Reducing Student Loss from Enrollment to Census: Improving Student Connectedness
Exploration
This grant supports the Institute for Evidence-Based Change in partnering with Alamo Colleges District to address early student attrition. The partners will engage faculty and staff to examine institutional data and student experiences to identify campus-level practices that may help retain students at risk of leaving prior to colleges' official enrollment count.
Modern Math Pathways for All Students
Scaling
This grant supports the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin in building capacity for large-scale mathematics reform in states that have not yet undertaken significant transformation.
Redesigning Pathways for Adult College and Career Success
Exploration
This grant supports Achieving the Dream in partnering with Jobs for the Future to help nine community colleges across three states identify and implement practices and policies that drive adult learner success. Complementary capacity building for state system offices will help ensure alignment of policy to effective practice and support cross-state learning.
Academic Planning for Equitable Student Success
Exploration
This grant supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in helping a cohort of 10-12 colleges analyze and optimize their course schedules for equitable student success.
Strengthen and Scale Multiple Measures Assessment Implementation
Scaling
This grant supports MDRC, in partnership with the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, in expanding the adoption of multiple measures assessment systems for student placement in math and English.
Equity Action Intensive
Exploration
This grant supports the National Association of System Heads in partnering with four to six state postsecondary systems to develop robust plans for improving equity in postsecondary outcomes for learners of color and learners from low-income backgrounds. Selected systems will conduct self-assessments, set concrete equity goals, receive expert technical assistance and initiate reforms.
Paving the Way to Equitable, Adequate and Effective Community College Funding
Validation
This grant supports the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University in executing a project designed to understand the costs of implementing evidence-based practices to support postsecondary success for learners from low-income backgrounds and students of color at two-year institutions. CCRC will use insights from the study to provide guidance to institutional leaders and state and system policymakers for advancing adequate and equitable funding strategies.
Academic Planning Tool Pilot
Exploration
This grant supports Partnership for Education Advancement in bolstering college capacity to plan for, successfully implement and evaluate the use of academic planning technology to help students map a clear path to courses needed for degree completion. In addition to decreasing excess credit accumulation and speeding time to degree for students, the project will help institutions calculate the return on their investment in this type of technology.
