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
Moving Mathematics Pathways to Normative Practice in Arkansas
Scaling
This grant supports the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin in ensuring that math pathways are offered to the vast majority of Arkansas college students. The Dana Center will provide technical assistance through a regional support network and pilot new tools and resources with Arkansas institutions.
Codifying Career Pathways Initiative
Scaling
This grant supports UNCF in scaling up an initiative aimed at increasing student success outcomes at 8 to 12 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The work will increase these institutions’ capacity to serve low-income students and students of color, increasing academic and economic equity for both groups and producing best practices to inform other under-resourced colleges serving low-income students or students of color.
On the Path to a Degree (OnPath)
Scaling
This grant supports MDRC in providing technical assistance to five institutions within a state community college system and five other minority-serving community colleges to assess and develop communications plans that will improve persistence and degree completion rates for students from low-income backgrounds.
Capitalizing on Federal Momentum to Advance Postsecondary Student Success
Exploration
This grant supports a project by MDRC, SHEEO and The Education Trust in capitalizing on momentum created by several federal proposals to provide funding for college student success programs. The effort will equip states and colleges with guidance and technical assistance so that they prioritize the implementation of programs with the strongest evidence base.
Scaling the Student Success Center Network Coaching Program
Scaling
This grant supports Jobs for the Future in building the capacity of four Student Success Centers to deploy coaches trained in advancing reforms at colleges in their states. The project provides capacity-building seed grants and strategic technical assistance to Centers in designing and implementing in-state coaching programs, while also providing training and ongoing professional development to the cadre of coaches.
Bringing to Scale and Measuring the Effects of Guided Pathways Reforms by Ohio’s Community Colleges
Validation
This grant supports the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University in studying and disseminating learnings from the implementation of guided pathways reforms at Ohio’s public two-year institutions.
Strong Start to Finish Implementation & Innovation Fund
Scaling
This grant supports Education Commission of the States (ECS) in amplifying the impact and reach of Strong Start to Finish (SSTF), a national developmental education initiative funded by Ascendium since 2016. The unique pooled funding approach makes it possible for SSTF to work at scale in six state systems; a supplemental investment would allow ECS to provide technical assistance to those state systems around emergent needs and advise other state systems eager to replicate their success.
Building Capacity Across Illinois to Scale Corequisite Supports
Exploration
This grant supports the Partnership for College Completion, in collaboration with the Illinois Community College Board, in building the capacity of Illinois colleges to adopt corequisite models of developmental education redesign. This project will create faculty-driven measures of quality that will inform statewide implementation of evidence-based reforms.
Guided Pathways Implementation in Iowa’s Community Colleges
Scaling
This grant supports the Iowa Department of Education in implementing a set of systemic guided pathways reforms that will improve student outcomes and reduce equity gaps.
Cataloguing and Understanding the Origins and Intents of Administrative Holds
Exploration
This grant supports Education Commission of the States in exploring the origins of administrative holds and understanding the role state, postsecondary system and institutional policies have in authorizing the practice of levying administrative holds.
