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
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.
Improving Student Success through Holistic Student Support Redesign
Scaling
This grant supports Arkansas Community Colleges in creating thoughtful and sustainable changes to the student advising systems so that students are better served academically and are supported on their paths to completing a postsecondary credential.
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.
Caring Campus
Exploration
This grant supports the Institute for Evidence-Based Change in cultivating caring campus environments to increase student retention. The project seeks to produce an adaptable framework for including campus staff in student success reform efforts.
Strong Start to Finish
Scaling
This grant supports a managed pool of funds that will be used to scale change at the state and institutional levels enabling more students from historically underrepresented groups to complete credit-bearing courses and enter a program of study by the end of their first year in college. The project, Strong Start to Finish, is co-funded with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Kresge Foundation and coordinated by Education Commission of the States.
Multiple Measures Assessment Phase II
Validation
This grant supports MDRC in evaluating whether the use of multiple measures assessment to determine student readiness for college-level math increases successful completion of gateway college math courses.
Strengthening Completion Pathways and Ensuring Students are Learning
Exploration
This grant supports the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in creating resources and tools to assist institutions that are implementing guided pathways reforms at scale. AAC&U is working with 20 community colleges to field test a framework for ensuring student learning on a program pathway.
Math Initiative
Scaling
This grant supports the University of Wisconsin System in helping its colleges increase completion of math gateway courses. The colleges will collaborate on improving developmental math offerings and establish new pathways that are aligned and developed concurrently with meta-majors.
