Streamline Key Learner Transitions

How We See the Problem

Leveraging workforce training, transferring between postsecondary providers and entering or re-entering the workforce are pivotal moments in a learner’s career or academic journey. Institutions and systems can implement policies and practices that inadvertently make these transitions difficult. For example, when curricula don’t align, or information systems are incapable of sharing data effectively, students risk losing credits, momentum and money. The jump from postsecondary education into the workforce also presents challenges, especially when institutions offer programming that does not align with the skills employers need.

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Our Three Investment Priorities

Explore diverse pathways to and through postsecondary education and workforce training.

Identify and test diverse pathways (e.g., short-term credentials, apprenticeships, career pathways/hybrid college models) that promote upward socioeconomic mobility for learners from low-income backgrounds.
Support the scaling of diverse pathway models with promising results to serve greater numbers of learners from low-income backgrounds.

Ease transitions between, and returning to, postsecondary education providers.

Support innovative policies and practices that create more integrated, holistic approaches to giving learners credit for prior learning (including transfer credits).
Support the implementation of strategies proven to ease the transition from community colleges to four-year institutions.

Smooth transitions between postsecondary education and the workforce.

Identify and advance strategies that support the strengthening of infrastructure, usability and standardization of data across sectors related to learner success and socioeconomic mobility.
Find, evaluate and support scaling of postsecondary education practices that are yielding strong workforce outcomes for learners from low-income backgrounds.

Grants to Streamline Key Learner Transitions

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting

Scaling

Green Bay Area Public Schools|$47,900|9/2018 - 12/2020

This grant supports 13 Wisconsin public school districts in launching summer melt text nudging to help increase on-time college enrollment rates.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting

Scaling

School District of Fort Atkinson|$22,040|9/2018 - 12/2020

This grant supports 13 Wisconsin public school districts in launching summer melt text nudging to help increase on-time college enrollment rates.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting

Scaling

School District of Wisconsin Rapids|$44,870|9/2018 - 12/2020

This grant supports 13 Wisconsin public school districts in launching summer melt text nudging to help increase on-time college enrollment rates.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting-Signal Vine, Inc. fees for Wisconsin school districts

Scaling

Signal Vine Inc|$46,920|8/2018 - 9/2020

This grant supports licensing and setup fees for the Signal Vine texting platform for the 13 school districts participating in the Text Steps project.

FAFSA Completion Challenge

Scaling

National College Attainment Network|$1,000,000|4/2018 - 8/2020

This grant supports the National College Access Network in helping 30 large cities with lower-than-average FAFSA completion rates implement plans to increase communitywide rates.

Creating Postsecondary Pathways for Thread Students

Exploration

Thread Inc|$277,000|7/2019 - 6/2020

This grants supports Thread in an effort to conduct a planning initiative to audit, strengthen, and codify their relationship-driven approach to supporting underserved young adults in five core postsecondary pathways: two-year degree completion, four-year degree completion, entrepreneurship, trade school/apprenticeships and straight-to-workforce.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting

Scaling

Ben Castleman|$7,875|5/2018 - 5/2020

This grant supports Ben Castleman in providing consulting to the 13 Wisconsin public school districts participating in the Text Steps summer melt project.

Tools of the Trade Apprentice Scholarship

Scaling

Wisconsin Technical College System|$271,500|8/2019 - 4/2020

This grant supports $1,500 scholarships awarded to up to 180 construction and industrial trade apprentices attending a Wisconsin Technical College System college during the spring 2020 semester.

Text Steps Summer Melt Texting-WSCA Travel Grants

Scaling

Wisconsin School Counselor Association|$10,000|10/2019 - 2/2020

This grant supports the Wisconsin School Counselor Association in providing travel grants to the 13 Text Steps districts to attend the 2020 WSCA Annual Conference.

View All Ascendium Grants

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Latest News

January 19, 2023

Trends We’re Watching in 2023, Promising IT Career Training Pathways for Learners and More

Postsecondary Education Trends We’re Watching in 2023
Investing in IT Career Training Pathways Shows Promise for Adult Learners
Partnership with The Chronicle of Higher Education Elevates Learner Voices

January 11, 2023

Postsecondary Education Trends We’re Watching in 2023

With 2022 in the rear view, Ascendium has kicked off the new year with optimism and excitement. We’ll continue to work closely with our grant partners and will be watching several postsecondary education trends in 2023. Future grant opportunities may be informed by the trends we see, especially if they connect to our goal of fostering upward mobility for learners from low-income backgrounds.

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Resources

Holistic Credit Mobility: Centering Learning in Credential Completion

Today’s learners accumulate college credits from more sources and in more forms than ever before. However, the challenge is that postsecondary institutions lack mechanisms to integrate credit for those experiences, disproportionately affecting learners from low-income backgrounds. The formal recognition of such varied ways to learn can bring learners closer to their postsecondary education goals. Ithaka S+R’s holistic credit mobility framework supports solutions that mitigate credit loss by focusing on learning outcomes rather than where the learning occurred.

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Getting the Most Out of Short-Term Career and Technical Education Credentials

The Urban Institute uses data from the College Scorecard to take a closer look at short-term Career and Technical Education programs overall and in the six fields of study with the most students. The resulting report examines return on education investment for learners, especially learners from low-income backgrounds. It explores debt, earnings two years after graduation, overall debt burden and how each outcome is shaped by program, institution and labor market characteristics.

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