Resource Library

This episode is the first in a new six-part podcast series from Rural Matters. Four representatives from philanthropic organizations, including Ascendium, share why it’s important to support rural postsecondary education and workforce training. Through their strategies, each organization is working to remove roadblocks and close equity gaps for learners in rural communities.

The Competency-Based Education Network and Kentucky Community and Technical College System explored what it would take to reimagine a systemwide approach to competency-based education (CBE). This field guide documents their activities and provides colleges, postsecondary education systems and state education agencies with a start-to-finish planning process to guide their own CBE efforts.

The second in a series from Education Design Lab, this brief dives into five pilot projects from rural community colleges participating in the BRIDGES Rural Design Challenge. Each pilot was designed to increase knowledge, connections and understanding which can lead to institutional change and economic growth in rural communities.

This report from Next Generation Sector Partnerships analyzes three Next Gen partnerships as they developed strategies for aligning education, workforce and economic development needs of their region. These profiles and framework serve as tools for public and private partners interested in strengthening their region’s economic vitality.

This new Ascendium-supported brief by Education Commission of the States analyzes administrative holds, offering policy examples and considerations for postsecondary leaders working to ensure holds don’t impede learner progress. Evidence is mounting that such holds can negatively impact institution and state graduation and workforce goals. They also disproportionally affect students who are underrepresented in postsecondary education, namely students from low-income backgrounds and students of color.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has released the sixth report in a series which analyzes undergraduate transfer enrollment and pathways throughout the COVID-19 health crisis. This report, co-funded by Ascendium and ECMC Foundation, shows that transfer enrollment appears to have stabilized in Fall 2021 following a decline the previous year.

This report provides new insights into demographic and economic indicators on rural areas, rural college enrollment trends and rural college communities to broaden how rural education is viewed and spark new questions. The report also provides an interactive data tool that is part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Student Success Through Applied Research Lab project, funded by Ascendium. This report and its accompanying data tool aim to help researchers and policymakers more accurately portray rural areas and colleges to inform, expand and ultimately improve educational opportunities and outcomes in rural areas.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Student Success Through Applied Research (SSTAR) Lab completed their Mapping Rural Colleges project, funded by Ascendium. This project builds on research previously conducted by the SSTAR Lab and publicly available data to generate foundational, robust research about the state of rural postsecondary education and create an interactive data tool. This data tool aims to be a resource providing a more comprehensive view of rural postsecondary education for education leaders, researchers, practitioners and national networks exploring how to respond to demographic and enrollment shifts in rural institutions and communities.

With over a decade’s worth of best practices included, this Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) playbook serves as a guide to reengage stopped-out students and increase completion at institution, system and state levels. Ascendium supports this resource through its investment in IHEP’s Degrees When Due initiative, a national effort to advance degree reclamation policy and practices.

Degree reclamation is a strategy to capture existing credits and put learners with some college, but no degree on track to postsecondary education completion. This resource from the Institute from Higher Education Policy provides recommendations for colleges and universities interested in improving completion outcomes.

This research brief summarizes the results of two rigorous studies on multiple measures assessments, one in New York and one funded by Ascendium in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Conducted by MDRC and Community College Research Center, both studies found that using multiple measures assessments to place students in introductory college-level English and math courses substantially improved completion rates. Ascendium supports efforts to validate and scale strategies like multiple measures that increase completion rates and reduce time to degree.

Ascendium supported the creation of a mapping tool that identifies rural-serving institutions (RSIs) through a formal framework developed by the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges. The tool can be used by researchers, policymakers, leaders at RSIs and philanthropic organizations to better support rural institutions and the learners they serve.