Resource Library

The FutureMakers Coalition, a partner in the Rural Learning Systems cohort, has brought together educators, employers, community organizations and others in rural Hendry County, Florida, to build better systems for boosting educational attainment and improving job training. This article shares what the coalition has done so far in their effort to get more learners from low-income backgrounds the education and training they need to meet the demands of skilled jobs in their communities.

The Apprenticeship Steering Committee, a county-based workforce collaborative that brings industry, workforce, postsecondary education, and community partners together to create a sustainable model for talent development via apprenticeships, developed this toolkit. Leaders in other rural regions may find the topics discussed and lessons learned applicable to furthering their workforce goals.

Kent State University worked with three local community colleges to advance a “statewide comprehensive transfer blueprint” modeled on the Aspen Institute’s Transfer Playbook. Kent State and its partners implemented two key strategies recommended in the Playbook, clear programmatic pathways and tailored transfer student advising, with success. The partnership resulted in a transfer process that can help all learners transition to four-year programs and meet their academic goals.

The U.S. Secretary of Education can set aside a certain percentage of funding from Higher Education Act programs within the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for evaluation purposes. These funds allow ED to further understand how to improve programs to better support learners’ postsecondary education success. The Institute for Higher Education Policy recommendations were developed by experts to help inform ED’s decision-making.

Cooperative Extension professionals (CEPs) are embedded within many communities across the U.S. This curriculum was created to help CEPs leverage their experience and serve as facilitators of workforce solutions in rural communities. Using this curriculum will help them work with community stakeholders to design and implement career pathways that lead learners and workers from low-income backgrounds to in-demand jobs in rural places.

Learners today face a landscape of postsecondary education credentials that may or may not lead to the upward mobility they seek. Learners from low-income backgrounds need career and technical education pathways that can help them get good jobs. The Urban Institute has developed a three-pronged framework that includes strategies for advising, skill building and making employment connections to support these learners in meeting their goals.

On July 1, 2023, 1.5 million people in U.S. prisons become eligible for federal Pell Grants. In this episode of the Future U. podcast, hosts Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn talk to a scholar in prison education and a formerly incarcerated student who went on to earn his degree about how colleges benefit from offering and what it takes to provide meaningful opportunities for these learners to achieve their postsecondary education goals.

The second in a four-part podcast series, representatives from Patrick & Henry Community College and the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program expand on the importance of community college partnerships that put the focus on crafting regional economic solutions. When community colleges establish partnerships with four-year institutions and local and regional employers, high-quality postsecondary education can be developed in alignment with local job needs. This creates economic opportunity for learners, especially those from low-income backgrounds.

Giving students multiple ways to demonstrate their skills helps ensure all students who are ready for college-level math and English courses have the opportunity to take them, which can make access to these courses more equitable. This toolkit from the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness — led by the Community College Research Center and MDRC — is designed to help colleges reform assessment and placement using multiple measures.

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.

JFF’s Student Success Center Network is dedicated to advancing socioeconomic mobility by equitably increasing the number of students earning postsecondary degrees that lead to good jobs. This report summarizes findings from the first five years of the Student Success Center Network's Coaching Program, including case studies and lessons learned.

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.