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EDUCATION PHILANTHROPY DIVISION OF ASCENDIUM EDUCATION GROUP

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Sharing knowledge is at the heart of our mission. Explore Ascendium’s growing library of publications that examine the complex challenges facing postsecondary learners, and how we’re helping our partners address them.

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RuralLearningSystems2
Columbus Learning Center Management Corporation

Rural Learning Systems: Regional Collaborative Changing Systems for Adults in Northern California

August 2022
ProjectAttain! is a partner in the Rural Learning Systems cohort, collaborating with colleges, employers and a workforce board to improve educational attainment for adults in rural Northern California. This article details how the nonprofit is working with CivicLab to strengthen their partnerships so that more individuals with some college or skills training can achieve a credential or degree.
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RuralLearningSystems
Columbus Learning Center Management Corporation

Rural Learning Systems: Improving Economic Opportunity in Rural Taos County

August 2022
The Taos Education Collaborative (TEC), a partner in the Rural Learning Systems cohort, is spotlighted in this article by CivicLab. TEC brings businesses, educators and community organizations to the table to develop a homegrown workforce. Other rural communities can learn from TEC’s work to build stronger educational pipelines and clearer, better aligned pathways for postsecondary attainment and socioeconomic mobility.
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UofMReport
University of Montana

Categorization of Place-based, Postsecondary Learning Experiences for Rural Students

July 2022
Place-based learning is an outside-the-box approach to curriculum design. It integrates local and regional cultures, history and resources into educational curricula, making it a good fit for rural learners. It encourages them to be more engaged in postsecondary education by making it relevant to their lives and their communities. This resource includes case study profiles of rural institutions and how they utilize place-based learning programs.
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PreparingRuralAmericans
The Conference Board

Preparing Rural Americans for the Postpandemic Economy: Lessons from Utah

June 2022
Rural communities face different labor market challenges than urban areas. However, there are opportunities for significant change as the U.S. emerges from the pandemic. This brief from The Conference Board looks at labor market challenges and solutions for rural America, using rural Utah as a case study.
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Rural Matters
Rural Matters

Diving Into Place-Based Education Programs (Part VI)

June 2022
The final installment in a six-part series, this Rural Matters podcast episode highlights place-based education programs, particularly how they can benefit rural learners and communities. Place-based learning involves engaging the community, which can help make college learning more accessible, relevant and motivating to first-generation learners and learners from low-income backgrounds.
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Rural Educator Academy Background
Community Colleges of the Appalachia Region

Rural Educator Academy Background, Brief and Core Competencies

June 2022
Created by The Community Colleges of Appalachia, the Rural Educator Academy (REA) is a unique, two-pronged approach to professional development for rural postsecondary educators. Through REA, a community of practice has formed to identify ways leaders can improve student success for learners from low-income backgrounds while also focusing on equity. A curriculum for training will be produced from the REA professional development program.
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Rural Matters
Rural Matters

The Importance of Digital Skills and Leadership in Rural Postsecondary Education (Part V)

May 2022
The fifth in a six-part podcast series, this Rural Matters episode features a discussion with leaders of two organizations working with rural community colleges to prepare students for the digital economy. These organizations focus their work on helping rural college leaders to understand and use data so that they can identify barriers faced by learners from low-income backgrounds and create equitable pathways to career success.
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Screen Shot 2022 06 02 at 2.14.10 PM
Center on Rural Innovation

Rural America’s Tech Employment Landscape: How to Increase Tech Talent and Tech Employment

May 2022
Two national surveys, a labor market data analysis and more than 50 interviews have culminated in the release of this Center on Rural Innovation report on tech employment in rural America. The report provides knowledge and recommendations to policymakers, funders, training providers and leaders at local and national levels around how to address the supply of and demand for tech talent in rural communities.
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Rural Matters
Rural Matters

Engaging Employers to Benefit Rural Students with Dani Douglas, John Fitzsimmons and Joshua Howe (Part IV)

April 2022
The fourth in a six-part podcast series, this Rural Matters episode features conversations with leaders of three postsecondary and workforce training organizations that are exploring how they can better engage employers. By engaging employers, institutions and organizations can directly help rural learners find and fill job opportunities in their communities. This episode has a particular focus on tech jobs in rural areas and the importance of pathways from postsecondary education to those jobs.
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Rural Matters

The Incredible Work of Education Design Lab & Partners (Part III)

April 2022
The third in a six-part podcast series, this Rural Matters episode features Education Design Lab and community college partners participating in their BRIDGES initiative. Partners share what they’ve learned through their participation in the project so far and how they can continue to support the future of work for rural learners.
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Screen Shot 2022 04 14 at 3.20.09 PM

Micro-credentials for Social Mobility in Rural Postsecondary Communities: A Landscape Report

March 2022
The impact of earning micro-credentials on the social mobility of rural learners is explored in this report from Digital Promise. Case studies of four postsecondary institutions that are using micro-credentials to create pathways for rural learners are also featured, providing institutions with innovative ideas to meet regional labor market needs.
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2021 annual report

2021 Education Philanthropy Report: Stronger Together

March 2022
In 2021, we saw the impact partnership and collaboration can make in helping transform the lives of learners from low-income backgrounds. Our report tells the story of our philanthropy during 2021 and what can be achieved when organizations work together.
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