Resource Library

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.

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.

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.

To complement their rural-serving institutions (RSIs) data tool, the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges (ARRC) also released a report detailing their process and findings. The report uses ARRC’s new metric to identify over one thousand RSIs, providing insights on these institutions, their learners and the communities they serve.

The final segment of an eight-part Rural Matters podcast series, sponsored by Ascendium, features the work of University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Nicholas Hillman and his colleagues at the Student Success Through Applied Research Lab. Hillman discusses his current research efforts and goals to map rural-located postsecondary providers, providing a deeper understanding of rural institutions and learners.

Building transfer and career pathways for rural learners is a key issue for rural communities. The seventh in an eight-part podcast series from Rural Matters, sponsored by Ascendium, features discussions with two experts. This episode covers a range of topics from important issues in transferring between colleges, lessons learned from the COVID-19 health crisis, a STEM transfer partnership project and ideas on improving rural student transfer success.

This episode is the sixth in an eight-part podcast series from Rural Matters and sponsored by Ascendium. It features discussions with three expert guests on the challenges and opportunities involved in building and sustaining postsecondary partnerships in rural America.

The Strong Start to Finish (SSTF) Knowledge Center is a clearinghouse of research and resources from those in the SSTF network, intended for all institutions and systems interested in implementing developmental education reforms. Resources can be searched by keyword, sorted by format and filtered by topic. SSTF is supported by Ascendium, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Kresge Foundation.

This episode is the fifth in an eight-part podcast series from Rural Matters and sponsored by Ascendium. It features discussion on a new rural postsecondary education research agenda with program officers from Ascendium, along with representatives from Sova and the National Rural Education Association (NREA).

The Rural Works initiative, supported by Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), focuses on the alignment of systems to help rural workforce stakeholders overcome barriers. With funding from Ascendium, Rural LISC has used the framework to engage postsecondary education and workforce partnerships over the past year, highlighting their initial successes in this new report.

Education Design Lab received funding from Ascendium to complete a three-year design challenge aimed at developing transformative new models that improve education and career outcomes for rural learners and their communities. This brief offers insights used to develop new models for rural community colleges to serve as critical economic growth engines. Education Design Lab's efforts are supported by Ascendium in line with our focus area to support rural postsecondary education and workforce training.

The COVID-19 health crisis hit rural community colleges hard, but leadership at those institutions quickly began to focus on solutions. The Rural Leader Learning Community, created by the National Center for Inquiry & Improvement and funded by Ascendium, developed a series of briefs that explore how rural community colleges can best support learners from low-income backgrounds after the COVID-19 health crisis.