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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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Better Data for Better Policy

Better Data for Better Policy: Lessons Learned from Across the Coleridge Initiative’s Partnerships

March 2022
The Coleridge Initiative engages postsecondary, workforce and state agencies by providing applied data analytics training so that staff can better understand their own data. In this final brief, broader lessons from Coleridge partners for data sharing and evidence-based policy are shared.
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Rural Matters

ARRC’s Landmark Report on RSIs with Andrew Koricich, Alisa Hicklin Fryar and Cecilia Orphan (Part II)

March 2022
The second in a six-part podcast series, this Rural Matters episode spotlights research that identifies rural-serving institutions (RSIs). Representatives from the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges share why having a metric for identifying RSIs is important and how they hope their research continues to strengthen the narrative about the relationship between rural colleges and rural communities.
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Community College Baccalaureate Programs as an Equity Strategy

March 2022
This brief from New America looks at the emergence of community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs and how students are faring in these relatively new programs through an equity lens. The brief presents compelling evidence that CCBs can reduce the need for community college students to transfer to a university to complete a bachelor’s degree — a common barrier to timely degree completion.
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TLA Artboard 6

Teaching-Learning-Assessment (TLA) Framework

March 2022
The American Association of Colleges and Universities has developed a practical, web-based tool to help campuses engaged in the guided pathways model of student success. This framework centers student success and equity and recommends measurable steps that faculty, staff and institutional leaders can take to address persisting gaps in student learning outcomes.
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Employment and Wages for Adult Students

Employment & Wages for Adult Students who Return to Community Colleges

February 2022
The fourth and final in a series of working papers, the Tennessee Board of Regents – The College System of Tennessee presents a body of evidence that supports reconnecting adult learners with some college, no degree back to postsecondary education. Adult learners saw positive employment outcomes when they returned to college and attained a credential.
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TBR interactive

Pathways to Success for Adult Learners Interactive Report and Data Toolkit

February 2022
The Tennessee Board of Regents – The College System of Tennessee spent a year exploring educational attainment for adult learners with some college, but no degree. They have developed two tools that support re-engagement and explain their findings: an interactive report and a data toolkit, which can be found on the landing page of their initiative.
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Degrees When Due Case Study: Bowling Green

February 2022
This is the third and final case study from the Institute of Higher Education Policy’s Degrees When Due initiative. In it, Bowling Green State University’s successes and challenges with re-engaging learners with some college, but no degree are highlighted, giving insight to others exploring degree reclamation.
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Rural Matters

Funding Access to Postsecondary Education with Kirstin Yeado, Shanell Watson, Denise Callahan and Allison Pennington (Part I)

February 2022
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.
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BRIDGES Rural Design Insights Part 2

February 2022
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.
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field guide to reimagine

A Field Guide to Reimagine a System-Wide Approach to CBE

February 2022
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.
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Profiling Next Generation Sector Partnerships

January 2022
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.
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Placing a Hold on Posts

Placing a Hold on Postsecondary Student Success

January 2022
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.
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