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How We See the Problem
Today’s learners often aren’t well served by the educational systems that were built years ago for more traditional students. Now students are often older, more diverse, working one or more jobs, raising families, and struggling to make ends meet.
Colleges and universities are complex, and often don’t have a student-centric approach to course offerings or availability, advising and other institutional policies. The problem shows in the equity gaps in completion rates: just 11% of low-income students graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Almost 6 times as many students—58% overall—from higher-income households graduate.
Ascendium’s Approach
We support efforts identifying replicable changes to policies and practices that can dismantle unnecessary obstacles at the system and institutional levels. When we address the problem at its root, instead of one learner at a time, we hope to help institutions boost completion rates and shorten the time it takes learners to get credentialed—so that low-income learners have the same opportunities for academic and career success.
Outcomes We Seek
Our system-level funding fuels system-level outcomes we hope to achieve. By fostering leadership development across a spectrum of roles; we seek to prioritize student success and institutional change. We hope to help institutions and systems understand the financial impact of student success reforms, including adopting developmental education reform at scale to ensure learners are taking credit-bearing courses in their first year; ensuring more students enroll and complete gateway courses in their first year; prioritizing course availability so learners can enroll in courses they need when they need them; supporting entering learners’ end goals by helping them choose and enter a pathway; and helping institutions support learners through a strong advising process.
How we work
We fund initiatives that help remove barriers to student success. This means professional development for student-centered, postsecondary leaders in various roles, from front-line staff to institutional research staff to senior leadership and boards. It also means the refinement of institutional policies and practices to better set learners up for success and funding of efforts to support timely progression to their degree or credential.
Grants to Remove Structural Barriers to Success
2017-2019 College Completion Grant
Exploration
This grant supports efforts at 14 two- and four-year colleges in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to identify students nearing completion but at-risk of dropping out and apply appropriate interventions to help them overcome their obstacles.
2017-2019 College Completion Grant
Exploration
This grant supports efforts at 14 two- and four-year colleges in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to identify students nearing completion but at-risk of dropping out and apply appropriate interventions to help them overcome their obstacles.
2017-2019 College Completion Grant
Exploration
This grant supports efforts at 14 two- and four-year colleges in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to identify students nearing completion but at-risk of dropping out and apply appropriate interventions to help them overcome their obstacles.
2017-2019 College Completion Grant
Exploration
This grant supports efforts at 14 two- and four-year colleges in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to identify students nearing completion but at-risk of dropping out and apply appropriate interventions to help them overcome their obstacles.
2017-2019 College Completion Grant
Exploration
This grant supports efforts at 14 two- and four-year colleges in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to identify students nearing completion but at-risk of dropping out and apply appropriate interventions to help them overcome their obstacles.
2017-2019 College Completion Grant
Exploration
This grant supports efforts at 14 two- and four-year colleges in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to identify students nearing completion but at-risk of dropping out and apply appropriate interventions to help them overcome their obstacles.
2017-2019 College Completion Grant
Exploration
This grant supports efforts at 14 two- and four-year colleges in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to identify students nearing completion but at-risk of dropping out and apply appropriate interventions to help them overcome their obstacles.
2017-2019 College Completion Grant
Exploration
This grant supports efforts at 14 two- and four-year colleges in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to identify students nearing completion but at-risk of dropping out and apply appropriate interventions to help them overcome their obstacles.
Engaging Adjunct Faculty in the Student Success Movement
Validation
This grant supports Achieving the Dream in helping colleges implement policies and practices to better engage part-time faculty in the student success agenda.
Ascendium-Sponsored Practitioner Fellowships
Scaling
This grant supports attendance of 14 community college practitioners and developmental educators as fellows at the 2019 conference of the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness. Educators, policymakers, researchers, students, and other stakeholders attending this conference will discuss the latest research in the field and come away with a clearer sense of how states and institutions can better support students on the path to college and career success.
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