Resource Library

Our 2023 report reflects on our continued efforts to build evidence and share actionable insights through our grantmaking. Inside, you’ll read how our philanthropy catalyzes change to postsecondary education and workforce training systems so more learners from low-income backgrounds can achieve their goals. You’ll also get insights into the upcoming year.

In this episode, the Future U. podcast hosts two innovators to discuss the leading role community colleges can play in growing America’s apprenticeship programs. Mitchell Harp, dean of apprenticeship programs at Trident Technical College, and Pierre Dubuc, CEO of OpenClassrooms, consider barriers and solutions to apprenticeships, including engaging employers and supporting learners in apprenticeship programs and career development.

Sectoral training programs can offer flexible, affordable, and accessible pathways to upward mobility and career achievement. With the goal of helping to scale and strengthen sectoral training programs, this brief from MDRC focuses on the challenges providers and workers face and the current opportunities to collaborate with providers in applying evidence, innovating, and expanding effective practices.

This brief provides a snapshot into the process and progress of the STEM Transfer Partnership (STP) initiative. STP teams worked together for over 18 months to better understand and dismantle the obstacles for low-income STEM transfer students interested in completing a bachelor’s degree. Their documentation can serve new, future transfer partnerships by providing direction and inspiration.

This report provides a nuanced look at the status of educational attainment and employment in rural areas, finding that rural workers today are as likely as those in urban areas to hold a good job — one that pays a living wage for their region. But the report also shows that racial and gender disparities exist in who gets access to those jobs, even as rural areas grow more diverse. As rural economies shift and populations continue to decline and evolve, these communities need greater investment in education and workforce training to ensure future economic vitality.

One of several in this series, this report shows that transfer enrollment increased along all pathways for the fall 2023 semester. The series aims to better serve the education community with new, timely, and detailed data on transfer progress and mobility.

Community colleges are well-positioned to expand apprenticeship opportunities and create affordable, equitable pathways into careers in healthcare, information technology, business services, and more. Resources from New America detail how colleges can fill the role of apprenticeship intermediary while serving the needs of learners and their communities.

While many colleges are adopting competency-based education (CBE) programs, few look the same. American Institutes for Research developed a framework and research brief that not only identifies design features and options currently in use by colleges and universities in the U.S., but also helps those in the field understand which features are working and which may be less effective.

This brief documents the work of postsecondary education partners to collect student input and translate that data into improvements for learners using STEM transfer pathways. It includes the strategies they used to collect input, as well as insights on what constitutes input, what forms of input are most needed, and how partners can best learn from students.

This suite of resources provides information for policymakers, institutional and system leaders, and practitioners on effective workforce aligned strategies and policies that help learners from low-income backgrounds complete short-term career and technical education credentials that lead to good jobs.

The Tennessee Coaching Project extends support for adult learners with some postsecondary education but no degree through course-focused success coaches known as Next Steps Advisors. These coaches help them navigate the unique challenges and barriers they face returning to postsecondary education to complete their degree.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, it’s estimated that transfer students lose 43% of their credits when they move to a new institution. In this podcast episode, Michael Horn and Jeff Selingo speak to Greg Washington, president of George Mason University, about university programs that support learner mobility, especially for transfer students. These programs show promise as they make it easier for learners to keep prior-earned credits and integrate into their new institution.