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BUILDING EVIDENCE AND ENABLING CONDITIONS FOR CHANGE

Developing Strategies
So Learners Can Succeed

Postsecondary education and workforce training offer transformative opportunities, but many learners from low-income backgrounds encounter barriers in pursuing them. The traditional college experience caters to a type of student who now represents a minority among learners pursuing postsecondary education or workforce training.

Indeed, today’s learners are parents, caregivers, and working adults, juggling those responsibilities with the desire to continue their education. They need programs that align with their goals, help them succeed, and lead to wages that justify their investment.

We focus on building systems that meet these learners where they are. Through our grantmaking, our partners develop and scale strategies that empower learners to succeed — whether by overcoming early challenges in critical courses or finding clear pathways to in-demand careers. By supporting strategies that help learners balance learning, work, and life, we clear the paths for them to achieve their goals.

A smiling older woman in an apron manages a point of sale screen besides a case full of baked goods

Sue Cui, Senior Program Officer, discusses the Louisiana Board of Regents’ work around student success.

Today’s learners need programs that align with their goals, help them succeed, and lead to wages that justify their investment.

Preparing the STEM Workforce of Tomorrow

Entry-level science courses often prevent learners — especially those from low-income backgrounds — from pursuing STEM degrees and careers. Failing these courses limits access to high demand fields and fuels a troubling trend. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 69% of community college students who start in STEM switch to non-STEM majors or leave college altogether.

To address this, the Ohio Strong Start in Science (OhioSSS) initiative, a partnership among the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Community College Research Center, and 17 colleges and universities, aims to improve STEM outcomes by reforming placement practices, curricula, and instruction in critical biology and chemistry courses. It will also implement promising approaches such as corequisite support models.

This work is vital as Ohio faces surging demand for STEM graduates, driven by projects like Intel’s $20 billion semiconductor complex, expected to create 20,000 jobs.

Scaling Success for Strong Starts

Louisiana faces significant challenges in postsecondary education. Only 51% of working-age adults hold a degree or credential (Source: Louisiana Board of Regents). Improving first-year success is critical, as earning nine credit hours in a program of study during the first year increases graduation likelihood by 40% (Source: Community College Resource Center). However, low success rates in key gateway courses and limited career guidance hinder students in reaching these milestones.

Through the Louisiana Board of Regents, Louisiana’s public colleges and universities are scaling strategies grounded in the Louisiana Meauxmentum Framework, an evidence-based approach tailored to the state’s needs. The initiative provides implementation grants, technical assistance, and statewide networking to enhance outcomes in foundational courses and improve curricular engagement. These efforts will help students select academic focus areas and connect their studies to future careers.

Advancing Opportunities for English-Language Learners

English-language learners face additional barriers to postsecondary education and workforce training beyond those experienced by other learners. English-language learners must try to navigate unclear pathways while also gaining the English language skills necessary to succeed. To address these challenges, the Texas Community College Education Initiative aims to reform placement and curricular systems that hinder these learners from transitioning into workforce training or degree programs. It also focuses on expanding academic support and financial aid access to better serve these learners.

In collaboration with WestEd and Student-Ready Strategies, the initiative equips Texas community colleges with technical assistance and resources to create smoother transitions for English-language learners. By aligning these reforms with workforce demands and leveraging incentives like Texas House Bill 8, which ties funding to credential completion, the initiative aims to meet Texas’s growing needs for skilled workers, as 70% of the state’s jobs will soon require a postsecondary credential.

Strengthening Rural Programs and Partnerships to Improve Student Success

Ascendium is committed to learning about promising innovations, reforms, and solutions that connect rural learners from low-income backgrounds to postsecondary education and workforce training pathways that lead to good jobs.

Rural community colleges face unique challenges, including constrained resources, high staff turnover, and limited data capacity. These constraints have left them mostly excluded from national reform efforts, like the guided pathways movement, which requires long-term planning and effort to help students earn useful credentials.

The National Center for Inquiry and Improvement is expanding guided pathways reforms at rural community colleges and adding new colleges to an existing cohort. The initiative aims to help rural colleges strengthen their programs and partnerships to improve student success and align credentials with local labor market needs.

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