Low-Income Single Mothers at Community Colleges: Recommendations for Practices to Improve Completion

Education and Literacy;Women

Low-Income Single Mothers at Community Colleges: Recommendations for Practices to Improve Completion

Low-income, single mothers beginning or returning to higher education overwhelmingly choose to pursue their goals at community colleges. These schools often provide the best fit of available institutions because of their relative affordability, variety of offerings, ease of entry, and proximity to the student. Like other higher learning institutions, however, many community colleges struggle to address the challenges low-income, single mothers can face. Colleges often unwittingly place more obstacles in the path of these students.

Many colleges are taking action and trying a variety of approaches to improve their institutions and better serve low-income, single mother students. While some interventions have been rigorously studied, most have not. Many promising interventions, though so far lacking empirical support, have shown great success based on student and provider testimony. When taken as a whole, it is clear that community colleges can undertake effective interventions to help student parents complete their programs and meet their goals.

August 1970

Geographic Focus: North America / United States

Low-Income Single Mothers at Community Colleges: Recommendations for Practices to Improve Completion

Education and Literacy;Women

Low-Income Single Mothers at Community Colleges: Recommendations for Practices to Improve Completion

Low-income, single mothers beginning or returning to higher education overwhelmingly choose to pursue their goals at community colleges. These schools often provide the best fit of available institutions because of their relative affordability, variety of offerings, ease of entry, and proximity to the student. Like other higher learning institutions, however, many community colleges struggle to address the challenges low-income, single mothers can face. Colleges often unwittingly place more obstacles in the path of these students.

Many colleges are taking action and trying a variety of approaches to improve their institutions and better serve low-income, single mother students. While some interventions have been rigorously studied, most have not. Many promising interventions, though so far lacking empirical support, have shown great success based on student and provider testimony. When taken as a whole, it is clear that community colleges can undertake effective interventions to help student parents complete their programs and meet their goals.

August 1970

Geographic Focus: North America / United States

Single Mothers and College Success: Creating Paths Out of Poverty

Education and Literacy;Employment and Labor;Women

Single Mothers and College Success: Creating Paths Out of Poverty

Today, as more and more people struggle to work their way into the middle class, single mothers face an especially steep climb. For many single mothers, a college degree opens the door to the middle class, and community colleges often provide the most accessible and flexible option. With a valuable certificate or degree in hand, a single mother has the skills and credentials to earn a family-supporting wage, and has many more options for desirable careers.

August 1970

Geographic Focus: North America / United States

Single Mothers and College Success: Creating Paths Out of Poverty

Education and Literacy;Employment and Labor;Women

Single Mothers and College Success: Creating Paths Out of Poverty

Today, as more and more people struggle to work their way into the middle class, single mothers face an especially steep climb. For many single mothers, a college degree opens the door to the middle class, and community colleges often provide the most accessible and flexible option. With a valuable certificate or degree in hand, a single mother has the skills and credentials to earn a family-supporting wage, and has many more options for desirable careers.

August 1970

Geographic Focus: North America / United States

Tracking Oregon's Progress: A Report of the Tracking Oregon's Progress (TOP) Indicators Project

Education and Literacy;Employment and Labor;Energy and Environment

Tracking Oregon's Progress: A Report of the Tracking Oregon's Progress (TOP) Indicators Project

In 1989, Oregon embarked on a novel experiment to track the progress of the state toward a set of economic, social and environmental goals embodied in the state strategic plan Oregon Shines. The task of tracking a set of indicators to measure progress was assigned to a new state entity: the Oregon Progress Board. For two decades, the Progress Board measured the state's progress using a set of social, economic and environmental indicators. After the 2009 report was completed however, the state decided not to continue funding the Progress Board and discontinued the tracking of state and county indicators.

This 2014 report is a report to the people of Oregon. It identifies trends in the state that suggest both progress toward prosperity as well as issues that may be a source of future barriers and concerns. Like those who led previous indicator efforts, we hope that the report and website will be used by policymakers, government analysts, the press, business and civic leaders and the civically-engaged population to better understand the current social, economic, and environmental condition of the state.

August 1970

Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northwestern) / Oregon

America's Most Financially Disadvantaged School Districts and How They Got That Way

Education and Literacy, Government Reform

America's Most Financially Disadvantaged School Districts and How They Got That Way

This report explores some of the most financially disadvantaged school districts in the country and identifies a typology of conditions that have created or reinforced their disadvantage. Financially disadvantaged districts are those that serve student populations with much greater-than-average need but do so with much less-than average funding. The Education Law Center of New Jersey's annual report, "Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card," uses a panel of the most recent three years of U.S. Census Bureau Fiscal Survey data on state and local revenues per pupil in order to determine which states achieve systematically greater funding per pupil in districts serving higher student poverty concentrations and which states maintain school funding systems where higher poverty districts have systematically fewer resources per pupil.

The same data have been used in follow-up analyses to identify the local public school districts across states that are saddled with greater-than-average student needs and less-than-average state and local revenue.2 As one might expect, numerous poorly funded local public school districts exist in the least fairly funded states. That is, where a state school finance system is such that higher-need districts on average have lower state and local revenue, there tends to be more high-need districts with lower state and local revenue. And as it turns out, there are unfairly funded districts in what are traditionally viewed as fairly funded states. In other words, poorly funded local public school districts exist in states where school finance systems are, on average, progressive. This report looks at why this happens -- and what can be done about it.

August 1970

Geographic Focus: North America-United States

DACA at the Two-Year Mark: A National and State Profile of Youth Eligible and Applying for Deferred Action

Education and Literacy, Immigration

DACA at the Two-Year Mark: A National and State Profile of Youth Eligible and Applying for Deferred Action

Since the Obama administration launched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012, which offers temporary relief from deportation and the right to apply for work authorization for certain unauthorized immigrants who came to the United States as children, 55 percent of the 1.2 million youth who immediately met the program's criteria have applied, according to MPI estimates. As the first two-year eligibility period draws to a close, early DACA beneficiaries have begun to apply for renewal, with nearly 25,000 renewal applications submitted as of July 20, 2014.

This report provides the most up-to-date estimates available for the size, countries of origin, educational attainment, employment, English proficiency, age, gender, and poverty rates for the DACA population nationally and for key states, based on an analysis of U.S. Census data. The report also offers DACA application rates nationally and in key states, as well as for particular national-origin groups.

The MPI researchers find that slightly more than 2.1 million unauthorized immigrants who came to the United States as children are potentially eligible for DACA -- with 1.2 million having immediately met the age, education, length of residence, and other criteria when the initiative launched in 2012. Two other groups could prospectively gain DACA status: 426,000 youth who appeared to fulfill all but the education requirements as of the program's launch, and 473,000 who were too young to apply but become eligible once they reach age 15 if they stay in school or obtain a high school degree or equivalent.

The analysis provides a mixed picture of DACA's first two years. On the one hand, the sheer volume of applicants is impressive. On the other, hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth have not yet gained a status that can change their lives in measurable ways, allowing them improved job prospects, the ability to apply for driver's licenses, and more. The report examines the educational, poverty, and other barriers to DACA enrollment.

August 1970

Geographic Focus: North America-United States

Issue Brief: Focus on Education

Education and Literacy;Men;Race and Ethnicity

Issue Brief: Focus on Education

This brief focuses on education of boys and young men of color and was prepared for the, "Investing in Boys and Young Men of Color: The Promise and Opportunity," briefing held on June 11, 2014 in Washington, DC. The brief includes data providing the national context, promising program models, and strategies for moving forward.

August 1970

Geographic Focus: North America / United States

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