CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

Secretary Cardona and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) Highlight Connecticut Manufacturing Programs

On January 14, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) visited Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School and Thames River Magnet Elementary School in Groton, Connecticut, to highlight each school’s manufacturing programs. The programs are helping to meet workforce needs in eastern Connecticut and develop the next generation of highly-skilled workers across the state. In addition, the two policymakers reiterated the need for federal CTE and workforce development funding to train workers to do the in-demand jobs of the future. 

 

“Career [and] technical education is a priority for this administration. It's a priority for me,” Cardona told New London, CT’s The Day newspaper. 

 

At Grasso High School, 50% of students attending the manufacturing program have jobs lined up after they graduate, including one student who recalled being able to help their family replace a water heater on their own, saving time and money. Groton has expanded access to STEM courses across its public schools, as the district was recently awarded a Defense Education Activity grant from the Department of Defense to expand career pathways in STEM fields and health care. The school is also launching a co-op with nearby Fitch High School to send Fitch students to Grasso for after-school classes to earn credit. 

 

During the visit to Grasso, Rep. Courtney added to the conversation by explaining to students that their career paths and fields of study align with current and future workforce needs being seen across the country. Courtney cited the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into law in November as just one example of a bill that will create jobs to be filled with skilled workers in in-demand fields, including electric vehicle technology, building technology and climate change. 

 

Grasso also hosts the Three Rivers Community College Manufacturing Apprenticeship Center, which provides training for secondary and adult learners. Students may take courses in machining, welding, electrical, mechanical, shipfitting, pipefitting, maintenance, design engineering, or in any customizable program that is designed to fit a local employer’s needs. 

 

Sec. Cardona and Rep. Courtney also noted that American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds are supporting programs like those at Grasso and at Thames River, helping Connecticut to serve as a model for the nation. Connecticut plans to spend $70 million in ARP funds on workforce development programs across the state.

DC Digest: January 10-16

The House and Senate were both in session this week, with congressional action on voting rights holding most of the focus in Washington. Action on CTE-related measures was rather minimal. The Senate has canceled a planned recess scheduled for next week, citing weather challenges and additional work on voting rights. After voting rights discussion, the Senate could return to debate on the Build Back Better Act, where there is still no agreement between Democratic congressional leaders, President Biden and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). You can still contact your senators – especially Democratic senators – and ask them to maintain the $700 million investment in Perkins, $5 billion for community college and industry partnership grants and the overall $40 billion allocation for workforce development included in the House-passed version of the bill. In the meantime, here is the most important news from Washington: 

 

• Secretary of Education Visits Connecticut Technical High School: On January 14, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) visited Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School to tour the school’s manufacturing programs and discuss how CTE can help meet workforce needs in Connecticut, as well as the importance of federal workforce development funding.  
   
• Congressional Appropriations Leaders Meet to Discuss FY 2022 Appropriations: On January 12, the bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees – Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Kay Granger (R-TX) – met for the first time since November about the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 appropriations process. While these members have not yet scheduled another time to meet, reports indicated the meeting was constructive. Government funding will expire on February 18 without final bills being passed or an extension through another continuing resolution (CR). 
   
• Department of Education Adds CTE to Three Department Discretionary Grant Priorities: As a result of comments submitted to the Federal Register on the Department of Education’s competitive grant priorities for this year, the Department has added career and technical education programs to additional parts of the document. These priorities include Priority 2—Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources, Opportunities, and Welcoming Environments; Priority 3—Supporting a Diverse Educator Workforce and Professional Growth to Strengthen Student Learning; and Priority 4—Meeting Student Social, Emotional, and Academic Needs. These final priorities and definitions may be used across the Department of Education discretionary grant programs.

• State of the Union Scheduled: The White House and Congress have scheduled President Biden's first official State of the Union address on March 1. It is also likely that the President's FY 2023 budget request to Congress will not be submitted until after this date, or even later, depending on when Congress is able to complete work on FY 2022 bills.  
   
• Administration Announces New Developments in COVID-19 Testing for Schools: On January 12, the Administration released a fact sheet outlining new initiatives to increase the availability of COVID-19 tests for schools, including new test distribution. More details will be sent to school leaders directly from the Department of Education.

Research Roundup: Dual Enrollment Data & Equity

Dual Enrollment in California: The Public Policy Institute of California released a report examining access, equity and success in dual enrollment programs in California. Researchers studied 3,000 high schools and nearly 440,000 dual enrollment students. The following summarizes a few key findings from the report:

• The percentage of high schools that offered dual enrollment increased from 10% in 2016-17 year to 36% in 2018-19. Participation in dual enrollment also increased from about 72,000 participants in the 2015-16 graduating class to 112,000 in the 2019-20 class.
• While participation for all major racial/ethnic groups increased over time, Black and Latino students were still underrepresented, had lower dual enrollment GPAs, and earned fewer units than Asian and white students.
• Approximately 81% of all dual enrollment students enrolled in a postsecondary institution within one year of graduation, 19 percentage points higher than the statewide rate for all graduates. College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) participants were more likely to enroll in two-year institutions.
• Roughly 20% of all dual enrollment courses and 29% of CCAP courses focused on career and technical education.

Benefits of Early College Programs: A report by JFF shows how early college programs are improving student outcomes at Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The early college program was introduced at the high school in 2017, allowing students who apply and meet assessment standards to complete courses in high-demand career fields for credit at local community and four-year colleges. By 2020, the school’s overall graduation rate improved from 71% to 80% and recent early college student cohorts were twice as likely to enroll in a postsecondary institution after graduation. The high school plans to expand the program to all students within five years.

Equity Gaps in Dual Enrollment: While dual enrollment has proven benefits for student outcomes, according to a data tool by the Community College Research Center, not all learners have equitable access to these programs. Using the 2017-18 Civil Rights Data Collection, the tool identifies nationwide representation and accessibility gaps in dual enrollment and AP coursework for different student demographic groups. The following are a few key findings on dual enrollment:

• The biggest representation gap existed for students with disabilities, who make up 13% of the overall school population, but accounted for 4% of dual enrollment students.
• English language learners and Black and Hispanic students, especially males within these groups, were underrepresented while white students were overrepresented in dual enrollment courses.
• Many schools that offer dual enrollment opportunities have no underrepresented students participating. For instance, 27% of schools attended by Black students offer dual enrollment courses but did not enroll any Black students in these courses.

In response to equity gaps in dual enrollment programs, the College in High School Alliance released a guide designed to help states collect, report and use dual enrollment access and success data to improve equity. The resource highlights examples of states engaging in this work and outlines a framework for state policymakers to utilize when developing dual enrollment data reporting systems.

Improving Pathways Data: As states develop policies to improve the school-to-workforce pipeline, K-12 leaders need access to data on the postsecondary and workforce outcomes of former students. In response, Chiefs for Change created a brief discussing obstacles and steps to improving pathways data. Informed by interviews with state education and local agency leaders, the following are four strategies the brief outlines that state leaders can use to increase access to pathways data:

• Build a cross-agency data governance body that is aligned with K-12 leaders’ needs and follows privacy and security best practices.
• Ensure data systems are modernized and updated regularly by advocating the value of pathways data, securing state funding support and creating interstate data-sharing compacts.
• Create user-friendly data by identifying local leaders’ needs, ensuring existing linked data is accessible to districts and schools, and utilizing federal funding to build and modernize tools.
• Increase capacity for pathways data analysis and use by disseminating best practices among districts and coordinating statewide data conferences.

The Impact and Promise of Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment

The comprehensive local needs assessment (CLNA) was an exciting and innovative change under Perkins V introduced to support data-driven decision-making and more closely align planning, spending and accountability activities. As the second CLNA process ramps up, Advance CTE and ACTE interviewed state and local CTE leaders to identify what worked during the first CLNAs and what can be improved. Lessons in Collaboration and Innovation: The Impact and Promise of the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment describes state perspectives on CLNA successes – including stronger alignment between local needs and funding decisions, more collaboration among local recipients, improved data capacity and literacy, and better informed state-level programs and processes – as well as state perspectives on areas for improvement and examples of CLNAs driving transformation on the local and regional levels.

Local CTE leaders that we interviewed reported similar benefits from the first CLNAs as state leaders: increased collaboration, enhanced use and understanding of data, and improved alignment and prioritization of needs and budgets. For instance, CTE leaders at Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Colorado shared how CLNA encouraged more collaboration and sharing of best practices; helped level the playing field across larger and smaller entities within regional CTE consortia; and led the district to take a more strategic approach to Perkins investments and aligning those investments with state and local CTE goals and funding.

This improved alignment of CTE programs to learner and labor market needs — including the development of new programs and the closure of programs that do not prepare students for high-skill, high-wage or in-demand careers — is one of the major ways in which the CLNA effects change. In Rhode Island at the William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School, input from stakeholders and data analysis led the school to develop its own education program to encourage its largely minority learner population to enter the field of teaching. The program began in January 2022 and takes place in a converted building on campus, part of which hosts a satellite YMCA preschool and part of which has classrooms for the high school education and training program. The goal is for learners to experience teaching across the PK-12 spectrum, so they will not only observe and do clinicals with preschool staff but also shadow Davies CTE and academic high school instructors to learn about different subjects they could teach.

Stay tuned for more blog posts unpacking lessons learned from the first CLNA and explore how you can use ACTE’s high-quality CTE framework to support CLNA.

DC Digest: January 3-9

The Senate returned to Washington last week, while the House is scheduled to return at the beginning of this week. Congressional action was minimal, with weather delays and funerals for former Members of Congress impacting the schedule. Congress also marked the one-year anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. As Congress reconvenes, there is significant attention on the potential timing of a vote on the Build Back Better Act, pending any agreement between Democratic congressional leaders, the Biden Administration and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). You can still contact your senators – especially Democratic senators – and ask them to maintain the $700 million investment in Perkins, $5 billion for community college and industry partnership grants and the overall $40 billion allocation for workforce development included in the House-passed version of the bill. Here is the latest news from snowy Washington: 

• Department of Labor Announces Trucking Apprenticeship Challenge: The Department of Labor has announced the 90-Day Trucking Apprenticeship Challenge to promote the apprenticeship model as a solution to get more well-trained drivers on the road. The Challenge, which kicked off on December 16, asks employers who are ready to step up to commit to accelerating the development of new apprenticeship programs and help expand existing ones through new employer and labor partnerships to support recruitment, retention and return on investment in the trucking industry. You can learn more about the challenge here. 
   
• Department of Labor Accepting Applications for Apprenticeship Ambassador Program: The Apprenticeship Ambassador Initiative seeks to create a national network of employers, labor organizations, industry associations, program sponsors, educators, workforce intermediaries, minority serving organizations, community-based organizations and other stakeholders to serve as champions for expanding and diversifying registered apprenticeship programs. You can learn more and apply for the program here. 
   
• Senate HELP Committee Set to Reapprove Dr. Amy Loyd to Lead OCTAE: The White House has re-sent the nomination of Amy Loyd to serve as Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the Department of Education to the Senate. Her nomination expired at the end of the 1st Session of the 117th Congress after originally advancing out of Committee on a voice vote, requiring President Biden to renominate Dr. Loyd for the position. A full Senate confirmation vote will be forthcoming, but has not been scheduled. 

• Department of Education Releases Updated Guidance on COVID-19 Mitigation: The Department of Education has released updated guidance on COVID-19 mitigation strategies for K-12 schools. 
   
• Department of Education Approves Additional ARP-ESSER Funds: The Department of Education announced that it has approved ARP-ESSER plans for Mississippi, Vermont and Florida. ARP-ESSER funds are used to support schools and students as they reopen for in-person learning, and to help sustain the safe operation of schools. With the approval of Florida’s plan, all state plans for the usage of ESSER funds have now been approved by the Department of Education.

DC Digest: December 13-January 2

As January kicks off, Congress returns to Washington this week with several items still unresolved, including funding the government to avoid a government shutdown on February 18 and continuing negotiations in the Senate on the Build Back Better Act. Senate leadership is now aiming to bring the Build Back Better Act to the floor for a vote in January if an agreement can be reached between Democratic congressional leaders, the Biden Administration and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). To this end, you can still contact your senators – especially Democratic senators – and ask them to maintain the $700 million investment in Perkins, $5 billion for community college and industry partnership grants and the overall $40 billion allocation for workforce development included in the House-passed version of the bill. In the meantime, here is the latest news from Washington to catch up on for the new year:

 

• Biden Administration Extends Student Loan Repayment Pause: On December 22, the Biden Administration announced a 90-day extension of the pause on student loan repayment, interest and collections through May 1, 2022 as COVID-19 continues to impact the nation.
  
  
• Department of Labor Awards Funding to Expand Registered Apprenticeships: The Department of Labor has announced more than $8 million in contract investments to industry intermediaries to expand registered apprenticeships in sectors affected by the pandemic. These sectors include the nation’s care economy that serves individuals, families, elderly and persons with disabilities to provide community food and housing, vocational rehabilitation services and childcare services; electric power generation, transmission and distribution; supply chains including semi-conductors, advanced batteries, critical minerals and strategic materials; pharmaceuticals and active ingredients and transportation equipment manufacturing; and transportation and logistics operations for supply chain distribution including air, rail, water and support activities.
  
  
• Department of Education Approves Additional ARP-ESSER Funds: The Department of Education announced that it has approved ARP-ESSER plans for Mississippi and Vermont. ARP-ESSER funds are used to support schools and students as they reopen for in-person learning, and to help sustain the safe operation of schools.
  
  
• Department of Education Releases Draft Guidance for Resuming K-12 Accountability: On December 17, the Department released draft FAQs and additional guidance to help states resume full testing and accountability.
  
  
• Congressional Calendars for 2022 Available: Both the House and Senate have announced their tentative schedules for the year, including time in session, Committee work weeks, and state and district work periods where policymakers are not in DC. You can view a compilation of the calendars from CQ Roll Call here.
  

Research Roundup: Career Planning and Exploration

Career Exploration in Middle Grades: Stride Learning Solutions released a brief discussing the importance of career exploration in the middle grades. It highlights how career exploration in middle school can engage students during a transition period in their lives and help them learn about careers and about themselves. The brief also outlines four key elements to a successful middle school exploration program: offering a wide range of career options, incorporating project-based learning, providing opportunities to learn and practice 21st-century skills, and offering extended learning experiences such as job shadowing and career technical student organizations. The publication references ACTE’s report, Career Exploration in Middle School: Setting Students on the Path to Success.

 

Impacts of Education and Career Planning: The Institute of Education Sciences recently released a report about the effect of education and career planning on high school students’ postsecondary-going behaviors, such as submitting the FAFSA or enrolling in a postsecondary institution. Using longitudinal survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics, researchers concluded the following:

• Most public high schools required students to develop an education and/or career plan (ECP). About 56% required a combined education and career plan, 21% required an education plan only and 6% required a career plan only.
• Schools that required ECPs were more likely to be rural, have a higher percentage of Black students and have a higher percentage of students facing economic barriers.
• Most students created an ECP in the fall of grade 9, but only 44% of students received adult support to develop their plan and only 22% reviewed their plan annually with an adult.
• Students that developed an ECP with adult support and reviewed their plan annually were more likely to display postsecondary-going behaviors.

Implementing ICAPs: Advance CTE published a brief highlighting best practices for implementing individual career and academic plans (ICAPs) at the state and local levels by drawing on examples from states like Colorado, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin. When implemented equitably and collaboratively, ICAPs can connect education with a student’s career and life goals. Below are Advance CTE’s recommendations for states to implement effective ICAPs:

• Implement ICAPs systematically by incorporating ICAPs into graduation requirements and curriculum and by involving multiple stakeholders, such as employers and community partners.
• Introduce ICAPs in middle school and support technology that allows students to transfer their ICAPs from high school to postsecondary and the workforce.
• To ensure ICAPs are high quality and equitable, create data-driven accountability systems and provide targeted supports and interventions to students who face additional barriers.
• Use state levers to build local capacity by investing in advising professionals and cross-system data and reporting systems, disseminating best practices and providing training to districts and schools.

Helping Young Adults Build Careers: Disruptions to schooling and employment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could have lasting impacts on young adults due to lost career development opportunities. Recently, JFF released a report discussing how community-based talent development organizations can assist young adults in gaining high-wage jobs and embarking on successful careers while the U.S. economy recovers. The following are four strategies for organizations to implement outlined by the report:

• Use recent labor market data to identify high-wage, high-growth jobs and incorporate those occupations into career advising and workforce development opportunities.
• Create career pathways based on transferable skills that allow young adults to enter better paying jobs with opportunities to advance internally or move into different career areas.
• Establish wide-reaching and strong employer partnerships through cross-sector collaboration and understanding employer needs.
• Advocate for policies supporting young adults’ economic advancement such as short-term Pell grants, work-based learning and investments to programs serving underrepresented adults.

Learn more about the benefits of expanding Pell grants to short-term CTE programs.

New Resource: “Pell Grants & Short-term Programs: Unlocking Careers and Educational Opportunities”

Today, ACTE released a new fact sheet on expanding access to high-quality short-term postsecondary CTE programs. High-quality short-term postsecondary programs can help individuals earn credentials at an affordable cost and enter the workforce in high-wage, high-demand CTE industries.

Since 2010, the number of certificates awarded by public colleges has increased by nearly 30%. While the prevalence of short-term education programs is growing, Title IV of the Higher Education Act limits Pell grant eligibility to postsecondary programs that are at least 600 hours of instruction over 15 weeks, excluding students enrolled in some programs leading to valuable credentials from receiving federal aid.

This fact sheet advocates for the expansion of Pell grants to include high-quality short-term postsecondary programs by defining the issue and providing evidence about how these programs, paired with financial assistance, can lead to higher enrollment and completion rates, continued education, workforce opportunities and wage gains. Additionally, the sheet also features state-level examples from Iowa’s Gap Tuition Assistance Program and Virginia’s New Economy Workforce Credentials Grant.

We encourage you to share this fact sheet with federal, state and local education and workforce development leaders, policymakers and the media to advocate for expanding Pell grants to high-quality short-term postsecondary CTE programs!

DC Digest December 7-12

With little time left until the holiday recess, Congress returned to Washington with a lengthy to-do list, including avoiding a debt-limit default, approving the annual defense authorization bill and continuing negotiations in the Senate surrounding the Build Back Better Act. As negotiations on Build Back Better continue, it is still critical for you to contact your senators – especially Democratic senators – and ask them to maintain the $700 million investment in Perkins, $5 billion for community college and industry partnership grants and the overall $40 billion allocation for workforce development included in the House-passed version of the bill. You can read more about how to get involved on the CTE Policy Watch blog here. In the meantime, here is the latest news from Washington: 

 

• Congress Approves Initial Measure to Raise Debt Limit: After House passage earlier in the week, on December 9, the Senate approved S. 610, the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act, which includes a one-time procedural change allowing the Senate to raise the debt limit without meeting the required 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster. The bill is the first procedural step in raising the debt limit to avoid a default, and was signed into law on December 10. The next step is for the House and Senate to formally raise the debt limit, which will require passing another bill that will be approved by both chambers early the week of December 13. 

 

• House Approves Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act: On December 7, the House approved a compromise version of the FY 2022 NDAA, the annual measure that authorizes defense spending. The Senate is expected to consider the bill the week of December 13.  

 

• Department of Education Completes Negotiated Rulemaking Session: The Department of Education’s Negotiated Rulemaking panel has agreed to regulatory language across several issues, including making it easier for borrowers with a severe disability to have their loans forgiven, loan discharges for borrowers whose school falsely certified loan eligibility and eliminating interest capitalization on federal student loans in some events. Negotiators failed to reach an agreement with the Education Department over how to structure the Biden administration’s new income-driven student loan repayment plan and how to expand the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, so the Department will continue working on regulations in those areas. 

 

• Department of Education Announces Grant Awards to Support Underserved Students: The Department of Education has announced $182 million in new grant awards to 30 school districts, institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations across the country as part of the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program. These grants will support local efforts to develop, implement and scale entrepreneurial and evidence-based projects that have the potential to improve academic achievement for underserved students. 

 

• Department of Education Announces Perkins Technical Assistance: Earlier this month, OCTAE announced a customized technical assistance (TA) opportunity to support states in strengthening reporting on the new Perkins V quality indicators. The TA is intended to supplement, not supplant, state and local efforts to implement the new indicators. The brief application is available online. Requests must be received by December 17, 2021. Please review the attached letter for more details on this exciting opportunity, or contact co-project director Lori Meyer at lmeyer@manhattanstrategy.com.

Research Roundup: Community College Programs, Supports and Outcomes

Factors Impacting Community College Outcomes: A study by the Brookings Institution explores to what degree community colleges are accountable for their students’ outcomes or whether factors outside of institutions’ control, such as learner characteristics, play a greater role. Researchers investigated program-level data on earnings and loan repayment outcomes at over 1,200 community colleges. The study concluded the following:

• Earnings outcomes vary significantly by field of study. For instance, associate degrees in construction, engineering technology and allied health fields lead to higher earnings than associate degrees in consumer science, education and communications technology.
• Although institutions with the largest populations of underrepresented students tend to have worse earnings and loan repayment outcomes, these institutions also tend to offer fewer programs in high-paying fields. This suggests that field of study rather than demographics is the main cause for variation in student outcomes.
• At institutions with the lowest share of underrepresented students, nearly a quarter of learners are enrolled in the highest-paying fields of study, compared to only 16% of learners at colleges with the largest share of underrepresented students.

Relatedly, the Postsecondary Value Commission recently released the Equitable Value Explorer, which is an interactive tool that allows users to explore how returns on investment at over 4,000 postsecondary institutions vary by demographic groups. Using public data from the College Scorecard and other sources, the tool highlights the need for transparency and equity in postsecondary outcomes.

Education and Training Patterns of Working Adults: The Community College Research Center recently released a report discussing the patterns of community college participation among working adults. Using results from the 2020 American Training Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Corporation, researchers studied trends in enrollment, credential attainment, demographics and more to reveal the following findings:

• Approximately 48% of working adults attended community college at some point in their lives and about a quarter did so as adults. Black, Hispanic and female workers utilized community college at a higher rate than white and male workers.
• About 68% of those who attended community college obtained a credential and/or transferred to a four-year institution. Black respondents were more likely to obtain a degree or certificate than white respondents and females obtained certificates at higher rates than males.
• The study also examined the use of other training venues across a workers’ career and found that online training programs were the most utilized option, followed by community colleges. As respondents aged, community colleges were used less than almost all other venues.

Supporting Single Moms: While single mothers represent 10-11% of the postsecondary population, only 28% earn a degree or other credential within six years of enrolling. In response to this issue, Education Design Labs partnered with four community colleges to launch programs focused on increasing postsecondary completion rates by 30% for at least 6,000 single mothers by 2024. A recent report outlines each colleges’ program models and the following design recommendations for institutions interested in improving completion rates for single mothers:

• Create streamlined programs that provide career advising and connect mothers to essential resources, such as advisors that serve as both case managers and career coaches.
• Establish an inclusive space for single mothers by raising institutional awareness through student and faculty training as well as community groups and courses tailored for mothers.
• Implement flexible educational experiences through online learning, individualized career and academic plans and earn-and-learn opportunities.
• Collect data, such as surveys, to understand an institution’s single mother population as well as collaborate with community partners to connect mothers with resources for meeting basic needs.

Benefits of Wraparound Supports: The University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab published interim findings from an ongoing eight-year study on the impact of wraparound supports on community college students’ outcomes. Researchers focused on a non-profit program, One Million Degrees (OMD), which provides financial, academic and professional assistance to under-resourced community college students in Chicago through an application-based process. The following points are key findings from their study:

• Wraparound supports can significantly impact credential attainment. For example, students enrolled in the program were 18% more likely to earn an associate degree within three years, while those who were offered OMD but did not participate were 9% more likely to earn an associate degree.
• Program participants who applied during their high school senior year were 73% more likely to earn an associate degree, the greatest degree attainment increase out of all groups.
• The program also led to meaningful increases in full-time enrollment. OMD students were 29% more likely to enroll in community college full time, while those who were offered OMD but did not participate were 11% more likely to enroll full time.