Higher Education and Reentry: The Gifts They Bring

This study explores the lived experiences of people with criminal justice histories as they attend and contemplate enrolling in college. The report highlights the journeys of these students and considers a number of important questions: What does it take for people with criminal justice histories to successfully transform the trajectory of their lives? What are the obstacles they face? What affirmative steps can we take to make our public and private colleges and universities more welcoming to this growing population of students

Big Data Techniques to Improve Learning Access and Citizen Engagement for Adults in Urban Environments

This presentation explores the emerging concept of ‘Big Data in Education’ and introduces novel technologies and approaches for addressing inequalities in access to participation and success in lifelong learning, to produce better life outcomes for urban citizens. It introduces the work of the new Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) at the University of Glasgow, presenting a case study of its first data product – the integrated Multimedia City Data (iMCD) project. Educational engagement and predictive factors are presented for adult learners, and older adult learners, in a representative survey of 1500 households. This was followed up with mobility tracking data using GPS data and wearable camera images, as well as one year’s worth of contextual data from over one hundred web sources (social media, news, weather). The chapter introduces the complex dataset that can help stakeholders, academics, citizens and other external users examine active aging and citizen learning engagement in the modern urban city, and thus support the development of the learning city. It concludes with a call for a more three-dimensional view of citizen-learners’ daily activity and mobility, such as satellite, mobile phone and active travel application data, alongside administrative data linkage to further explore lifelong learning participation and success. Policy implications are provided for addressing inequalities, and interventions proposed for how cities might promote equal and inclusive adult learning engagement in the face of continued austerity cuts and falling adult learner numbers

Exploring Educational Journeys, Barriers, and Motivating Factors of Tribal College Students through Capabilities Approach

Educational attainment and success have often been linked to an increase in opportunities in life and when viewed from the lens of lifelong earnings, the greater an individual’s educational attainment, the greater the lifelong earnings. As a population, Native Americans have the highest poverty rate of all racial categories in the United States at 26.2% (Economic Policy Institute 2016). When looking at the connection between education and poverty, it is vital to note that only 14.1% of Native Americans over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree or above (US Census 2015). This lack of educational attainment falls well below the general population and the research in the area of attempting to understand the factors that affect Native American educational attainment is still fairly light in volume when compared to other areas of educational study. This study aims to add to the bank of information regarding Native Americans and their journeys and experiences in higher education. The study is exploratory as capabilities, barriers, and motivating factors within higher education for Native American students will be identified from the perspective of the student. Capabilities approach is utilized to provide a framework in which research participants can share their experiences in higher education, the barriers that have affected them, and the motivating factors that have kept them progressing in higher education; and all through the perceptions of the students and a focus on local, contextual knowledge. The study will utilize the qualitative methods of a focus group and semistructured interviews to capture the educational journeys of the research participants and their thoughts on higher education. Additionally, the study will use content analysis to examine the programming, financial aid, and transferability for students from Sisseton Wahpeton College to universities and colleges in the area to highlight educational capabilities of the research participants. Analysis of the data compiled indicates that there are several barriers and motivating factors that align with findings from previous studies, but the analysis also notes some differences as well. The benefits of capabilities approach are highlighted in the findings as the similarities and differences identified in the research population can add to the depth of understanding in this area, while at the same time, recognizing the diversity of populations of Native Americans and the importance of local, contextual knowledge in this area of study

Lilly Endowment Annual Report 2015

During 2015, the Endowment paid grants totaling $435.5 million. Community development grants accounted for$200.4 million (46 percent), religion grants accounted for $124.1 million (29 percent) and education grants accounted for$111.0 million (25 percent). Most grants were paid to organizations in Indiana - a total of $257.8 million (59 percent). Of the payment total of$435.5 million, $107.9 million (25 percent) was paid to nonMarion County grantees in Indiana and$149.9 million (34 percent) to Marion County (Indianapolis) grantees. Organizations outside of Indiana received $177.7 million (41 percent). Most of these grants paid outside of Indiana were religion grants.The annual report includes a complete list of 2015 grants

Our Journeys: A Narrative Inquiry into the Experiences of Students from Working Class Backgrounds as They Pursue Higher Education

Abstract Students from working class backgrounds are less likely to graduate from college than their middle class peers. This narrative inquiry explores the personal stories of four graduate students from working class backgrounds who recently earned masters' degrees at a large public online university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. By considering themes in the participants' narratives in juxtaposition to those found in the grand narrative of working class students found in the literature, the author reveals elements in the participants' experiences that conform to, challenge, and stand outside of the grand narrative the informs current understanding of the inhibiting and facilitating factors that influence the success of working class students in higher education. Themes related to economic disadvantage, poor academic preparation, lack of moral support and financial stressors illustrate concepts of the grand narrative. Themes related to family structure, self-regulation, and deference to authority challenge the dominant discourse of the grand narrative. Emergent themes of individualism, individualization, self-determination and perseverance stand outside the grand narrative, countering its story of deficit, and illustrating the power of narratives in providing insights into the multiple realities of working class students

HIP to COLLEGE 2012-2015: Creating Strong Funding and Nonprofit Networks for Latino Student Success

For the past three-and-a-half years, through the HIP to College initiative, Hispanicsin Philanthropy has worked diligently to strengthen the academic success of Latino students and the long-term community advancement that results from their earning postsecondary degrees. With the support of generous partners, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the HIP to College initiative in North Carolina and Colorado worked to develop networks that support Latino students through high school and into college. Improving outcomes for Latino students is the priority of the HIP Education Focused Initiative. The success of this initiative has been remarkable. HIP is optimistic about the future of this work and its role in cultivating an educational landscape and partnerships in the United States that help Latino students thrive

Trust and mistrust in the lives of forcibly displaced women and children

This paper aims to consider the experiences of displaced women and children throughout the experience of displacement and the issue of trust (or mistrust) throughout this journey towards future emplacement. Issues around trust and mistrust in conflict situations and considerations around interpersonal and broader based gender-based violence in politicised contexts are explored. Various stages of displacement are viewed and, through the use of examples, from experiences within refugee camps, reception in host countries and resettlement in countries of asylum insights into the lived experiences of displaced women and children are provided. This paper therefore draws upon research projects and practitioner experience, including research carried out within refugee camps, in the UK on the dispersal of asylum seekers, qualitative research into agency responses to the trafficking of children and young people, plus a scoping study involving qualitative research into non-statutory understandings of trafficking.

An International Study in Competency Education: Postcards from Abroad

Acknowledging that national borders need not constrain our thinking, we have examined a selection of alternative academic cultures and, in some cases, specific schools, in search of solutions to common challenges we face when we consider reorganizing American schools. A wide range of interviews and e-mail exchanges with international researchers, government officials and school principals has informed this research, which was supplemented with a literature review scanning international reports and journal articles. Providing a comprehensive global inventory of competency-based education is not within the scope of this study, but we are confident that this is a representative sampling. The report that follows first reviews the definition of competency-based learning. A brief lesson in the international vocabulary of competency education is followed by a review of global trends that complement our own efforts to improve performance and increase equitable outcomes. Next, we share an overview of competency education against a backdrop of global education trends (as seen in the international PISA exams), before embarking on an abbreviated world tour. We pause in Finland, British Columbia (Canada), New Zealand and Scotland, with interludes in Sweden, England, Singapore and Shanghai, all of which have embraced practices that can inform the further development of competency education in the United States