Career & College Centers featured in national report on increasing postsecondary access

AchieveMpls' strategy to increase the number of students who apply to two or more postsecondary programs – which increases the likelihood of postsecondary enrollment – is cited in a new report by Education Strategy Group (ESG) and Level Up Coalition entitled, “From Tails to Heads: Building Momentum for Postsecondary Success.”

The report identifies eight critical predictive indicators of postsecondary preparation, retention and success – including postsecondary applications – and offers recommendations to help educators and administrators better serve individual students and inform broader conversations about advising policies and programs. 

"Despite their predictive power, very few states and districts currently use these metrics to measure the success of their schools or to target resources and interventions for students," the report says. "With the COVID-19 crisis simultaneously deterring students’ progress on their educational journeys and making quality postsecondary credentials even more essential for economic mobility, we owe it to students to provide the informed, intentional support they need to make it to and through higher education. Together, we can flip the script on postsecondary access and success for millions of students."

AchieveMpls Career & College Centers – in partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools and the National College Attainment Network – received a capacity-building grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s To and Through Advising Challenge in 2018 to strengthen best practice strategies to boost postsecondary outcomes. These include strengthening college advising, increasing access to financial aid by driving FAFSA completion, reducing “summer melt” and utilizing data more effectively.

Read the new ESG and Level Up Coalition report, which features AchieveMpls on page 17.