PUBLICATIONS - �ǿ��

State of the Field: Two-Generation Approaches to Family Well-Being

2021-12-08T12:58:06-05:00

�ǿ�� Research Scientist Autumn Green, Ph.D., director of the Higher Education Access for Student Parents Research Initiative, was a national advisor on this report.

The 2Gen approach builds family wellbeing by combining child- and parent-centric interventions to create an approach that caters to the whole family. Educational and other interventions that see the family as a unit are more useful, and can be more effective. For example, if parents qualify for a state or federal tuition grant to pursue post-secondary education, then it makes sense to see if a high-quality childcare program is available to make sure that while they are studying, their children are learning too. This 2Gen mindset can unlock new possibilities for greater impact from dollars already spent on Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), child care and workforce programs, and more.

This report summarizes the impact and accomplishments of the 2Gen approach over the past decade, and provides insights and recommendations for the approach going forward. Some of the major accomplishments include advances in the application of brain science to the 2Gen approach, shifts in innovation within and across state systems, and a national network of 440 organizations serving 10 million children and families using the 2Gen approach.

The report also found that the lens of race and gender when applied to the 2Gen approach greatly increased its benefits, shoring up foundational mental health is essential to family wellbeing, and working with young parents who have young children has a powerful multiplier effect.

Supporting Parenting Students at Oregon’s Public Colleges & Universities

2021-09-30T12:06:32-04:00

This research study presents the Oregon-specific findings of an effort to systematically identify which colleges and universities in the United States offer supportive programs, policies, and practices for parenting students.

Oregon is classified as part of the Far West region by the U.S. Department of Education and falls under the regional accreditation jurisdiction of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. It has 17 community colleges and 9 public universities. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 20% of Oregon undergraduate students attend college while parenting, which is about 41,614 parenting students. The majority of parenting students in the Far West are women, and Far West parenting students are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and low income.

While parenting students require financial support during their studies, college enrollment and degree completion help low-income families permanently transition out of poverty in the long term. Single mothers who earn associate’s degrees are 1.8 times less likely to live in poverty, and single mothers who earn baccalaureate degrees are three times less likely to live in poverty, than single mothers with a high school diploma or GED.

Among its findings, this report found that only five Oregon public colleges and universities offer formalized parenting student success programs (Chemeketa Community College, Columbia Gorge Community College, Klamath Community College, Portland State University, and Oregon State University). And all but one of Oregon’s public universities offer campus child care centers (89%), while only six Oregon community colleges have child care centers. However, these centers may not have the capacity to serve all parenting student families in need of child care, and may not be affordable for student families.

The report concludes with a number of recommendations for Oregon’s public colleges and universities, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Committee, and Oregon state policy makers.

Following a Semester in the Life of a Single Mother at a California Community College

2021-05-26T10:39:30-04:00

At the February 2019 Achieving the Dream convening, Dr. Jill Biden, former second lady and professor at Northern Virginia Community College, announced the Community College Women Succeed Initiative: a new effort by the Biden Foundation to impact college graduation for returning students and single mothers. “For the women who are willing to give their all, who are willing to fight for their future that they want and that they deserve, we can do more,” Dr. Biden declared. Dr. Biden is right; we must do more.

As a sociologist studying low-income families seeking betterment through higher education, Dr. Green knows these women and their fight for the future well. She has followed their lives as a professor, program director, and ethnographer in multiple programs supporting college access and success for single parents. She has interviewed them on their campuses, and collected journals documenting their day-to-day trials and triumphs. Today she collaborates with student parent researchers to study challenges faced by single parent students and best practices for supporting their success.

In this article, Dr. Green follows a semester in the life of Kristin, a low-income single mother raising her six-year-old son Max while studying nursing at a community college in Southern California. Kristin’s experiences, and those of other single mothers attending community colleges across the country, can inform strategies that support single mothers pursuing postsecondary education.

This research was funded by grants and fellowships from numerous sources, including the Russell Sage Foundation, the American Association of University Women, the Patsy Takemoto Mink Legacy Award, �ǿ��, Endicott College, and Boston College.

Supporting Parenting Students: Results from Research on Colleges & Universities in Florida

2021-03-17T12:29:54-04:00

Florida is the second most populated state in the South, and the third most populated in the United States, with a population of 21,993,000 people and a total of 77 accredited higher education institutions. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 23 percent of college and university students in Florida attend college while raising and supporting families as parenting students.

This study reviewed each accredited higher education institution in Florida to find available information about parenting student support services. Specifically, it focused on: family housing, child care centers or programs, scholarships specifically targeted to parenting students, women’s centers, food pantries, clothing assistance, emergency loans, and specialized programs targeting parenting students or other overlapping groups.

Overall, this study found that 39 percent of Florida institutions offered child care but other types of programs were represented at less than or equal to 10 percent of Florida postsecondary institutions. Comparing these statistics to data in New England and the Mid-Atlantic, postsecondary institutions in Florida are less likely to offer family housing. While the study identified eight programs with specialized student support, only two of these institutions were specific to parenting students as compared to 11 percent in New England, and 2 percent in the Mid-Atlantic.

Importantly, this study found that the availability of a program or service did not necessarily guarantee that students would be able to access it. The most alarming finding was the generalized lack of support services and programming for parenting students at Florida’s higher education institutions. Furthermore, even at the institutions where researchers did find services, one often had to dig deeply through the websites to mine for this information, as it was not clearly advertised or linked on institutional homepages or departmental micro-sites

This study is a part of the Find Your Way project of the Higher Education Access for Parenting Students Research Initiative at �ǿ��, based at �ǿ��.

Find Your Way: A Guide to New England Colleges and Universities for Students with Children

2021-02-03T12:58:08-05:00

This guidebook identifies accredited colleges and universities in the New England region that provide support services for student parents including family housing, child care centers, targeted scholarships for parenting students, women’s center programs, work/life support offices, and specialized programs.

The information in the book was gathered through a comprehensive research study that ran from 2013 to 2015. The study was initiated from a practical problem. While New England is famous for both the number and reputation of its colleges and universities, through the research team’s work with high school student parents, they realized that prospective college students were struggling to find higher education options offering the support services they needed to succeed in college while raising children.

The study was conducted by and for student parents. All of the researchers who collected data for this project were student parents who had personally experienced the challenge of finding their way to a college that supported them as student parents.

The initial New England Survey of Student Parent Programs grew into the Find Your Way project of the Higher Education Access for Parenting Students Research Initiative at �ǿ��, based at �ǿ��. A similar guide was developed for colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Funding for the New England Survey of Student Parent Programs was supported by a fellowship from the Van Loan School for Graduate and Professional Studies and undergraduate research fellowships through the Keys to Degrees Program both at Endicott College.

Find Your Way: A Guide to Mid-Atlantic Colleges and Universities for Students with Children

2021-02-03T12:34:48-05:00

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research 18% of Mid-Atlantic postsecondary students attend college while raising and supporting families as parenting students, which indicates that there are an estimated 449,599 parenting students attending colleges and universities across the region. Most Mid-Atlantic parenting students are women (71%), and Mid-Atlantic parenting students are disproportionately students of color.

This guidebook identifies accredited colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic region -- Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia -- that provide support services for parenting students including family housing, child care centers, targeted scholarships for parenting students, women’s center programs, and specialized programs.

The information in this publication was gathered through a comprehensive research study that was conducted during the 2015-2016 academic year. This study comprehensively reviewed the 525 Mid-Atlantic colleges and universities accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to determine how many of these institutions offer support for parenting students and where these institutions are located within the region. The publication was developed for educational, research, and informational purposes for use by prospective students, guidance counselors, social workers, researchers, higher education leaders, policymakers.

A similar guide was developed for colleges and universities in the New England area. The Mid-Atlantic Survey of Student Parent Programs is part of the Find Your Way project of the Higher Education Access for Parenting Students Research Initiative at �ǿ��, based at �ǿ��.

The Mid-Atlantic Survey of Student Parent Programs was supported through funding from the Center for Best Practices to Support Single Parent Students in Higher Education Grant # P116L140008, a program of the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

Supporting Parenting Students: Results from Pilot Research on New England Colleges & Universities

2021-02-03T12:06:08-05:00

New England is internationally known for both its highly ranked and large number of colleges and universities. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 18% of New England’s postsecondary students attend college while raising and supporting families as parenting students. According to the New England Board of Higher Education there are over 800,000 students enrolled at New England’s postsecondary institutions. This means that there are approximately 144,000 parenting students enrolled at colleges and universities in the region.

This study reviewed each accredited New England postsecondary institution to find available information about parenting student support services. Specifically, it focused on family housing, child care centers or programs, scholarships specifically targeted to parenting students, women’s centers, work/life programs, or specialized programs targeting parenting students or other overlapping groups such as “Women in Transition” or “Non-Traditional Students.”

Overall, the study found that 32% of New England institutions offered child care and 20% offered scholarships targeting parenting students. Only 8% of New England postsecondary institutions offered work/life programs serving either graduate or undergraduate parenting students, only 10% offered student housing that allowed children to live in residence, and only 11% offered a specialized program for parenting students.

This study found that the availability of a program or service did not necessarily guarantee that students would be able to access it. While child care centers were the most common program, for example, these programs also accepted faculty, staff, and community families, and admissions waitlists were often lengthy. Furthermore, the cost of campus child care center programs can be prohibitive for student families. The most alarming finding, however, was the generalized lack of support services and programming for parenting students at New England’s higher education institutions.

The New England Survey of parenting student Programs is a part of the Find Your Way project of the Higher Education Access for Parenting Students Research Initiative at �ǿ��, based at �ǿ��. Findings from this study were also compiled into a guide for prospective college students with kids.

Suggested Citation for this Report:
Green A.R., Parsons, N.A., and Galison, S.M. (2021, January). Supporting Parenting Students: Results From Pilot Research on New England Colleges and Universities [Report]. Wellesley, MA: �ǿ��. wcwonline.org/ findyourway

Funding for the New England Survey of parenting student Programs was supported by a fellowship from the Van Loan School for Graduate and Professional Studies and undergraduate research fellowships through the Keys to Degrees Program both at Endicott College.

Supporting Student Parents: Results from Research on Colleges & Universities in the Mid-Atlantic Region

2021-02-03T11:36:42-05:00

The Mid-Atlantic is one of the most densely populated regions in the United States, encompassing the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, as well as Washington DC. As of 2017 there were 525 regionally accredited postsecondary institutions in the area, as listed in the directory of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 18% of postsecondary students in the Mid-Atlantic attend college while raising and supporting families as student parents. Most Mid-Atlantic student parents are women and disproportionately students of color. Mid-Atlantic student parents are also disproportionately low-income, with 56% qualifying for a $0 expected family contribution based on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

This study reviewed each accredited Mid-Atlantic postsecondary institution to find available information about student parent support services. Specifically, it focused on family housing, child care centers or programs, scholarships specifically targeted to parenting students, women’s centers, and specialized programs targeting student parents or other overlapping groups such as “Women in Transition” or “Non-Traditional Students.”

Overall, the study found that 29% of Mid-Atlantic institutions offered child care but less than 10% offered scholarships, family housing or specialized programs targeting parenting students. Researchers also noted that many women’s center programs did not seem to offer specific services to student parents. Comparing these statistics to data in New England, this study found that Mid-Atlantic postsecondary institutions are less likely to offer family housing, were less likely to offer targeted scholarships for student parents, and were far less likely than New England institutions to offer specialized programs for parenting students.

The Mid-Atlantic Survey of Student Parent Programs is a part of the Find Your Way project of the Higher Education Access for Student Parents Research Initiative at �ǿ��, based at �ǿ��. Findings from this study were also compiled into a guide for prospective college students with kids.

Suggested Citation for this Report:
Green, A.R. and Haghighat, S. (2021, January). Supporting Student Parents: Results From Research on Mid-Atlantic Colleges and Universities [Report]. Wellesley, MA: �ǿ��. wcwonline.org/findyourway

In Support of Intergenerational Learning: The Two-Generation Classroom as an Approach

2020-08-28T21:05:33-04:00

This report explores and develops a two-generational approach to college-level teaching, referred to as The Two-Generation Classroom. It proposes an initiative to launch and pilot the project in various colleges and universities, including four-year institutions, community colleges, and satellite campus/community-based program partnerships.

The Two-Generation Classroom is an approach to teaching and learning offered within the general education core to facilitate parent/child intergenerational learning, intentionally designed for and targeting student parents with young children (although non-parenting students may also enroll with a sibling, friend, or other child that they care for).

Using hybrid learning designs that include adult-oriented assignments to be completed outside of class time, weekly classroom time for two-generational integrated arts teaching/learning activities, and a weekly “family homework” assignment, the Two-Generation Classroom approach aims to address and reduce inequity in college access and success for student parents. It also ensures excellence and rigor in the curricula through targeted learning objectives, and differentiated learning and engagement outcomes for adult and child.

Two-Generation Harlem Renaissance Course: Syllabus & Sample Lesson Plans

2020-08-28T20:59:27-04:00

This syllabus and sample lesson plan are for a Two-Generation Classroom version of a college-level course on the art, literature, and music of the Harlem Renaissance. The Two-Generation Classroom is an evidence-based approach to undergraduate curricula through which student parents partner with children to learn together. This course is adapted from one about the Renaissance, but restructured around the Harlem Renaissance as an era that reflects the intellectual and artistic leadership of African Americans and low-income people – which can provide empowering personal connections for minority and low-income students today.

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