College Promise and ETS Announce MyPromise 2022 Symposium to Explore Essential Student Supports

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, College Promise and ETS are pleased to announce the MyPromise 2022 Symposium, to take place on May 12th in Washington, DC. This in-person event aims to promote more intentional, equitable, doable, and achievable pathways for students to obtain the education, skills, and resources needed for success in and beyond postsecondary education. This one-day event will bring together students, Promise leaders, business champions, higher education pioneers, philanthropic organizations, government officials, and other stakeholders from across the country focused on increasing education and workforce outcomes for underserved student populations. To register and learn more about this event, please visit the event site.

During this event, College Promise and ETS will spotlight their new study about programmatic strategies and supports to better serve five student populations: student parents, first-generation students, students in or aged-out of foster care, students with disabilities, and students needing academic support. These reports explore the "ecosystems" of Promise wrap-around supports (such as academic assistance, child care, transportation, food, housing, etc.) to accelerate individual student population success in and beyond college. Designed by scholars who are subject matter experts, Promise leaders, and finance experts, these insights and recommendations will be used to inform and improve program design, guide the priority of investment in critical student supports, and promote a broader understanding of the college success needs for each student population.

"We know that there is no single way to build a College Promise program and that not every model is the right fit for every student population. That's why we advanced our partnership with ETS to release these new research-based reports about ways to design postsecondary programs that optimize student success, particularly for these five populations," said Martha Kanter, CEO of College Promise. "The COVID-19 pandemic revealed many of the deeper inequities that exist within our education system. This new study will guide College Promise program improvements across the country, to give our students the resources and supports that are more essential than ever."

"Student success is a joint venture between learners, colleges, and universities. College Promise programs have the opportunity to provide support above and beyond tuition and fees. A College Promise program can be a launchpad for educational and career success, freeing students to focus on their studies and future. Many thanks to the authors for capturing key insights into these populations. We look forward to attending the MyPromise 2022 Symposium, where we will work with colleagues and other stakeholders to leverage these recommendations to support all students across the country," Catherine Millett, Senior Research Scientist and Strategic Advisor, ETS.

This work builds upon the multi-year Ecosystems of Support initiative by College Promise and ETS to better understand and tailor the wrap-around supports and services various student populations need to thrive in and beyond college. In 2020, the two organizations released a complementary study focused on traditional students, adult students, DREAMers, veteran students, and justice-impacted students.

About College Promise

College Promise is a national, nonpartisan initiative to build broad public support for accessible, affordable, quality College Promise programs across the United States. Through partnerships with community colleges and universities, as well as leaders in education, business, nonprofit, government, and philanthropy, College Promise empowers stakeholders to enact proven solutions enabling hard-working students to complete a college degree or certificate with a student-centric framework that aligns no-cost tuition strategies with meaningful student support services. www.collegepromise.org

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org

A special thanks to our funders, especially the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ascendium Education Group, The Kresge Foundation, and the ECMC Foundation for supporting this work.

Contact: Albert Fujii, 206.498.3106, [email protected]

SOURCE College Promise