Skip to content
Subscribe Donate
Promoting Persistence Through Comprehensive Supports

May 14, 2018

At a Glance

This publication provides support and clarity to Accelerating Opportunity–involved colleges and other institutions that are looking for strategies to improve their ability to provide comprehensive supports to adult learners.

This publication was developed to support the colleges JFF works with through Accelerating Opportunity, as well as other institutions in search of strategies to enhance their capacity to provide comprehensive supports. The goal of this paper is to provide clarity on what it means to provide comprehensive support services, share what research says about effective practice, and provide some examples of cost-effective strategies that colleges are using to provide this high level of support. We focus on the barriers faced by underprepared learners, the types of supports they need, and the challenges to providing comprehensive supports. We then explore promising strategies and provide two examples of colleges that have developed effective approaches to providing supports. Finally, we offer recommendations for improving the quality and availability of supports for underprepared learners.

Accelerating Opportunity and Breaking Through are two of JFF’s community college-focused initiatives. Accelerating Opportunity helps low-skilled adults earn higher-wage jobs faster by combining Adult Basic Education and career and technical training into one integrated pathway and providing embedded support services to help students persist to completion. Breaking Through is focused on strengthening community college efforts to help low-skilled adults enter and succeed in occupational and technical degree programs that lead to family-supporting careers. Providing comprehensive supports is one of the initiative’s four high-leverage strategies.

Related Content

Impact Story

Breaking Through

Breaking Through Helping community colleges accelerate Adult Basic Education and occupational training for adults with low academic skills, guiding them to complete credentials that local employers demand. Related Content

May 7, 2018
Impact Story

Accelerating Opportunity

Accelerating Opportunity JFF helps low-skilled adults advance to better jobs by combining Adult Basic Education and career and technical training, reducing the time to earn valued credentials in a rapidly changing labor market. Related Content

May 7, 2018
Impact Story

Adult Learner Success

JFF assists community colleges across the US in boosting the success rates of education and training programs for low-skilled adults. JFF assists community colleges across the US in boosting the success rates of education and…

April 19, 2018