Credentialed by 26 Series: Raising the Bar from Ready by 21 to Credentialed by 26: Highlights from Community and State Efforts

The brief from the Forum for Youth Investment looks at two initiatives. One, the Credentialed by 26 Community Challenge, helped leaders in four selected communities jump-start local conversations and identify strategies to improve postsecondary success. Among the results: Leaders enlisted more partners committed to increasing postsecondary completion, used new data to inform planning efforts, extended their goals beyond college access to college completion, and strengthened connections between the K-12 and postsecondary systems.
 
The second initiative, the Credential by 26 Policy Roundtables, was a series of policy scans and structure discussions designed to help leaders in three states identify low-cost policy solutions for increasing supports for low-income college students. The report includes summaries of the discussions and a sample of policy changes that would improve success.