Giving Compass' Take:

• Here are multiple stories of innovative learning pathways leading toward high school and college degrees for students in need. 

• Why is it critical to have alternative learning paths that are helping non-traditional students? How can donors help expand these types of programs?

•  Read about strengthening alternative high school and community college partnerships. 

A GED and a college degree, too

Vita Blanco dropped out of high school in ninth grade. She became homeless at 15 when living with her family became impossible. The following year, she moved to Vancouver, Washington, and found a job at Taco Bell working 12-hour shifts to support herself. Her dream of earning a high school diploma faded.

Blanco, now 40, was among the roughly 27 million adults age 25 or older who don’t have a high school diploma, even as more and more good jobs require college degree.

Fortunately for her, Washington state was trying to solve both those problems simultaneously, by allowing students to earn college credits as they worked toward a high school diploma. The state makes it possible for students who complete an associate degree at any of the state’s 34 community or technical colleges to receive their high school diplomas as well, bypassing the GED exam altogether.

Over the past four years, participation in I-BEST (Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training), one of the programs that helped Blanco, has increased by about 50 percent, with more than 3,200 students now enrolled.

Supporting students with brain injuries, one campus at a time 

In June 2017, weeks after finishing his first year of college at Columbia University, Shariq Jumani was struck by a car while crossing Riverside Drive near campus. Medical staff at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital told police he would likely die. With his spleen split and skull fractured, Jumani spent 23 days in a coma.

After a year of hospital stays and rehabilitation, Jumani was well enough to resume his studies. This past spring, he founded New York City’s first chapter of Synapse, a national organization started at Stanford University in 2016 to build support groups for those with brain injuries.

Read the full article about innovative learning pathways at The Hechinger Report.