Resources
Recent Initiatives
That Feature the Toolkit
Title IX Resources
National Coalition on Women and Girls Education
This organization was formed to educate the public about issues concerning equal rights for women and girls in education, to monitor related legislation, and to publish research on these issues. See the report on Title IX at 45, and especially the chapters on Pregnant and Parenting Students: Supporting Academic Success Through Title IX, and on Title IX Coordinators; each includes highlights of key issues and helpful resources.
National Women’s Law Center: Pregnant & Parenting Students
www.nwlc.org/issue/pregnant-parenting-students/
This site includes multiple resources for student parents and others, including a Pregnant and
Parenting Students’ Rights Toolkit, fact sheets, reports, and webinars.
The Pregnant Scholar
This site includes multiple resources for student parents and others, including a Pregnant and
Parenting Students’ Rights Toolkit, fact sheets, reports, and webinars.
CCAMPIS – Child Care Access Means Parents in School Program
US Department of Education
www2.ed.gov/programs/campisp/index.html
This federal program funds child care and other services for low income student parents. This official site offers links to comprehensive information about eligibility, applying, and other related government and non-governmental resources.
Organizations with Research, Reports and Briefs
Ascend at the Aspen Institute: Aspen Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) Initiative
ascend.aspeninstitute.org/postsecondary-success-for-parents/
The Aspen Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) Initiative, which raises awareness about students who are parents and shares recommendations to increase their postsecondary success, is a partnership between the Aspen Institute policy program Ascend, Imaginable Futures and the ECMC Foundation. Their website includes PSP Initiative external resources, including parent blogs, webinars and briefs. Their recently published Leadership Circle Playbook features successes and lessons learned from 20 college and university partners who implemented the Family Friendly Campus Toolkit. Their resulting campus action plans led Ascend to identify 5 promising practices which help to support parenting students.
Generation Hope
Generation Hope engages education and policy partners to drive systemic change and provides direct support to teen parents in college as well as their children through holistic, two-generation programming.
IWPR – Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Student Parent Success Initiative
www.iwpr.org/higher-education-spsi
IWPR has provided many important reports, briefing papers, fact sheets, and other tools utilized extensively by other researchers, organizations, and the national media. See the full page of links elsewhere in IWPR Resources and Links (D.1).
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
National College Transition Network (NCTN)
NCTN provides technical assistance and professional development services to community college, adult education, and workforce systems. They design accelerated career pathways, comprehensive student support services, and effective multi-stakeholder partnerships. Their report, No Matter What Obstacle is Thrown My Way, documents program models and service strategies implemented specifically in community college settings to support single mothers and increase their rates of persistence and completion. It also includes a Single Mothers Career Readiness and Success Literature Review. More recently, NCTN published Transforming Data into Action: Fostering College Success for Single Mothers and Parenting Students.
National Student Clearinghouse Research Center
This Center is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse, reporting on longitudinal data outcomes. One of their many useful reports tracks the educational trajectories of the millions of students who leave postsecondary education before completion.
Some College, No Degree, a 2019 Snapshot for the Nation and 50 States
PERG Learning
PERG Learning provides planning, evaluation and applied research services in support of quality educational programs in formal and informal settings in a number of areas. Building on PERG’s groundbreaking research study, Baccalaureate Student Parent Programs and the Students They Serve (2016), and evaluations of Jeremiah Program Boston model and Keys to Degrees replication programs, PERG developed the Family Friendly Campus Toolkit: Using Data to Improve Outcomes. The Toolkit is a free, award-winning self-assessment system and guide for use by colleges and universities to improve supports and outcomes for students who are raising children.
SPARK Collaborative
Hosted by The Urban Institute, The Pregnant Scholar, and Child Trends, the SPARK Collaborative provides research and technical assistance, policy analysis, two-generation policy experience, and legal expertise to support pregnant and parenting students.
The Hope Center
The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, the home of the #RealCollege movement, advocates for student success through a focus on basic needs issues for all college students. The Center’s many publications include action research and evaluations, as well as practical resources and guides such as COVID-19 response resources.
Other Resources
Achieving the Dream (ATD)
Achieving the Dream (ATD) is a national nonprofit with a network of 270+ community colleges committed to the academic, personal, and economic success of students, particularly low-income students and students of color. ATD’s Community College Women Succeed initiative puts a particular focus on adult women students and student parents. Resources include a brief that details needs for support of student mothers at community colleges, as well as videos and a discussion guide profiling the stories of adult women students.
Family Housing Project Database
www.wcwonline.org/Family-Housing/family-housing-project-database
This site provides information about college-affiliated housing with children at colleges and universities in many states.
NASPA Knowledge Community: Adult Learner and Students with Children
www.naspa.org/division/adult-learners-and-students-with-children
The Adult Learner and Students with Children (ALSC) Knowledge Community (KC) increases awareness, disseminates information, identifies resources and tracks academic and demographic trends concerning adult learners and students with children. The Knowledge Community is open to all NASPA members.
National Coalition for Campus Children’s Centers (N4C)
N4C is a nonprofit educational membership organization that promotes quality comprehensive child care at institutions of higher education in order to support student parents. The annual conference offers opportunities for professional development, leadership recognition, networking, and resource sharing. Many attendees are recipients of the federal Child Care Access Means Parents In School Grant (CCAMPIS) grant. The conference is typically held late March.
National Student Parent Support Symposium (SPSS)
odi.osu.edu/national-student-parent-support-symposium
This annual conference is the best place to network and learn from others working with student parents in postsecondary educational settings. The focus is on how to empower student parents while assisting them with overcoming barriers that may keep them from graduating. (It is usually held in late May at The Ohio State University.)
Young Invincibles(YI)
Young Invincibles (YI) is a nonpartisan policy research and advocacy nonprofit organization that works to amplify the voices of young people ages 18-34 in the political process. Their focus on higher education includes issues for student parents, such as – Today’s Students: A Policy Roadmap for Student Parents in California.