With a grant of $714,000 from Greater Texas Foundation (GTF), Catch the Next (CTN) will continue its efforts to improve postsecondary completion rates for Texas community college students by scaling up its successful Ascender Integrated Reading & Writing (INRW) co-requisite program at nine community colleges across Texas.
Through the Ascender program, CTN will work with participating colleges to place students who do not meet state benchmarks for college readiness into a rigorous, college-level environment with additional supports, transforming what used to be three courses over a two-semester period into one semester of college-level work. In addition, CTN will give each college the option to participate in the Transformative Teaching Track, a two-day experiential and intensive training in classroom strategies and curriculum design for faculty who teach co-requisite courses. Both the Ascender program and the Transformative Teaching Track ensure that students have the supports they need to succeed in these accelerated college courses.
