Texas is taking a multipronged approach to improving developmental education delivery and increasing student success rates by aggressively pursuing programmatic, research, and instructional strategies that will boost college completion and help reach labor market goals. Texas higher education has committed itself to providing improved and more efficient avenues to success for academically underprepared students through the Texas Success Initiative system, which is more nuanced in its advising, placement, and curricular interventions than previous models. Similarly, Texas has also taken on the considerable challenge of addressing reform efforts that promote the transition of students assessed at basic skill levels from high school completions through postsecondary training and education, with an emphasis on programs that support academic and workforce success. The study significantly contributes to our understanding of postsecondary success for a variety of reasons. • First, while bachelor’s degree completion is being increasingly emphasized, increasing numbers of students are beginning postsecondary at a community college and failing to make the transition to a four-year institution. • Second, developmental education appears to be a promising approach to increasing positive postsecondary outcomes, but little rigorous research exists on developmental education in Texas, particularly with nontraditional students within the Texas context. • Third, while some research exists on the Puente program in California (Rendón, 2002; Moreno, 2002), there is no longitudinal research on implementing the Ascender program in Texas. Results here provide some clarification in understanding the strengths and weakness of programs to better prepare students for college work and college success so students can successfully transfer to a university and complete a bachelor’s degree. Catch the Next, Inc. (CTN), established in 2009, is a national college readiness and completion organization empowering students to catch college and career dreams. The program combines holistic student services and a comprehensive academic pathway that ensures student and institutional success. CTN empowers Latino and other underrepresented students to catch their college and career dreams. The CTN program, known as Ascender, expedites transition into credit-bearing courses, targeting at-risk students entering community college, including Latino and firsttime college-goers. Texas state higher education policy is now shifting towards large-scale adoption of a corequisite model. In 2017, House Bill 2223, passed the 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session to accelerate underprepared students’ persistence and successful completions in Texas higher education. HB 2223 requires that a percentage of Education Research Center www.texaserc.utexas.edu POLICY BRIEF Page | 2 underprepared students enrolled in developmental education be reported as enrolled in a corequisite model1 . This model which allows the student to enroll in the entry-level college course but requires co-enrollment in a developmental education course/intervention is designed to support the student’s successful completion of collegelevel coursework. The Ascender program, in the form of Integrated Reading and Writing, has been implemented since 2012. This study investigates the Ascender programs emphasis on wrap-around services that include academic, emotionalsocial, and community supports for Latino and other under-served community college students. The Ascender program contains an asset-based curriculum approach that focuses on strengths. It views diversity in thought, culture, and traits as positive assets. The Ascender program focuses on "literacy-based approach across disciplines," which highlights literature and culture reflective of the demographics of the classroom in all classes.