The National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR), led by and housed at CCRC, focuses on measuring the effectiveness of programs designed to help students make the transition to college and master basic skills needed to advance to a degree. While colleges employ multiple programs and policies designed to teach students the skills they need to succeed, there is little definitive research on the effects of some widely-used practices. NCPR employs rigorous research methodologies, including random assignment experimental design, to evaluate such practices. NCPR was established through a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education in 2006, and is operated with partners MDRC, the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and faculty from Harvard University.  

As described below, NCPR is currently carrying out random assignment studies of developmental summer bridge and learning communities programs. Large-scale studies on the effectiveness of remedial programs and on career-focused dual enrollment are also underway. Additional research on need- and merit-based financial aid and on the use of a simplified financial aid application process is also in progress.

Developmental Summer Bridge (DSB) programs are designed to reduce or eliminate the need for developmental education in colleges. Students with weak academic skills in math or English are offered the opportunity to participate in an intensive, accelerated program during the summer before they begin college. DSB programs are designed to build students’ skills and to increase their knowledge of, and comfort with, the college environment. Such programs are run by numerous colleges and universities in the state of Texas and have been encouraged and sometimes funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), a partner in NCPR’s ongoing research.

In the summer of 2009, eight colleges collaborated with NCPR to study the effectiveness of Texas DSB programs. Funds from IES and Houston Endowment supported the work of the participating colleges. Using a random assignment evaluation design, programs selected their students by lottery from those who applied for admission. Participants in the research agreed to share their college records with NCPR, allowing researchers to learn about whether students who engage in these programs do better in college subsequently than those who do not. NCPR staff visited the colleges regularly during 2009 to help them to set up the research as well as to learn about program models. The first report on this project, to be released in August 2010, will describe how these programs are developed, designed, and implemented, and it will provide preliminary information on student outcomes. A full report on the results of this project will be available in January 2012.

Led by researchers from MDRC, NCPR is evaluating learning communities for students in need of remediation at six community colleges around the country. Transcript-level data are being used to evaluate the impact of assigning students to a learning community, using a number of outcome measures that include GPA, credits earned, and degree completion. The sites cover a wide range of learning communities, with some focused on developmental math, others focused on developmental English or reading, and one with a career focus. These courses are linked with student success courses, other developmental courses, and college content courses in different configurations across the sites.

The participating colleges have operated 161 learning communities over the course of the project, and nearly 7,000 students have been randomly assigned. The design of this study is described in a paper titled The Learning Communities Demonstration: Rationale, Sites, and Research Design. A report based on findings from the first round of implementation research will soon be published. A series of impact reports will also be released by NCPR over the next two years.

CCRC has for some time carried out research on dual enrollment programs, which enable high school students to enroll in college courses and earn college credits. While such programs were once limited to high-achieving, academically focused students, today many educators and policymakers view dual enrollment as a strategy to help a wider range of students, including career and technical education students, make the transition from high school to college.

To further strengthen the research base on dual enrollment, IES is, through NCPR, providing partial funding for the evaluation of the Concurrent Courses Initiative. Funded by The James Irvine Foundation and managed by CCRC, this initiative supports eight secondary/postsecondary partnerships in California in developing, enhancing, and expanding career-focused dual enrollment programs, particularly for low-income or underrepresented youth. Participating students are being tracked over time and their outcomes compared to similar non-participants.

NCPR is complementing its research on remediation and dual enrollment with large-scale statistical studies using state unit record data from at least two states, Florida and Tennessee. In 2008, a paper on the impact of remedial courses in Florida, titled The Impact of Postsecondary Remediation Using a Regression Discontinuity Approach: Addressing Endogenous Sorting and Noncompliance, was released. A second paper using Florida data that examines how the impact of remediation varies by type of student (by gender, race, and age, for example) will soon be available.

Building on a project that began at CCRC, NCPR researchers are also conducting quantitative analyses of dual enrollment using Florida data. The original study (described in a report titled The Postsecondary Achievement of Participants in Dual Enrollment: An Analysis of Student Outcomes in Two States) found positive relationships between participation in dual enrollment and a range of postsecondary outcomes. Using more data and different statistical techniques, NCPR researchers will estimate the strength of any causal relationship between dual enrollment mathematics and postsecondary outcomes.

In addition, IES provides partial support for an ongoing NCPR-related project, called the H&R Block FAFSA experiment, co-led by Bridget Terry Long of Harvard University. This project, undertaken in Ohio and North Carolina, provided an intervention to streamline both the financial aid application process and students’ access to accurate and personalized higher education financial aid information. The intervention consisted of H&R Block tax professionals helping low- to middle-income families in the treatment group complete the free application for federal student aid (FAFSA) and giving these families an immediate estimate of their eligibility for federal and state financial aid as well as information about local postsecondary education options.

Analysis by the researchers suggests that individuals who received assistance with the FAFSA and information about aid were substantially more likely to submit the aid application. High school seniors among this group were also much more likely to enroll in college and receive need-based financial aid the following fall. The program also increased college enrollment for independent adults with no prior college experience. Results from the study will soon be released as an NCPR Working Paper.

Further Information:

•

Lead contact: Katherine Hughes, hughes@tc.edu

•

Visit the NCPR website at: www.postsecondaryresearch.org