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Background/Context: Low-income, racially minoritized, and first-generation college students (at-promise students) attending predominantly White, middle class institutions often face inequitable access to enriching educational opportunities, discrimination, and marginalization, creating barriers to their success. Institutions are increasingly designing comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs) such as the Thompson Scholars Learning Community (TSLC) program to better support this population. Little research has examined how particular elements of CCTPs might foster students’ engagement and outcomes, and TSLC is one of a few existing CCTPs that includes a learning community component where students enroll in shared academic courses. Setting: TSLC operates on three campuses of the University of Nebraska system with different institutional contexts, including mission, size, student population, and geographic location. Study Participants: This study uses quantitative data from 791 first-year students in TSLC who began college in 2015 and 2016 and qualitative data from students and institutional agents who are directly involved with shared academic courses, including instructors and TSLC staff. Purpose: Using a framework of inclusive learning communities defined by Fink and Hummel (2015) , this study explores how and why shared courses may promote engagement and the development of several psychosocial and academic outcomes, including sense of belonging and grade point average (GPA), among at-promise students in their first year of college. Research Design: We use a multilevel mixed methods design, employing quantitative data to examine students’ engagement as well as the link between students’ engagement and several measures of psychosocial wellbeing and academic achievement and qualitative data from students and institutional agents to identify the structures and practices that likely contribute to students’ engagement and outcomes. Findings: We find no significant differences in students’ patterns of engagement in shared courses based on several characteristics related to their social identities, family backgrounds, and prior academic achievement. Engagement is positively linked to students’ sense of belonging and mattering to the institution, academic and social self-efficacy, and first-year GPA. Qualitative data provide insight into the mechanisms that foster these outcomes, including helping students develop connections in academic spaces, having a faculty coordinator who supports shared course instructors and students, and instructors’ use of active and relevant learning experiences. Conclusions: The loose-cohort shared courses model implemented in TSLC supports the success of at-promise students and provides evidence of scalability and adaptability across different institutional contexts, offering a model of inclusive learning community structures and practices that can inform efforts at other institutions.

This study examines the impact of a comprehensive college transition program, the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities (TSLC), on psychosocial outcomes using an experimental design. We estimate o...

We examine whether the El Dorado Promise, a guaranteed college scholarship program for students in the El Dorado School District (EDSD), affected elementary and middle school achievement using a quasi-experimental matching design. We first match the EDSD with similar districts to create a pool of potential comparison students then match students on prior achievement and demographics. The Promise leads to an estimated 0.11 standard deviation gain in math achievement; this effect is statistically significant and practically meaningful. Results are similar from district-level synthetic control and difference-in-differences analyses. We find larger effects on students with above-average prior achievement. We are unable to construct an appropriate comparison group to estimate the impact of the Promise on literacy achievement.

We estimate the relationship between exclusionary discipline given in eighth-grade and the probability of ninth-grade retention. We use a rich 7-year, student-level, panel data set from Arkansas. We use a novel approach by limiting our sample to students who switch schools between eighth and ninth grades. This movement gives each student a fresh start and removes the potential confound of a student’s reputation as a “problem student” that could influence teachers to be harsher on students who already have a disciplinary record. Further, we control for student infractions in eighth-grade, to focus on the relationship between the exclusionary consequence (rather than the precipitating behavior) and future academic success. We find that students who receive exclusionary discipline in eighth grade are more likely to be retained in ninth-grade compared with similar students whose infractions did not result in exclusionary discipline. Moreover, we find that the likelihood of ninth-grade retention increases with the number of days of exclusionary discipline. We, however, did not find any statistically significant subgroup differences.

Using a randomized control trial design, this study examines the extent to which a comprehensive college transition program (CCTP) shapes students’ time-use during their first 3 years in college. The CCTP provides comprehensive student-centered support as well as a generous scholarship. We compare students who had access to the CCTP with those who only received the scholarship. Findings indicate that both student groups spent similar amounts of time working for pay, studying, and on social media, and time-use had no differential bearing on college GPA by treatment status. In an exploratory analysis of program components, we find correlational evidence that academic-related interactions with faculty are positively associated with hours spent studying. We consistently find that the strongest predictor of time-use in college is how students spend their time in high school, suggesting that interventions aimed at shaping students’ time-use may be most effective if they are targeted at students’ precollege years.

This paper estimates the relationship between students’ psychosocial and academic outcomes during their first three years enrolled at public, four-year institutions. Our sample is comprised of students from low-income backgrounds who applied for a competitive scholarship and enrolled at a four-year public institution. We follow two cohorts of entering students throughout their first three years on campus. We observe their cumulative GPA and persistence decisions each semester, and have annual measures of four psychosocial outcomes: mattering to campus, sense of belonging to campus, academic self-efficacy, and social self-efficacy. We find that psychosocial outcomes are moderately predictive of academic outcomes, with sense of belonging and academic self-efficacy emerging as most predictive of both cumulative GPA and persistence. Annenberg Institute at Brown University

One of the greatest challenges faced by school leaders across the United States is the recruitment of high-quality educators, and many programs have been developed to address this problem. This study evaluates one such program. We evaluate the Arkansas Teacher Corps (ATC), an alternative teacher certification program that places teachers in high-needs schools in Arkansas. We measure teacher effectiveness through classroom observations and student surveys. We form our comparison group by matching ATC Fellows with 1–2 similar teachers in the same school who were not certified through ATC. We use multivariate regression to examine differences between ATC Fellows and comparison teachers on multiple dimensions of teaching. Students rate ATC teachers as significantly more effective on teacher-student relationships in class, teacher-student relationships out of class, and class engagement. Third-party observers detect no significant differences.

This article reviews the literature evaluating the impact of school choice programs on racial integration. Evidence on the impacts of magnet schools, voluntary busing programs, open enrollment prac...

We hypothesize that a lack of experience with college poses a non-trivial barrier to college access for historically underrepresented students. We study whether visits to a college campus during the eighth grade can reduce these psychological barriers to college access. Using an experimental design, we study whether college visits affect students’ knowledge about college, postsecondary intentions, college-going behaviors, academic engagement, and ninth grade course enrollment decisions. We recruited 885 students across 15 schools who participated in our project during the academic year 2017-2018. We randomized students within schools to either a treatment or control condition. Students in the control condition receive an information packet about college. Students in the treatment condition receive the same information and visit a flagship university three times during their 8th-grade academic year. Students assigned to participate in these campus visits demonstrate higher levels of knowledge about college, higher levels of effort while completing the survey, a higher likelihood of having conversations with school personnel about college, and a decreased desire to attend technical school. Additionally, treated students are more likely to enroll in advanced math and science/social science courses in 9th grade.

The El Dorado Promise is a universal “first dollar” Promise program that guarantees a full tuition scholarship to all students who attend the El Dorado School District from grades K-12, and a partial scholarship for those who enroll in for at least 9th-12th grade. While prior research on Promise Programs has found that Promise scholarships increase postsecondary matriculation, few studies have examined the impact of a Promise scholarship on college completion or the differential impact of a Promise scholarship on college completion by student characteristics. We use a difference-in-differences strategy to examine the impact of the El Dorado Promise on college enrollment, AA completion, and BA completion on average and by student subgroup (students of color, white students, students with above-average GPAs, and students with below-average GPAs). We find that overall the Promise was associated with an 11.4 percentage point increase in postsecondary enrollment, no change in AA completion, and a 10.7 percentage point increase in BA completion. Students of color and students with below-average GPAs saw the biggest gains in college enrollment, while students of color and students with above-average GPAs saw the biggest gains in BA completion. These results indicate that Promise programs operating in rural areas can have a positive and significant impact on postsecondary outcomes for students, particularly students traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary institutions.

In this paper we estimate the impact of exclusionary discipline given in 8th grade on the probability of 9th grade retention. We use a rich seven year, student level, panel dataset from Arkansas. We use a novel approach by limiting our sample to students who switch schools between 8th and 9th grade. This movement gives each student a fresh start, and removes the potential confound of a student’s reputation as a “problem student” that could influence teachers to be harsher on students who already have a disciplinary record. We find that students who receive exclusionary discipline in 8th grade are more likely to be retained in 9th grade compared to students who received no exclusionary discipline. We find nominal evidence that the impact of exclusionary discipline is attenuated for students of color and students receiving FRL; however, the differences are not significant.

This review examines the existing evidence on the impacts of Promise Programs on community development, K-12 academic achievement, and student postsecondary outcomes. Promise Programs are place-based, guaranteed college scholarships offered to all students who graduate from a certain school or district while meeting the minimum thresholds of the program. We delineate Promise Programs by their design - whether the scholarships are available to all students, are awarded based on merit, or are awarded based on need. We also note the applicability of Promise Programs - whether the funds be used at a wide range of postsecondary institutions, or if they are narrowly targeted towards certain institutions. We find suggestive evidence that Promise Programs are successful at improving housing prices, attracting residents to Promise zones, improving student K-12 academic outcomes, and increasing postsecondary enrollment. However, the number of studies examining Promise Programs remains limited, and skewed towards particular programs.