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Summer bridge programs have long been utilized by postsecondary institutions to improve the college readiness of students; however, the research on their effectiveness is limited. This study presents evidence from an experimental study of one summer bridge program model specifically designed for recent high school graduates who placed into developmental education. The program took place at eight open access colleges in Texas during the summer of 2009, and participants were followed for two academic years. To provide needed context, we first describe site selection, random assignment, and program implementation. Quantitative results indicate that the program had no effect on the average number of credits attempted and earned or student persistence in postsecondary education. The program did have an impact on first college-level course completion in math ( p p

Having garnered national attention, high failure rates in developmental education present a significant barrier to state and national policymakers’ goals of increasing the percentage of adults who earn a college credential. However, a majority of the research fails to consider why students place into developmental education. This piece examines a sample of recent high school graduates in Texas who placed into developmental education with the goal of gaining a more nuanced understanding of why these students required remediation. We find that rather than simply blaming the students for their failure to learn basic skills, there are concrete and actionable steps that policymakers and practitioners can take to help students avoid remediation, important actions that would increase students’ chances of earning a postsecondary credential.

Increasing the percentage of adults with a college credential is paramount to sustaining our economic competitiveness. One strategy that has potential to help achieve the goal of increased postsecondary degree production is dual enrollment, which allows high school students to enroll in college-level courses for credit that can be applied simultaneously toward their high school and college degree requirements. However, dual enrollment can only help if students have access. This study capitalizes on a policy shift in the state of Virginia to descriptively assess whether dual enrollment offerings are disproportionally associated with certain high school characteristics. Although the policy shift had positive implications for access to dual enrollment courses, we found that access remains inequitably distributed. High schools that are located in suburbs and the northern region of the state, as well as high schools that are comprised of a high percentage of underrepresented students, continue to lag in their ...