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Limited attention has been placed on the relationship between developmental math and STEM outcomes in community college. We therefore examine one particular experience during the transition from high school to college called math misalignment, which occurs when college students are placed lower in math than is warranted given their high-school course-taking history and record of achievement. Drawing on analysis of linked high school and community college student records, we find that a majority of students in the study sample experienced math misalignment in community college. Moreover, math misalignment especially hindered STEM-aspiring students from pursuing STEM pathways. STEM-aspiring students who experienced math misalignment were less likely to complete STEM courses than STEM-aspiring students who were directly placed in transfer-level math. This study underscores the importance of aligning academic standards across high-school and postsecondary institutions as a means of improving STEM participation.

This study explores the extent to which “college-ready” students, by high school standards, are assigned to remedial courses in college. We used a unique longitudinal data set that links high school and community college transcript data. Focusing on math, we developed a naming device— inter-sector math misalignment (ISMM)—to measure mis/alignment between high school and college-level math standards. The results confirm that ISMM was prevalent and substantial with respect to high school grades, moderate to substantial based on different measures of math course-taking, and minor to moderate based on standardized test results. We see each of these cases as problematic—for equity, for efficiency, and for educational opportunity.

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

The main objective of this study is to empirically test a number of theory-based models (i.e., fixed effects [FE], random effects [RE], and aggregated residuals [AR]) to measure the generic knowledge as well as the degree attainment rates and early labor outcomes gained by students in different programs and institutions in higher education. Our results show the importance of addressing the issue of student selection into programs and institutions in order to reduce selection bias, and they provide suggestive evidence in favor of using FE models. Our findings also confirm our hypotheses that rankings of specific college-program combinations change depending on the different educational and labor outcome measures considered. This finding emphasizes the need to use complementary indicators related to the mission of the specific postsecondary institutions that are being ranked. Given the sensitivity of the models to different model specifications, it is not clear whether they should be used to make an...

This study describes student behavior through the actual assessment and placement (A&P) process. It then uses an alternative A&P policy that utilizes an additional measure that assesses prior math preparedness alongside subtest choice. Utilizing data from a community college that allows its' students to choose the assessment subtest used to place them, we find a misalignment between students’ subtest choice and the highest math course they passed. After correcting for this misalignment through our alternative A&P criteria, we found that students experience increased access to higher levels of math while exhibiting similar success rates in their placed courses.

This study evaluates the impact of a national-level subsidized loan program, ACCES (Access with Quality to Higher Education), on a number of higher education outcomes (i.e., increase in enrollment rates, decrease in dropout rates, and increase in academic performance) of low-income students. The program intends to tackle Colombia’s wide disparities in access to postsecondary education by socioeconomic status and by region. We use national-level data along with a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to estimate the impact of the program. We provide intent to treat and the local average treatment effect estimates of the program on enrollment and dropout rates, and on academic performance. Our RDD design takes advantage of the fact that the beneficiaries of the program are selected based on a government mandated procedure to rank individuals at the “department” (similar to geographic regions in the U.S.) level based on a cutoff score in their high school exit exams. The results confirm that the program has been effective in terms of increasing the potential number of low-income students at the margin who would have enrolled in college, decreasing the number of students who dropped out, and increasing their academic outcomes. Nonetheless, the effects of the credit program on enrollment exhibit the largest magnitude and with clearly positive heterogeneous impact on the poorest applicants. The results are less compelling for dropout, yet in the expected direction.

The main objective of this study was to work toward the development of a number of measures of student learning outcomes (SLOs) in higher education. Specifically, we used data from Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes (ENADE), a college-exit examination developed and used in Brazil. The fact that Brazil administered the ENADE to both freshmen and senior students provided a unique opportunity to get a first approximation of the general and subject area knowledge gained in different programs. The results suggested that, on average, students in the three different categories of programs were gaining valuable general and subject area knowledge. The gains in the subject area were of a larger magnitude than those in the general knowledge component of the test. This study contributes to the field by providing empirical and visually compelling evidence related to SLOs gains in higher education.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of math placement policies for entering community college students on these students’ academic success in math. We estimate the impact of placement decisions by using a discrete-time survival model within a regression discontinuity framework. The primary conclusion that emerges is that initial placement in a lower-level course increases the time until a student at the margin completes the higher-level course they were not assigned to by about a year on average but in most cases, after this time period, the penalty was small and not statistically significant. We found minor differences in terms of degree applicable and degree transferable credit accumulation between students placed initially in the lowerlevel course.

This study tracks students’ progression through developmental math sequences and defines progression as both attempting and passing each level of the sequence. A model of successful progression in developmental education was built utilizing individual-, institutional-, and developmental math-level factors. Employing step-wise logistic regression models, we found that while each additional step improves model fit, the largest proportion of variance is explained by individual-level characteristics, and more variance is explained in attempting each level than passing that level. We identify specific individual and institutional factors associated with higher attempt (e.g., Latino) and passing rates (e.g., small class size) in the different courses of the developmental math trajectory. These findings suggest that colleges should implement programs and policies to increase attempt rates in developmental courses in order to increase passing rates of the math pre-requisite courses for specific certificates, associate degrees or transfer.

This study tests the association between having home access to a computer and to the Internet and the educational achievement of primary students on a standardized test in Brazil for the years 2007-2011. The results show a significant (both practical and statistical) benefit of owning a computer for 5th and 9th graders. The effect sizes range from 0.2 to 0.4 and are similar across different socioeconomic status. On the other hand, the correlation between having access to the Internet with higher test scores is generally smaller and highly dependent on the socioeconomic status of the student's family, varying from 0.2 to -0.2. This study also points out to a weaker evidence that there is an increase of the positive effects of owning a computer and access to Internet over time, which may explain some of the divergent results in the literature. Survey of 7 million Brazilian 5th and 9th grade students.Effect size of 0.2-0.4 for computer ownership independent of socioeconomic status.Effect size cannot be explained away by increase wealth or family education within each SES.Effect size of Internet at home depends on the SES of families.

Improving higher education student learning plays a critical role in advancing human capital. Assessment lies at the heart of such improvement, underlining the need for research and innovation in this field. This article reviews an AERA Open Special Topic published to advance assessment research and hence the success of higher education. It sketches key contexts, surveys selected articles, and stands back to frame future steps ahead. American Educational Research Association

The main objective of this study is to identify differences in the freshman financial aid packages of low-income, high-achieving minority students in public and private institutions. Our results suggest that private and selective institutions can offer better financial aid packages that enable them to recruit higher numbers of low-income, high-achieving minorities. We found that, as a consequence of banning affirmative action policies, flagship public selective institutions, unlike selective private ones, cannot freely compose financial aid packages to recruit and retain minority students. This, in turn, translates into an increased financial burden for the students in flagship public universities.

The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of the association between major field of study in college and early career earnings among a sample of academically accomplished minority students. Results demonstrate the economic benefits minority students experience from majoring in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math field during college, and highlight the importance of gaining employment in a closely related field in order to secure those benefits. The results also illustrate the need to carefully account for self-selection when estimating the earnings premiums in relation to educational experiences during college. Implications for policy and research are discussed.

The main objective of this study is to estimate the association between financial aid and college dropout rates of postsecondary students in Colombia. We use a unique dataset from the Colombian Ministry of Education that includes all enrolled college students in the country between 1998 and 2008. Logistic regression is used to identify the correlation between receiving different forms of financial aid on the dropout rates of the students. The main results of the study suggest that the probability of dropping out decrease between 25 and 29% according to the type of financial aid received. There is also evidence that the financial aid is more effective in reducing dropout rates at the beginning of the student’s college careers. This result holds after controlling by type of postsecondary institution attended. These findings suggest that financial aid is an effective tool to reduce dropout rates, and therefore increase persistence and expand access in Colombia.

Background/Context This study contributes to the longstanding debate over whether community colleges democratize education or divert students from attaining a bachelor's degree. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The objective of this study is to determine whether Hispanic students have a lower chance of earning a bachelor's degree (B.A.) if they transfer from a community college. Population/Participants/Subjects This study uses the High School and Beyond Sophomore sample (HS&B/So) high school senior class of 1982 and the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88/2000) high school senior class of 1992 to compare the progress of two samples of “traditional” Hispanic transfer and Hispanic “rising junior” students. The final sample is composed of 220 students from the high school senior class of 1982 and 140 students from the high school senior class of 1992. Research Design Regression analysis is used to identify the effect of being a transfer student on B.A. attainment, after controlling for individual characteristics and institutional characteristics of the community college. Simulation analysis is used to identify the factors that affected B.A. attainment in the 1980s, which are used to predict B.A. rates a decade later. Findings/Results The results show that the negative impact of being a transfer student in the 1980s had disappeared within a decade. The results suggest that the relatively lower attainment rate of Hispanic transfer students is the result of individual characteristics and lack of academic preparation rather than institutional characteristics. Conclusions/Recommendations Although community colleges have the potential to be an alternative path toward a B.A., until transfer rates increase, Hispanics may be better off beginning their college education at a 4-year institution.

This paper examines the impact of attending different categories of selective institutions on students’ college completion. Specifically, it explores differences in the impact that selectivity of an institution has by race and ethnicity. The analysis accounts for the impact of individual and institutional characteristics and corrects for omitted variables with proxies for student motivation. The results suggest that students who attend the most selective institutions and highly selective institutions, as opposed to non-selective ones, are more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree. This result holds for African American and Hispanic students. After correcting for the problem of sorting of students into specific types of institutions, the results of the models suggest that the coefficient of selective institutions might have a small upward bias. The positive effect of selective institutions on attainment suggests that they have the potential to increase the graduation rates of minorities while narrowing the persistent college completion gap.

This study analyzes the influence of local labor market conditions on the year-to-year persistence and attainment decisions of a sample of traditional-aged students who attended community colleges during the 1990s. The findings suggest that the enrollment and attainment decisions of these first-time community college students were not made purely as a response to changes in tuition costs, but rather the result of a more interconnected process whereby changes in tuition, local labor market conditions, and the relative change in both are considered. For those who are sensitive to these relative costs, the likelihood of dropping out is increased. Of those who remained enrolled, the evidence suggests that an increase in tuition appears to provide an incentive or extra motivation to finish a degree, especially an associate’s degree. This finding does not support the raising of in-state tuition to improve student outcomes; rather it draws attention to the complexity involved in student persistence and attainment decision-making.

Through the lens of the emerging economic theory of higher education, we look at the relationship between salary and prestige. Starting from the premise that academic institutions seek to maximize prestige, we hypothesize that monetary rewards are higher for faculty activities that confer prestige. We use data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF), and regression analysis to examine the determinants of salaries. The results are consistent with the theory that faculty members are financially rewarded for enhancing institutional prestige. There is some evidence that the rewards are higher in science and engineering. Spending more time on teaching has no effect on salary, even in comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges. Findings suggest that other types of institutions are emulating research institutions in their pursuit of prestige. Looking at faculty salaries through this lens raises serious questions about the implications of the current reward system in higher education.

The main objective of this study is to empirically test a number of theory-based models (i.e. fixed effects (FE), random effects (RE), and aggregated residuals (AR)) to measure both, the generic knowledge as well as the degree attainment rates and early labor outcomes, gained by students in different programs and institutions in higher education. There are four main findings: First, the results of the paper confirm the need of using models that address the issue of student selection into programs and institutions in order to avoid biased estimates. Second, our findings provide suggestive evidence in favor of using FE models. Third, the results also illustrate the need to use appropriate statistical corrections (e.g., Heckman type selection models) to also address the issue related to students dropping out of college. Finally, our findings confirm our hypotheses that rankings of specific college-program combinations change depending on different educational and labor outcome measures considered. This finding emphasizes the need to use complementary indicators related to the mission of the specific post-secondary institutions that are being ranked. The results of this paper illustrate the importance of validating empirical models intended to rank college-program contributions according to a number of educational and early labor market outcomes. Finally, given the sensitivity of the models to different model specifications, it is not clear that they should be used to make any high-stakes decisions in higher education. They could, however, serve as part of a broader set of indicators to support programs and colleges as part of a formative evaluation.

This study evaluates the impact of a national level subsidized loan program, ACCES, on a number of higher education outcomes (i.e., increase in enrollment rates, decrease in dropout rates, and increase in academic performance) of low-income students in Colombia. We use national level data along with a regression discontinuity design to estimate the impact of the program. The results confirm that the program was effective in terms of increasing the potential number of low-income students at the margin who would have enrolled in college, decreasing the number of students who dropped out, and increasing their academic outcomes.

Like the students who attend them, community colleges are complex and multifaceted. They offer a multitude of programs, including vocational training, continuing and adult education, and academic preparation for transfer to a four-year institution (Cohen & Brawer, 1987, 2009). For this reason, some scholars have argued that community colleges serve contradictory functions (Dougherty, 1997; GoldrickRab, 2010; Kane & Rouse, 1995), which has fueled a long-standing debate about the role they should serve in higher education as well as their effectiveness (Dougherty, 1997). Both sides of this debate, however, agree that national completion goals, as urged by the Obama administration and several prominent foundations, cannot be achieved without these institutions dramatically ramping up their success efforts, especially among low-income students and racial/ethnic minorities.

A review of the peer-reviewed papers in the top higher education journals in the last 20 years suggests that the field is relying heavily on Tinto’s (1993, Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press) theory of student departure. The fact that there is limited empirical support for Tinto’s theory (Braxton, Sullivan, & Johnson, 1997, Handbook of Theory and Research, 12, 107–164) suggests the need to expand the theoretical grounding of the field, and use a broader set of theories or conceptual frameworks. The main objective of this study is to provide a thorough review of the different theories and conceptual frameworks that have been developed and/or applied in education, economics, sociology, and psychology to study the process of college persistence and attainment. The chapter contributes to the literature by providing an in-depth description of the theories that have been developed in other social sciences in the last four decades. This review would hopefully encourage scholars and graduate students in the field to expand the theoretical grounding and as a result address a broader set of research questions that need to be explored to gain a better understanding of the complexities of the process of college persistence and attainment.