Opening Doors to Student Success: A Synthesis of Findings From an Evaluation at Six Community Colleges

Summarizes findings from Opening Doors Demonstration programs to raise college completion rates through financial incentives, instructional reforms, including learning communities, and enhancements in targeted student services such as academic counseling

More Guidance, Better Results? Three-Year Effects of an Enhanced Student Services Program at Two Community Colleges

In a program at Lorain County Community College and Owens Community College in Ohio, low-income students received enhanced counseling and advising services and were eligible to receive a modest stipend for two semesters. The program improved academic outcomes during the second semester and continued to have a positive effect on registration rates in the semester that followed, but it did not have any meaningful effects on academic outcomes in subsequent semesters

Getting Back on Track: Effects of a Community College Program for Probationary Students

Rates of graduation and degree completion at community colleges remain distressingly low. This report evaluates two versions of a program designed to help probationary students at community college succeed in school. One version increased the average number of credits earned, the proportion of students who earned a grade point average of "C" or higher, and the proportion who moved off probation

A Good Start: Two-Year Effects of a Freshmen Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College

Freshmen in a "learning community" at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, moved more quickly through developmental English requirements, took and passed more courses, and earned more credits in their first semester than students in a control group. Two years later, they were also somewhat more likely to be enrolled in college

Becoming College-Ready: Early Findings From a CUNY Start Evaluation

CUNY Start, a pre-matriculation program developed by the City University of New York, seeks to help the lowest placed developmental education students become college ready in just one semester. The program targets incoming students who are assessed as needing remediation in math, reading, and writing by providing intensive instruction for one semester while students delay enrollment in college. It uses a conceptual student-centered curriculum and instructional delivery method and provides a robust approach to staffing and training that allows instructors to learn to implement these strategies while under the tutelage of experienced teachers. It also provides advising, tutoring, and a weekly seminar that teaches students skills they need to succeed in college. Students pay only $75 for the program and do not use financial aid. This report describes the early findings of a random assignment evaluation and implementation study of CUNY Start by CCRC, MDRC, and CUNY. After following CUNY Start and control group students for three semesters, the researchers found: CUNY Start was implemented as it was designed, and the contrast between the program and the colleges’ standard developmental courses and services was substantial. During the first semester in the study, program group students made substantially more progress through developmental education than control group students. Control group students earned more college credits than program group students, as predicted by CUNY Start’s designers. During the second semester, program group students enrolled at CUNY colleges either in CUNY Start or in non-CUNY Start courses at a higher rate than control group students. A final report will look at CUNY Start students’ persistence in college, college credit accumulation, and graduation rates. Another paper will detail CUNY Start’s math curriculum and pedagogy, and a brief will focus on CUNY Start’s staff recruitment, induction, and professional development. CUNY will also create a CUNY Start “Practice Guide.

Cognitive behaviour therapy versus counselling intervention for anxiety in young people with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: a pilot randomised controlled trial

The use of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) as a treatment for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been explored in a number of trials. Whilst CBT appears superior to no treatment or treatment as usual, few studies have assessed CBT against a control group receiving an alternative therapy. Our randomised controlled trial compared use of CBT against person-centred counselling for anxiety in 36 young people with ASD, ages 12–18. Outcome measures included parent- teacher- and self-reports of anxiety and social disability. Whilst each therapy produced improvements inparticipants, neither therapy was superior to the other to a significant degree on any measure. This is consistent with findings for adults

More Graduates Two-Year Results from an Evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students

Having a college degree is increasingly important in the U.S. labor market, and workers with a degree earn substantially more, on average, than those without. Recently there has been an unprecedented national focus on boosting the stubbornly low graduation rates of students in community colleges. Community colleges serve millions of the nation’s undergraduates, but only about one-third of those students graduate within five years. 1 Graduation rates are even lower for students who enter college without the math, reading, or writing skills required for college-level courses and thus need to take developmental (remedial) courses. 2 In addition, most college students take longer to graduate than is considered “normal. ” For example, a survey of students who started at a public two-year college found that only 4 percent graduated with an associate’s degree within two years. 3 Educators have tried many reforms to help improve the success rates of community college students. Most of the reforms have been short term, lasting only one or two semesters, and have addressed no more than a few barriers to student success. The Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) is an ambitious and promising exception. Operated by the City University of New York (CUNY), which serves over half a million students annually and is the largest public university system in the country, ASAP provides a comprehensive array of services and supports over a three-year period to help more students graduate and to help them graduate sooner. The program aims to simultaneously address multiple barriers to student achievement over multiple semesters, and is one of the most aggressive efforts in the country to improve the success rates of low-income students. This brief describes the ASAP program and the students in the study, presents the two-year effects of the program, offers some conclusions, and shares next steps for ASAP and the random assignment evaluation

Becoming College-Ready: Early Findings From a CUNY Start Evaluation

CUNY Start, a pre-matriculation program developed by the City University of New York, seeks to help the lowest placed developmental education students become college ready in just one semester. The program targets incoming students who are assessed as needing remediation in math, reading, and writing by providing intensive instruction for one semester while students delay enrollment in college. It uses a conceptual student-centered curriculum and instructional delivery method and provides a robust approach to staffing and training that allows instructors to learn to implement these strategies while under the tutelage of experienced teachers. It also provides advising, tutoring, and a weekly seminar that teaches students skills they need to succeed in college. Students pay only $75 for the program and do not use financial aid. This report describes the early findings of a random assignment evaluation and implementation study of CUNY Start by CCRC, MDRC, and CUNY. After following CUNY Start and control group students for three semesters, the researchers found: CUNY Start was implemented as it was designed, and the contrast between the program and the colleges’ standard developmental courses and services was substantial. During the first semester in the study, program group students made substantially more progress through developmental education than control group students. Control group students earned more college credits than program group students, as predicted by CUNY Start’s designers. During the second semester, program group students enrolled at CUNY colleges either in CUNY Start or in non-CUNY Start courses at a higher rate than control group students. A final report will look at CUNY Start students’ persistence in college, college credit accumulation, and graduation rates. Another paper will detail CUNY Start’s math curriculum and pedagogy, and a brief will focus on CUNY Start’s staff recruitment, induction, and professional development. CUNY will also create a CUNY Start “Practice Guide.