Comparison of Recommended Evidence Based Strategies for Increasing Post-Secondary Completion
Source
Achieving the Dream
Strategies
Four Principles
1. Committed leadership
2. Use of evidence to improve programs and services
3. Broad engagement
4. Systemic institutional improvement
Practices:
 Learning communities with enhanced support improve college students’
short- and long-term success
(http://www.mdrc.org/publications/642/overview.html) Kins borough
CC six year study
 Review placement procedures
http://www.achievingthedream.org/sites/default/files/resources/Where
_to_Begin.pdf
 Reduce financial barriers
http://www.achievingthedream.org/sites/default/files/resources/MDCCWFClearingtheFinancialBarrierstoStudentSuccess.pdf:
o Reach students where they are and help them identify and
resolve financial challenges
o Leverage philanthropic support
o Provide financial education in collaboration with community
organizations
o Utilize student success course to integrate financial education
o Enlist faculty as coaches or to make student referrals
 Use data to help focus on data and refine strategies that work for nontraditional populations
http://www.achievingthedream.org/sites/default/files/resources/2011Pr
omisingPractices_Equity.pdf
 First year experience and/or college success courses improve retention
http://www.achievingthedream.org/resource/a_recipe_for_student_suc
cess_examining_the_essential_ingredients_of_student_success_courses
American Educator
The Journal for the
American
Federation of
Teachers
The Early College Challenge: Navigating Disadvantaged Students’ Transition to
College
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/fall2011/EarlyCollege.pdf
1. Show students what content and skills they need for college and provide
a package deal curriculum that leads to mastery of that content and
those skills
a. College placement exams early in high school
b. Clear curricular pathways aligned with college-level coursework
c. Teacher professional development for implementing standards
2. Foster motivation by offering incentives and bolstering students’
confidence
a. College credit for courses
b. Personal autonomy and trust
c. Symbols of college status such as ID cards
d. Foster early success and build in higher standards as students
progress
3. Keep student on track by providing frequent mandatory guidance and
closely monitoring students’ progress
a. Mandatory, frequent advising sessions
b. Combine academic and emotional counseling
c. Identify students who are struggling and provide interventions
4. Manage the transition from high school to college
a. Smooth transition with coursework that leads directly into
college – review transcripts not just placement
b. Dual enrollment programs
c. Assist with admissions, financial aid, registration, and other
paperwork
d. Offer scholarship information sessions
5. Explicitly teach study skills
a. Require specific courses in study skills that may vary by the year
in high school – more general for freshman; focused on research
papers for seniors
b. Teach time management and organization skills
Association of
American Colleges
and Universities
AACU advocates for providing to all students more purposeful pathways from
schools to and through college, with commitments to diversity, equity, and
quality of learning.
Five high impact practices: first-year seminars, learning communities, service
learning, undergraduate research, and capstone experiences.
https://secure.aacu.org/source/Orders/index.cfm?section=unknown&task=3&C
ATEGORY=LEAP&PRODUCT_TYPE=SALES&SKU=FIVEHI&DESCRIPTION=&FindSpec
=&continue=1&SEARCH_TYPE=
Center for
Community College
Student
Engagement
http://www.achievi
ngthedream.org/site
s/default/files/resou
rces/Promising%20P
ractices%20for%20C
ommunity%20Colleg
e%20Student%20Su
ccess.pdf
This is a summary of survey data paired with institutional data on student
outcomes from college participating in the CCSSE. The report organizes best
practices by three contact points:
Planning for Success
 Assessment and placement – require preparatory experiences and
emphasize the importance of placement to success in planning the right
sequence of courses
 Orientation – require students to attend sessions or a course that helps
them navigate the college and access support
 Academic goal Setting and Planning – require ongoing meetings with
advisors to help student stay on track
 Registration before Classes begin – student success decreases
dramatically when students are allowed into classes any time after the
first meeting; colleges can add late-start courses or intense remediation
services to give student an opportunity to stay connected
Initiating success

The Chronicle of
Higher Education
Complete College
America
Accelerated or fast-track developmental education – integrate
technology and tutoring; self-paced options
 First-year experience – help student build relationships and knowledge
of college resources
 Student success course – include study skills, time-management skills,
and note-taking skills
 Learning community – two or more linked classes are taken together as a
cohort; builds a sense of engagement
Sustaining success
 Class attendance policies have value
 Alert and intervention programs that identify students who are
struggling and follow-up to encourage use of support services
 Experiential learning beyond the classroom steeps students in content,
and encourages students to make connections and forge relationships
that can support them throughout college and beyond
 Tutoring participation is associated with higher grades and pass rates;
can be offered in many ways – groups, one-one-one, technologyenhanced, centers, etc.
 Supplemental instruction can increase the impact of classroom
instruction by providing extra time for skill practice
For Student success, Stop Debating and Start Improving
http://chronicle.com/article/For-Student-Success-Stop/131451/
 Institutions should focus on practices within their control instead of
blaming external factors – provide customized learning and support,
redesign placement and developmental education, reduce excess credits
and the time it takes to get a degree
 Give student more-structured academic programs that accelerate their
progress to degrees
 Accept that preparing for work and pursuing a liberal-arts education are
not mutually exclusive
 Use all means to personalize learning
Remediation: the Bridge to Nowhere
To close remediation exit ramps…
 Fully prepare student for college upon graduation from high school
o Adopt and implement new common core State Standards in
reading, writing, and math
o Align requirements for entry-level college courses with
requirements from high school diplomas
o Administer college-ready anchor assessments in high school
o Use these on-track assessments to develop targeted
interventions
o Use multiple measure of student readiness for college.
 Start in college courses with support
o co-requisites of tutoring
o extended time to complete (two terms instead of one)
 Provide co-requisite courses aligned with programs of study
o Guide all students to choose among a limited number of first-
o
o
Completion by
Design
http://www.complet
ionbydesign.org/
MDRC
http://www.mdrc.or
g/publications/643/
print.html
year pathways while establishing default programs for students
not ready to commit
Place students in the right math
Build extra supports around introductory courses necessary for
success (high risk of failure courses)
This organization is focus on preventing loss and increasing momentum among
post-secondary students. The Loss Momentum Framework identifies four
contact points with colleges and strategies for improving outcomes at each
point.
 Connections
o Consistent college and career ready standards
o Foster college-going norms supported by peers and trusted
adults
o Increase understanding of college requirements, application and
financial aid processes
o Dual enrollment
o Take college placement exam in high school
o Enrollment directly from high school
 Entry
o Diagnostic assessment and placement tools
o Mandatory “intrusive advising”
o Improved academic catch-up
o Aggressive financial aid application support
o Course redesign to go further, faster, cheaper
 Progress
o Innovative programs to incent attendance
o Leverage technology to make access more flexible, accelerated,
student-centered and available
o Intentional, accelerated, competency based programs of study
o Provide emergency aid
 Completion
o Mandatory “intrusive” advising
o Transfer with credentials incentives
o Remove barriers such as fees, forms, fines
o Learn and Earn programs that combine credential attainment
and work experience
 Revision to financial aid policies and information – help student pay for
college and associated expenses
o Performance based scholarships
http://www.mdrc.org/project_31_91.html
o Aid success project http://www.mdrc.org/project_31_102.html
o Emergency financial aid funds
http://www.mdrc.org/project_31_75.html
o Supplemental financial aid
http://www.mdrc.org/project_31_2.html
 Improvements in guidance counseling and other support – help student



plan their courses wisely and overcome problems that interfere with
school (http://www.mdrc.org/subarea_index_35.html
o College Success Course
o Success Centers for tutoring in math, reading, and writing
o Case management or “intrusive advising”
Improvement of developmental education – accelerated programs,
support services, and mentoring programs to get students to master
basic skills and move onto college-level courses
o The Developmental Education Initiative aims to move students
“further, faster – and at far less cost in terms of time and
money” http://www.mdrc.org/project_37_100.html
o Summer bridge programs
http://www.mdrc.org/project_37_94.html
Institutional reform – use data to improve instruction and services to
help more students succeed like ATD and Completion by Design
o Use data to drive decision making
o Administrative support is required
Learning communities or “linked courses” – encourage students to be
more engaged in their studies and to pass developmental coursework at
higher rates
o http://www.mdrc.org/publications/550/overview.html
Scaling up is hard to do http://www.mdrc.org/publications/595/overview.html
WestEd
Changing Course: A Guide to Increasing Student Completion in Community
College
http://knowledgecenter.completionbydesign.org/sites/default/files/changing_co
urse_V1_fb_10032011.pdf
Design principles for Effective Completion Pathways:
1. Seamlessly connect such areas as academics, career and technical
education, professional development, and student supports with K-12
schools, transfer partners, and employers.
2. Provide coherent and clear sequences of course within college-level
programs of study, communicate them clearly and consistently to
students, and enroll students as quickly as possible in a program
3. Define student competencies and learning outcomes within and across
programs. In order to facilitate quality and to accelerate learning.
4. Improve student engagement, including through education planning,
career planning, and individualized and interactive forms of alerts,
messaging, and updates.
5. Customize, contextualize, and differentiate instruction to improve and
deepen student learning.
6. Make it a responsibility of all instructional programs and student services
to help student catch up academically, using such strategies as
acceleration, modularizing courses, and integrating developmental
education within or alongside entry-level coursework.
7. Integrate student services and instructional supports with college-level
programs of study, including entry-level gatekeeper courses.
8. Leverage technology to broaden, improve, and reduce costs of curricular
options and student services.
High performing colleges are
 learning- and outcome focused
 focused on student-centered change
 have a culture of improvement and the use of data
 engage faculty and provide professional development
 expand technological capacity