Student Support Services (SSS) is one of the largest federal TRIO programs designed to help disadvantaged students stay in and complete college. Through a longitudinal study of participants and comparable non participants, we examined the impact of SSS on retention. Data were collected through student questionnaires, institutional and program data, and students’ postsecondary transcripts. We found that SSS had a positive impact for all three measures of retention that were used, but the impact varied depending on which services students used and how much they participated. The results confirm that retention programs should address both academic and social integration on campus.
Using data from the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the 1990 High School Transcript Study, we compare students’ course-taking patterns with their NAEP achievement scores and with schools’ graduation requirements. We find relatively few students were affected by the requirements, either because students took more than was required or they took courses that did not affect their achievement. Those course sequences that were correlated with increases in students’ achievement scores suggested that students who were marginal in their motivation and skills could benefit by taking courses that were more demanding.
The primary technique that many researchers use to analyze data from randomized control trials (RCTs)—detecting the average treatment effect (ATE)—imposes assumptions upon the data that often are not correct. Both theory and past research suggest that treatments may have significant impacts on subgroups even when showing no overall effect. Giving primacy to ATEs thus may lead to the rejection of treatments that in fact are helpful to some people. Using simulations, I examine the power of ATEs to detect treatment impacts when treatment impacts vary. Models that allow for varying impacts accurately measure the treatment effect in the simulation and are robust in a variety of circumstances. However, a focus on ATEs often fails to find the known treatment effects.
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