2014 AERA Presidential Address: The College Ambition Program: A Realistic Transition Strategy for Traditionally Disadvantaged Students. (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schneider, Barbara
• Is Part Of: Educational researcher. Volume 44:Number 7(2015)
• Page Start: 394
• Page End: 403
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: accountability -- achievement gap -- colleges -- educational policy -- hierarchical linear modeling -- multisite studies -- postsecondary education -- program evaluation -- quasiexperimental analysis -- regression analyses; Education -- Periodicals; Education -- United States -- Periodicals; Education -- Research -- Periodicals; Education -- Research -- Methodology -- Periodicals; 370.72
• DOI: 10.3102/0013189X15609317
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-189X

Abstract

The College Ambition Program (CAP) is designed to encourage low-income and minority students to enroll in college. The following analysis presents updated results from my AERA presidential talk in 2014. Results indicate that CAP, which is a schoolwide intervention, increased college attendance for low-income and minority students in seven treatment high schools compared to 31 control schools by 8%. The 8% increase is largely concentrated in students who would have not attended college but instead enrolled in 2-year institutions. The modest effects of CAP should be viewed as positive and encouraging, especially providing direction for replication and scale-up.