ERIC Number: ED532834
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jun
Pages: 17
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
What Can a Multifaceted Program Do for Community College Students? Early Results from an Evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students. Executive Summary
Scrivener, Susan; Weiss, Michael J.; Sommo, Colleen
MDRC
In recent years, there has been unprecedented national focus on the importance of increasing graduation rates for community college students. Many reforms have been tried, but college completion rates remain stubbornly low: Only one-third of entering students graduate with a degree or certificate within five years. Reforms are often short-term, lasting one or two semesters, and are designed to address one or only a few barriers to student success. Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), operated by The City University of New York (CUNY), the nation's largest public urban university system, is an uncommonly multifaceted and long-term program aimed at helping community college students stay in school and graduate. Launched in 2007 with funding from Mayor Bloomberg's Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), the program was designed to substantially increase the proportion of students who graduate and to help them graduate sooner. This executive summary presents very promising early findings from a random assignment study of ASAP that is taking place at three CUNY community colleges: Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Kingsborough Community College (KCC), and LaGuardia Community College (LGCC). For the study, ASAP targets low-income students who need one or two developmental (remedial) courses to build their math, reading, or writing skills and are willing to attend school full time. Compared with regular college services, ASAP increased full-time enrollment and the number of credits earned in the first semester of the study, helped students complete their developmental requirements that semester, and increased enrollment in the second semester. ASAP's early effects are large, compared with the effects of other community college reforms MDRC has studied. (Contains 1 table.) [This paper was written with Hannah Fresques. For the full report, "What Can a Multifaceted Program Do for Community College Students? Early Results from an Evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students," see ED532840.]
Descriptors: Community Colleges, Two Year College Students, Associate Degrees, Acceleration (Education), College Programs, Graduation, Remedial Programs, Economically Disadvantaged, Full Time Students, Enrollment, Credits, School Holding Power, Student Characteristics, Program Effectiveness, Urban Universities
MDRC. 16 East 34th Street 19th Floor, New York, NY 10016-4326. Tel: 212-532-3200; Fax: 212-684-0832; e-mail: publications@mdrc.org; Web site: http://www.mdrc.org
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Robin Hood Foundation; Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
Authoring Institution: MDRC
Identifiers - Location: New York
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A