If you will turn to the table entitled “Promising program for improving transition from high school to college” prepared by Dr. Laura Perna of the University of Pennsylvania.  Growth & Justice commissioned this work from Dr. Perna which she presented in St Paul on November 12, 2007

The first column is a list of 16 programs that have been determined as effective or promising. And I will speak in a minute about caveats to these findings.

The second column indicates three important and rather traditional barriers to achieving post-secondary success. They are: financial, academic and information.

Financial barriers: Tuition and costs associated with attending a post-secondary institution are considered the primarily obstacles to higher education among low-income and middle-income students. This is especially true for students who are the first generation in their families to attend college. In addition, Minnesota colleges and universities tuition exceed the national average and is considered a “high tuition but moderate aid” state. 

Academic barriers: Readiness for post-secondary institutions is necessary for success in higher education. Yet, Minnesota’s students of color and lower-income students have some of the lowest rates of readiness.

There are at least a few explanations for this.

One is academic tracking in which students are tracked in non-academic curricular tracks and low-ability groups.

Another is the lack of alignment between the high school graduation requirements and the post-secondary institution enrollment requirements. I am aware that the P-16 Commission is addressing this barrier, but as yet it is not a seamless system. The burden is placed on the student to knit the two systems together so that they can transition from one system to another.

A third explanation for lack of readiness is course taking, especially rigorous coursework, such as advanced math. We can measure rigorous coursework by its advanced level, such as Advanced Placement (AP). Currently, only 222 out of 500 high schools in Minnesota offer AP classes; ethnic minorities are under-represented in these courses as are rural students. As well, students need to have met or surpassed proficiency in basic skills to be prepared to take advanced-level courses. Currently, only 16 percent of Minnesota’s 8^th graders have taken Algebra I - compared to 35 percent of top performing states. As legislation stands today, all of Minnesota’s 8^th graders need to take and pass Algebra I by the year 2013. There is a lot of work to do in this regard.

Information barriers:  knowledge about what it takes to be prepared and to chose and to enroll in post-secondary education continues to be a barrier for first generation college goers, as well as low-income students and English Language Learners. The college campus is still considered an institution for the elite and consequently many Minnesotans do not picture themselves there—even if they are well qualified to attend. As well, one of the primary sources of information about college-going (especially among first generation college goers) is the high school counselor. However, Minnesota is aong the worst states with regard to student-counselor ratio. We have the third highest number of students assigned to a counselor in the country.

Often times financial barriers and information barriers are related. Students may know how to apply to college but do not have enough information about how to obtain grants or loans. Lack of information is also often related to academic preparation. Many Minnesotans do not fully understand what coursework and qualifications are required in order to attend a post-secondary institution. 

For this reason, Dr Perna has clustered the effective or promising programs into these three categories.

The third column addresses the various programs that promote different outcomes;  however I will ask you to exercise caution when comparing the merits and costs of the various programs. They differ by the populations they serve and by the barriers they are trying to overcome as well as the outcomes they intend to achieve.

As to the costs, or the cost effectiveness of each of these programs, I offer a caveat:

 there is a paucity of studies that examine cost-effectiveness, and relatively few studies that use rigorous research designs to examine the effects of the programs. Therefore, we are not suggesting causal relationships between program participation and college-related outcomes. Rather, we can speak about the correlation between programs and outcomes based on the limited evidence.

Despite these limitations, the programs I would like to highlight are worthy of consideration, as they have been carefully reviewed among a variety of top-level scholars from across the country.

First, I would like to point out that there are a few programs that try to address all three barriers:  Project GRAD and Washington State Achievers claim to address all three barriers and yet you can see from the table that they also try to achieve different outcomes. Addressing more than one barrier or all 3 does not make a program more effective.  In fact, trying to address to many barriers may weaken the programs effects.

Project GRAD (p. 40) is designed to increase high school graduation and college enrollment for students in poverty as measured by those student who are enrolled in free/reduced lunch. It awards qualifying students with college scholarships. The focus is mostly on academic preparation. Scholarships range from $1000-$1500 plus a summer skill building program, an assigned social worker, study skills and emphasis on reading and math skills. While outcomes are self-reported and lack rigorous evaluation, its outcomes appear promising.  HS grad rates have been increased to 94 percent and college completion rates are 70 percent higher for participants than non-participants.

Washington State Achievers (p 42) is a high school redesign program funded by the Gates Foundation. It offers scholarships to low income students and mentorship during the summer months. Evaluation by the Pell Institute show higher college enrollment rates and higher degree attainment rates and lower rates of borrowing

Programs that have had cost-benefit analyses conducted include: Quantum Opportunity Programl; Early College High School; and Admission Possible.

Quantum (p 39) has shown that for every $1 invested the program generated a $3.50 benefit. The program provides activities to promote education achievement starting in the 9^th grade through the end of high school. The program offers a small financial stipend for participating in the program. Program effects show that students averaged higher academic and functional skills and greater interest in attending college. Two years after high school graduation, participants had higher graduation rates –as high as 3 times that of non-participants, lower high school dropout rates and higher college enrollment rates.

Early College High School (p 55) known as “an extreme form of dual enrollment” it is designed for students who are at risk of dropping out of high school and to strengthen their likely transition to college. It is designed for 9^th to 14^th grade in which students are expected to attend four to five years and leave with both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree or up to 2 years of college credit to be applied to a four-year institute.  This is an example of a “seamless” system in which the student is not burdened with negotiating two educational systems. Descriptive data indication that ECHS or middle college high school students have higher high school grad rates, college enrollment rates and higher standardized test scores than non-participants. Rate of return analysis has show this program to be a sound investment.

Admission Possible (p 68) aims to improve four-year college enrollment among low income students. The two-year program begins in the 11th grade and students participate in 320 hours of mentoring and tutoring and ACT test prep, college search and application and the  financial aid process until the end of 12^th grade. One descriptive evaluation shows positive program outcomes such as 100 percent acceptance rate in four-year colleges; however the evaluation does not include a control group to account for self selection.  The rate of return is considered as high as 17 percent for the investment by the 5^th year of the college grads employment and 100 percent return on investment by the 10^th year.

AVID is a program that promotes personal and social enrichment as well as academic preparation. It serves students in the “academic middle”; it requires enrollment in rigorous coursework but provides social support that is shown to encourage and promote  persistence. Students take academic coursework and elective AVID coursework taught by AVID trained teachers; these elective courses focus on organization and study skills as well as higher order thinking skills.

Other programs are described in full in the Perna paper.

There are a few other programs related to academic preparation that have had a cost-benefit analysis conducted and they are worth mentioning. Researchers, Henry Levin and Clive Belfield, of the Center on Cost Benefit Studies in Education at Columbia University highlighted in their presentation at the Growth & Justice summit on November 12.

First Things First and Talent Development High School First Things First emphasizes small learning communities (less than 350 students), long-term teacher student relationships, mentoring, and teacher advocacy for each student, and a rigorous curriculum. This program generated higher HS graduation rates by as much 16 percentage points as a result of the intervention. The benefit to cost ratio of this program is 6.72.  For every dollar invested, the return is almost $7.

Talent Development HS begins the 9^th grade and then develops into a career academy model.  The five main features are: small learning communities, curriculum leading to advanced English and math coursework; academic supports for those needing extra help; additional professional development for teachers; and parent and community engagement strategies. The program raised progression rates from 9^th grade to 10^th grade by 8 percentage points. The benefit to cost ratio of this program is 6.56. For every dollar invested, the return is over $6.

There remains a great deal of work to still be done in getting more Minnesota students to transition to from high school to college:

Between now and 2018 Minnesota is going to realize a 193 percent increase of African American students, and a 470 percent increase of Hispanic students and yet these students are underrepresented in academic coursework that will prepare them for post-secondary education. They are also over-represented in the lower income quartiles. These populations have among the lowest rates of college enrollment and completion currently and yet are the fastest growing population.

At the same time, Minnesota is one of the highest tuition states. Over the past 10 years, merit-based aid has increased by 259 percent (most often serving higher income families) whereas financial need-based aid has only increased 59 percent. We have a lot of work to do in this area as well.

Thank you.