ERIC Number: ED500477
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Mar
Pages: 162
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
A Good Start: Two-Year Effects of a Freshmen Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College
Scrivener, Susan; Bloom, Dan; LeBlanc, Allen; Paxson, Christina; Rouse, Cecilia Elena; Sommo, Colleen
MDRC
At Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, freshmen were placed in groups of up to 25 who took three classes together during their first semester: an English class, usually at the developmental level; an academic course, such as health or psychology; and a one-credit orientation course. The program also provided enhanced counseling and tutoring and a textbook voucher. Kingsborough's program is part of MDRC's Opening Doors demonstration, which is testing interventions at six community colleges designed to help low-income students stay in school and succeed. Opening Doors is the first large-scale study of community college programs to use a random assignment design of program evaluation. The report concludes that the jury is still out on whether learning communities improve students' persistence in school. The document includes five appendixes: (1) Supplementary Table for Sample Intake and Characteristics and Data Sources; (2) Survey Response Analysis; (3) Description of Scales Presented in Effects on Educational Outcomes; (4) Supplementary Tables for Effects on Educational Outcomes; and (5) Description of Scales Presented in Social, Psychological, and Health Outcomes. (Contains 5 figures and 25 tables. Individual chapters and appendixes contain footnotes.) [This document was written with: Jenny Au, Jedediah J. Teres, and Susan Yeh. Additional support for the dissemination of MDRC publications was provided by The Starr and Citi Foundations.]
Descriptors: Program Evaluation, Community Colleges, Educational Objectives, Community Programs, Low Income Groups, College Outcomes Assessment, School Holding Power, Program Implementation, Educational Assessment, Educational Indicators, College Freshmen, Intervention, Sampling, Student Characteristics
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Publication Type: Information Analyses; Reports - Research
Education Level: Postsecondary Education
Audience: Practitioners; Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: Robin Hood Foundation, New York, NY.; Ambrose Monell Foundation, New York, NY.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Inc., New York, NY.; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.; Carnegie Corp. of New York, NY.
Authoring Institution: Manpower Demonstration Research Corp., New York, NY.
Identifiers - Location: New York
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A