In an effort to improve developmental education students' outcomes, community colleges have been experimenting with acceleration strategies. Models of acceleration allow students to complete their developmental requirements in a shorter amount of time. However, there has been limited empirical research on the effects of accelerating students'…

Many young adults enter college without the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed. The purpose of the study reported here was to determine if 4-H helps develop life skills needed for the transition to college and overall college success. An online survey was sent to college-attending 4-H alumni and a comparison group, with a final sample size…

Developmental summer bridge programs are a popular strategy for increasing college readiness among recent high school graduates. Aimed at providing an alternative to traditional developmental education, these programs provide accelerated and focused learning opportunities in order to help students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for…

Despite the potential contributions of adolescent employment to postschool success, many youth who experience emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD) do not access these opportunities. This intervention study examined the effects of a package of strategies designed to increase access to summer work experiences. Fifty-seven youth with EBD from…

The Early College High School (ECHS) initiative developed in response to calls to significantly decrease the number of first-generation college and underserved students of color and from poverty who are high school dropouts or marginally graduates (i.e., ill prepared for college). The ECHS model is different from other educational reforms in that…

Across the country, a growing number of recent high school graduates are participating in summer bridge programs. These programs provide accelerated and focused learning opportunities in order to help students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for college success. The state of Texas has given particular attention to summer programs as a way…

Early work experiences have been advocated as an important avenue for equipping youth with disabilities with the skills, attitudes, opportunities, and aspirations needed to transition successfully to meaningful careers after high school. We examined the efficacy and social validity of a multicomponent intervention package--composed of…

By offering information, counseling, and tutoring, college outreach programs attempt to smooth the path between high school and higher education for at-risk students. But do these program work? This paper uses longitudinal data from the Education Longitudinal Study to construct two quasi-experiments to assess the effectiveness of college outreach.…

This applied dissertation described the evaluation of a program designed to provide students with the necessary academic and social skills needed to matriculate and graduate from the university. The problem was that there was no evidence of a formalized program evaluation to determine if the Academic Empowerment Center (AEC) was effective in…