College Now Greater Cleveland 

AmeriCorps Ohio 

College Guides 

Impact Evaluation 

Report 

December 2022 

Submitted to: 

Bridget McFadden 

AmeriCorps at College Now Greater Cleveland 

External Evaluator: 

Lisa Neilson, PhD 

The Ohio State University 
Contents 

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................2 

Table 1. History of Ohio College Guides Program Members and Sites, Statewide ...............................2 

Data................................................................................................................................................................3 

Analytic Sample .............................................................................................................................................3 

Methods.........................................................................................................................................................4 

Table 2. Variable Descriptions ...............................................................................................................4 

Sample Description ........................................................................................................................................5 

Table 3. Cohort Summary ......................................................................................................................5 

Table 4. Descriptive Statistics ................................................................................................................6 

Results............................................................................................................................................................6 

Higher Education Outcomes of AmeriCorps College Guide Services ........................................................6 

Table 5. Higher Education Outcomes ....................................................................................................6 

Table 6. Higher Education Outcomes, by Cohort ..................................................................................7 

Logistic Regression Analyses......................................................................................................................7 

Interpretation ........................................................................................................................................7 

AmeriCorps College Guide Services and College Outcomes .................................................................8 

Other Effects on College Outcomes for the Full Study Sample .............................................................8 

Table 7. Logistic Regression of AmeriCorps College Guide Services on College Enrollment and 

Completion ............................................................................................................................................9 

Relationship between the Level of AmeriCorps Service and College Enrollment.................................9 

Table 8. Summary of Service Participation..........................................................................................10 

Table 9. College Enrollment, by AmeriCorps Service Participation.....................................................10 

Other Effects on College Outcomes for AmeriCorps-Served Students ...............................................10 

Table 10. Logistic Regression of AmeriCorps Participation Level on College Enrollment...................11 

Limitations ...................................................................................................................................................12 

Table 11. Postsecondary Data Timeline by High School Graduation Cohort ......................................12 

Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................................13 

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Introduction 

The AmeriCorps Ohio College Guides program is funded by the Corporation for National and Community 

Service (CNCS), a federal agency that supports national service in six areas, one of which is education. 

College Now Greater Cleveland manages and coordinates the AmeriCorps Ohio College Guides program, 

which began in the 2010 school year1 with 14 Ohio College Guides serving in three college access 

programs, quickly growing to 60 guides serving six programs the following year. Through the period of 

this evaluation, the number of College Guides ranged from 70 in 2015 to 75 in 2018 and 2019, serving 9 

to 10 sites (see Table 1, evaluation period italicized and shaded). Given recent changes in recruitment 

and funding, today there are 55 Ohio College Guides serving in five college access programs. 

Table 1. History of Ohio College Guides Program Members and Sites, Statewide 

School Year College Guides College Access Programs 

2010 

2011 

2012 

2013 

2014 

2015 

2016 

2017 

2018 

2019 

2020 

2021 

14 

60 

60 

60 

60 

70 

70 

70 

75 

75 

70 

55 

3 

9 

9 

9 

10 

10 

9 

9 

9 

10 

7 

5 

The program's theory of change suggests that nuanced, evidence-based, and evidence-informed 

interventions will positively impact and increase students’ postsecondary awareness, access and

ultimately, persistence and completion. A 'one size fits all' approach across all the program sites will not 

increase college and career readiness or attainment. Instead, the most effective interventions begin 

with meeting students where they are, being proactive in our counseling and by building trusting 

relationships. The program expects that AmeriCorps Members will help students navigate the collegegoing process, assist them in completing evidence-based milestones that will lead them to enroll in a 

postsecondary institution and be successful during the transition. The program serves schools with low 

graduation and low college-going rates, as well as with many students who are low-income, minority, or 

first-in their family to attend college. 

The outcome of interest in this evaluation is on college enrollment of high school graduates from the 

Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) from 2015-2019, who were served by AmeriCorps 

College Guides during that same period. 

On behalf of College Now Greater Cleveland, the Ohio State University’s Ohio Education Research 

Center (OERC) conducted an evaluation of the impact of AmeriCorps services for students in the 

Cleveland Metropolitan School District on their postsecondary outcomes. The OERC conducts research 

1 School year defined according to the end of the year (i.e. 2010 refers to the 2009/2010 school year). 

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Ohio Education Research Center December 13, 2022 
 

utilizing administrative data available through Ohio Analytics, a consortium of state agencies. Ohio 

Analytics centralizes state administrative data into a single data repository, the Ohio Longitudinal Data 

Archive (OLDA) 2, for education and workforce research. 

Data 

College Now provided OERC staff with student-level records for Cleveland Metropolitan School District 

(CMSD) students who received services from an AmeriCorps Ohio College Guide between 2015 and 

2019. The OERC linked these AmeriCorps records to student data from the Ohio Department of 

Education’s (ODE) Education Management Information System (EMIS), available to the research team 

via the Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive, with permission from ODE. 

A comparable urban school district in Ohio was chosen in consultation with College Now Greater 

Cleveland, and informed by ODE’s Similar District Tool3. The comparison group was drawn from 

statewide student-level EMIS (Education Management Information System) records, selecting students 

who were ever enrolled in a comparison district high school in grades 9 through 12 in any of the years 

from 2015 through 2019.

4 

Contextual school-level indicators sourced from publicly-available data prepared by ODE5 and National 

Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data were linked to the corresponding EMIS records for both groups of 

students to calculate higher education enrollment and completion. 

Analytic Sample 

The analytic sample was restricted to students who had graduated from high school, as indicated by 

Diploma Received dates in the EMIS records. AmeriCorps students and comparison district students 

were retained in the sample regardless of whether their graduating high school was in CMSD or in the 

comparison district, respectively. 

Because a state student identifier was necessary for linking records provided by College Now to EMIS 

records, only records with available state student identifiers are included. College Now provided records 

for a total of 841 students served by AmeriCorps Members (all of which included the necessary 

identifiers). EMIS records for 78 of those 841 students were missing either a high school diploma date or 

information about race and ethnicity6. These students were excluded from the analysis. 

2 The Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive is a project of the Ohio Education Research Center (oerc.osu.edu) and 

provides researchers with centralized access to administrative data. The OLDA is managed by The Ohio State 

University's CHRR (chrr.osu.edu) in collaboration with Ohio's state workforce and education agencies 

(ohioanalytics.gov), with those agencies providing oversight and funding. For information on OLDA sponsors, see 

http://chrr.osu.edu/projects/ohio-longitudinal-data-archive. 3 https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Report-Card-Resources/Report-Card-Data-Forms-andInformation/Similar-District-Methodology 4 Any student who had been enrolled in comparison district schools and who was also flagged as a CMSD student 

who received services from an AmeriCorps Ohio College Guide between school year 2015 and 2019 was 

categorized as an AmeriCorps student and excluded from the comparison group. 

5 School size: https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Frequently-Requested-Data/Enrollment-Data; and, 

Performance Index: https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/download 6 The majority were missing diploma dates; fewer than 10 were missing race and ethnicity information. 

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Methods 

To assess the impact of AmeriCorps services on College Enrollment and College Graduation, net of 

student- and school-level differences that exist between College Now AmeriCorps students and 

comparison district students, we conducted a two-step analysis. First, we statistically matched a sample 

of 763 comparison district students (from a total of 5,556, see Table 3) to the 763 AmeriCorps students 

in the student records from College Now. We then used the analytic sample of AmeriCorps students and 

the matched sample to conduct bivariate and multivariate analyses (logistic regression) of the 

relationship between AmeriCorps services and first year college enrollment and completion. 

The initial step in the matching process occurred with the choice of the comparison district. We 

conducted a secondary step of ensuring all of the records included in the analysis indicated economic 

disadvantagement. With these criteria in place, we conducted propensity score matching7 to select a 

sample of 763 students from the comparison district population with the closest matches possible to the 

AmeriCorps sample on the following characteristics: gender, race, high school graduation year, ACT or 

SAT score, school size, and school performance (see Table 2 for variable descriptions). The resulting 

sample was then used in the remaining analyses. 

Table 2. Variable Descriptions 

Student-Level Variables 

Gender A male/female indicator. 

Race A 3-category variable coded as Black or African American, White (Non-Hispanic), Other 

Races. The Other Races category was created to facilitate statistical matching and to 

avoid reporting small cell sizes. It is an aggregation of the following categories: 

Hispanic/Latino, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Multiple Races. 

High School The High School Graduation Year indicator was defined using diploma dates ranging 

Graduation from the previous August to July of the graduation year (e.g. Graduation Year 2017 

Year includes diplomas that were awarded between August 2016 and July 2017). 

Test Scores A standardized test score indicator was created from subject-level ACT and SAT test 

scores by flagging the highest test score achieved per student (regardless of subject) 

and categorizing the scores into rank-ordered quintiles (values 1-5). Students without 

any test scores were coded with a value of zero (Table 5). State law requiring schools 

to administer the ACT or SAT was in effect for students who entered grade 9 after July 

1, 20148; the proportion of students with available test scores is therefore greater for 

the students who graduated from high school in 2018 or 2019. 

One School A count of the number of schools attended during the year of graduation from high 

Attended school was created from EMIS data, and recoded as an indicator of whether a student 

attended one school or more than one school during their graduating year. 

School-Level Variables 

School Size School size was calculated by totaling enrollments per school provided in ODE-created 

building enrollment tables9 and merging this information with the building IRN in the 

7 Stata psmatch2, with the following options: noreplace neighbor(1) logit odds 

8 https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Testing/ACT-SAT-FAQs#FAQ2839 9 https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Frequently-Requested-Data/Enrollment-Data 

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annual EMIS enrollment records corresponding with graduating year for students in 

the study sample. To account for students who attended more than one high school in 

their graduating year, the mean school size per student is used. 

School School performance index scores are provided by ODE in their annual school report 

Performance cards10. The scores were merged with the building IRN in the annual EMIS enrollment 

records corresponding to the graduating year for students in the analytic sample. To 

account for students who attended more than one high school in their graduating 

year, the maximum school performance index score per student is used. 

Outcome Variables 

First Year College enrollment dates in the NSC data relative to their corresponding high school 

College diploma dates in the EMIS data were used to construct an indicator of College 

Enrollment Enrollment within one year of high school completion, where the beginning college 

enrollment date was on August 1st of their high school graduation year or later and the 

end enrollment date was before August 1st of the following year. 

College College graduation dates in the NSC data relative to their high school diploma dates in 

Completion the EMIS data were used to construct an indicator or College Completion, where 

beginning college enrollment was within one year of high school completion and the 

college graduation date is greater than the year of high school completion. 

Sample Description 

All students in both the AmeriCorps and matched comparison groups were reported as being 

economically disadvantaged11. There is a relatively balanced distribution of graduates across five 

cohorts, with the exception that the AmeriCorps group is distributed with more students in the 2015 

cohort and fewer in the 2019 cohort. This pattern is less pronounced in the matched comparison 

sample. 

Table 3. Cohort Summary 

High School Graduation Year AmeriCorps Comparison Matched Sample 

2015 

2016 

2017 

2018 

2019 

234 

116 

166 

190 

57 

804 

916 

1,238 

1,320 

1,278 

197 

145 

169 

149 

103 

Total Students 763 5,556 763 

Table 4 summarizes the student characteristics, average school size, and school performance indicators 

included in the evaluation. The predominant race among both AmeriCorps group and the matched 

comparison sample is Black or African American and the majority are male. Most students attended only 

one high school in their graduating year. 

The most noteworthy difference between the AmeriCorps students and comparison district students 

remaining after propensity score matching is that more AmeriCorps-served students took the ACT or 

10 https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/download 

11 Both CMSD and the comparison district report economic disadvantagement at the school level. 

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SAT but, of those who tested, on average the test scores were higher for the matched comparison than 

for the AmeriCorps sample. 

Table 4. Descriptive Statistics 

AmeriCorps Comparison Matched Sample 

Male 

Black/African American 

White 

Other Races 

Enrolled in One HS 

Took the ACT and/or SAT 

ACT/SAT Score Ranking 

among test takers 

Average School Size 

School Performance Index 

478 63% 

452 59% 

119 16% 

192 25% 

649 85% 

617 81% 

617 2.26 

763 475 

763 58.28 

2,651 48% 

2,754 50% 

1,844 33% 

958 17% 

4,438 80% 

3,486 63% 

3,486 2.98 

5,556 1031 

5,556 62.44 

465 61% 

404 53% 

142 19% 

217 28% 

596 78% 

425 56% 

425 3.08 

763 460 

763 59.64 

Total Students 763 100 5,556 100 763 100 

Results 

Higher Education Outcomes of AmeriCorps College Guide Services 

Table 5 shows that 38 percent of students served by AmeriCorps enrolled in college during the year after 

high school graduation. In comparison, 37 percent of the matched sample (and 36 percent of the full 

comparison group, prior to matching) enrolled in college. The small difference in college enrollment is 

between the AmeriCorps sample and the matched sample is not statistically significant, indicating this 

difference is most likely due to chance and that the true difference is zero. 

Of the 290 students served by AmeriCorps who enrolled in college during the year after high school 

graduation, 61 (21 percent) went on to graduate. This is significantly less than the 86 students (31 

percent) from the matched sample who graduated from college12. 

Table 5. Higher Education Outcomes 

AmeriCorps Comparison Matched Sample 

First Year College 

Enrollment 

290 38% 2,023 36% 280 37% 

Total 763 5,556 763 

College Graduation 61 21% 416 21% 86 31%* 

Total 290 2,023 280 

*P<0.01 

There are no clear patterns in enrollment, persistence (year 1 to year 2), and completion across cohorts 

or between the two study groups, although this analysis is somewhat limited by small cell sizes (Table 6). 

12 P<0.01 indicates there is less than a 1/100 chance that the higher college graduation rate found for the matched 

comparison sample is due error. 

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The 2015 cohort of high school graduates is the largest cohort (234 AmeriCorps students; see Table 3). 

Of the 2015 graduates, 110 (47 percent) enrolled in college within the year following high school; of 

those 110 enrollees 69 (63 percent) persisted into the second year of college, and 31 percent went on to 

graduate from college. 

In contrast, 11 of the 57 graduates (19 percent) from the 2019 cohort enrolled in college in the year 

following graduation, nearly half of the 36 percent who enrolled from the 2018 cohort. Although the 

timing of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic corresponds with the last half of the year following 

graduation, this seems to be an unlikely explanation for the drop, not only because college application 

and admissions decisions would have been made prior to Spring 2020 for most, but also because the 

matched comparison group does not experience the same decline for the same time period. In fact, the 

percent of students who enrolled is nearly the same for the 2018 and 2019 matched comparison sample 

cohorts. The number of students who persisted and completed is too small to report. 

Table 6. Higher Education Outcomes, by Cohort 

HS Grad Year Enrollment Persistence Completion 

Year 1 Year 1 to Year 2 

AmeriCorps 

2015 110 47% 69 63% 34 31% 

2016 38 33% 22 58% <10 <10 

2017 63 38% 30 48% 15 24% 

2018 68 36% 34 50% <10 <10 

2019 11 19% <10 <10 <10 <10 

Matched Sample 

2015 69 35% 39 57% 21 30% 

2016 73 50% 49 67% 28 39% 

2017 71 42% 50 70% 27 38% 

2018 39 26% 19 49% <10 <10 

2019 28 27% 22 79% <10 <10 

Logistic Regression Analyses 

Interpretation 

In addition to AmeriCorps services, several student- and school-level factors may be related to college 

enrollment and completion. To better understand the effects of the AmeriCorps program on college 

enrollment and college completion, we conducted logistic regression analyses to account for differences 

in gender, race, high school graduation year, test scores, whether or not the student attended one 

versus multiple schools, their school size, and school performance (see Table 2 for variable descriptions). 

Table 7 presents the results of the logistic regression analyses. Odds ratios indicate the relationship 

between the variables, where a variable with an odds ratio greater than one is interpreted as having a 

positive relationship to college enrollment or completion, and an odds ratio of less than one indicates a 

negative relationship with these outcomes. The magnitude of the effect is greater the farther the odds 

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ratio is from one. Variables that significantly affect college enrollment or completion are noted with 

asterisks which indicate the result is likely not due to chance. The precision of the odds ratios is 

measured using standard errors, shown in parentheses. 

AmeriCorps College Guide Services and College Outcomes 

Consistent with the bivariate results (Table 5), the logistic regression analysis (Table 7) shows the effect 

of AmeriCorps College Guide services on first year college enrollment is not significant (odds ratio=1.03), 

indicating AmeriCorps-served students are no more or less likely to enroll in college than students who 

did not receive services, accounting for the effects of various student- and school-level factors. 

Although the bivariate results (Table 5) showed greater college completion among the matched 

comparison sample graduates, the results of the logistic regression (Table 7) indicate the effect of 

AmeriCorps participation on college completion (odds ratio=1.28) is not significant and that the true 

difference is zero. This suggests the difference seen in the Table 5 is explained by differences in studentand school-level factors that are accounted for in the logistic regression model, and is not due to the 

AmeriCorps College Guide services. 

Other Effects on College Outcomes for the Full Study Sample 

First Year College Enrollment 

College enrollment is significantly related to gender, race, test scores, and school performance. The 

odds of enrolling in college within one year of graduating from high school are 26 percent lower for 

males than for females ((0.743 odds ratio - 1) x 100), and 59 percent lower for White students than for 

Black or African American students ((0.409 odds ratio - 1) x 100). Students with higher ACT or SAT scores 

have significantly higher odds of enrolling in college: for each increase in test score quintiles (e.g. from 

the middle quintile to the fourth quintile) the odds of enrolling in college increase by 55 percent ((1.545 

odds ratio - 1) x 100). Similarly, students from higher performing schools are more likely to enroll in 

college, with each unit increase in the school performance index increasing the odds of college 

enrollment by 2 percent ((1.017 odds ratio – 1) x 100). 

As well, there is a significant cohort effect. The odds of 2019 high school graduates enrolling in college 

within a year of graduating from high school are 43 percent lower than for 2015 high school graduates 

((0.566 odds ratio – 1). 

Completion 

Students with higher ACT or SAT scores and from higher performing schools are more likely to complete 

college; for each increase in test score quintiles the odds of enrolling in college increase 55 percent 

((1.549 odds ratio - 1) x 100), and for each unit increase in the school performance index the odds of 

completion increase by 2 percent ((1.023 – 1) x 100). Students who graduated from high school in 2018 

or 2019 are significantly less likely to have graduated from college than students who graduated in 2015 

(the odds are 64 percent and 81 percent lower, respectively13). This pattern is certainly a function of the 

amount of time available to complete a college program; as of 2022, students who graduated from high 

school in 2019 will have only had time to complete a 2 year program, and only then if they completed on 

time. 

13 (0.361 – 1) x 100 = 64%; (0.191 – 1) x 100 = 81% 

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Table 7. Logistic Regression of AmeriCorps College Guide Services on College Enrollment and 

Completion 

Enrolled Yr 1 Completed 

VARIABLES Odds ratio Odds ratio 

AmeriCorps/Matched Sample 

Male 

Race (Black or African American) 

White 

Other Races 

HS Graduation Year (2015) 

2016 

2017 

2018 

2019 

ACT/SAT Score Ranking 

Enrolled in One School 

School Size 

School Performance Index 

Constant 

1.033 

(0.125) 

0.743** 

(0.0908) 

0.409*** 

(0.0732) 

0.769* 

(0.109) 

1.357 

(0.257) 

1.127 

(0.199) 

0.773 

(0.137) 

0.566** 

(0.138) 

1.545*** 

(0.0628) 

1.341* 

(0.222) 

1.000 

(0.000116) 

1.017*** 

(0.00386) 

0.110*** 

(0.0389) 

1.279 

(0.336) 

0.874 

(0.194) 

0.878 

(0.277) 

1.254 

(0.318) 

1.078 

(0.352) 

0.826 

(0.240) 

0.361*** 

(0.132) 

0.191*** 

(0.108) 

1.549*** 

(0.127) 

0.921 

(0.288) 

1.000 

(0.000244) 

1.023*** 

(0.00731) 

0.0250*** 

(0.0190) 

Total AmeriCorps and Matched Sample 

Students 

1,526 570 

*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1; standard errors in parentheses 

Relationship between the Level of AmeriCorps Service and College Enrollment 

To further explore the relationship between the AmeriCorps program and first year college enrollment, 

we used information provided by College Now about the number of times each student received 

services from an AmeriCorps Member, either one-on-one or in a group setting. Table 8 provides a 

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summary of service participation. The distribution of one-on-one versus group services was relatively 

balanced, with one-on-one services accounting for 44 percent of total student participation. On average, 

students participated in a service with an AmeriCorps Member just under 10 times. Two-thirds of 

students participated in at least 10 sessions. 

Table 8. Summary of Service Participation 

Measures of Service Participation 

At least 1 one-on-one service 

At least 1 group service 

Mean one-on-one 

Mean number of service events (any) 

At least 10 services 

640 

695 

763 

763 

509 

84% 

91% 

44% 

9.9 

67% 

To assess the relationship between the number of service sessions and college enrollment, we divided 

the AmeriCorps sample into three groups corresponding with low, medium, or high service participation, 

and measured college enrollment for each group. Table 9 shows that college enrollment is lower among 

students with the lowest participation level. 

Table 9. College Enrollment, by AmeriCorps Service Participation 

College Enrollment 

1-5 sessions 292 26% 

6-10 sessions 217 41% 

11-64 sessions 254 49% 

Total 763 38% 

This finding is reflected in a logistic regression analysis of AmeriCorps students (Table 10, Model 1). The 

odds of enrolling in college are 80 percent higher for students who participated in 6-10 services ((1.804 

odds ratio – 1) x 100) and 137 percent higher ((2.366 – 1) x 100) for students who participated in more 

than 10 services than for students who participated in fewer than 6 services. 

To address the question of the effect of service type, we tested an alternative measure of participation –

the proportion of total advising sessions that were one-on-one services. Model 2 (Table 10) shows that 

this did not significantly affect college enrollment. 

Other Effects on College Outcomes for AmeriCorps-Served Students 

Within the sample of students who were served by AmeriCorps College Guides, there was no significant 

difference in college enrollment between male and female students. The odds of enrolling in college in 

their first year after high school were, however, significantly higher (58 percent14) for Black or African 

American students than for White students, consistent with the findings of the logistic regression 

conducted among the full study sample of AmeriCorps-served students and the matched sample. 

14 (0.424 odds ratio – 1) x 100 = 58% 

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The results presented in Table 10 indicate that among AmeriCorps-served students, college enrollment 

varied significantly by year: Students who graduated from high school in 2016, 2018, and 2019 were 

significantly less likely to enroll in college than those who graduated in 2015 (38, 36, and 62 percent less 

likely, respectively15). The same effect was found for the 2019 cohort among the full study sample (Table 

7), but the effects for the 2016 and 2018 cohorts are unique to the AmeriCorps-served students. 

As expected, and consistent with the findings for the full sample (Table 7), Table 10 shows that students 

with higher test scores were more likely to enroll in College (odds ratio=1.37). 

Table 10. Logistic Regression of AmeriCorps Participation Level on College Enrollment 

Enrolled Yr 1 

(Model 1) 

Enrolled Yr 1 

(Model 2) 

VARIABLES Odds ratio Odds ratio 

AmeriCorps Services (Ref = Low) 

Medium 

High 

Percent as 1:1 Services 

Male 

Race (African American or Black) 

White 

Other Races 

HS Graduation Year (2015) 

2016 

2017 

2018 

2019 

ACT/SAT Score Ranking 

Constant 

1.804*** 

(0.360) 

2.366*** 

(0.464) 

0.952 

(0.161) 

0.424*** 

(0.108) 

0.956 

(0.186) 

0.622* 

(0.156) 

0.798 

(0.175) 

0.636** 

(0.136) 

0.377** 

(0.144) 

1.367*** 

(0.0825) 

0.333*** 

(0.0849) 

1.306 

(0.370) 

0.905 

(0.150) 

0.373*** 

(0.0940) 

0.850 

(0.162) 

0.686 

(0.173) 

0.789 

(0.180) 

0.618** 

(0.137) 

0.464** 

(0.180) 

1.408*** 

(0.0833) 

0.478*** 

(0.135) 

Total AmeriCorps Students 763 763 

*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1; standard errors in parentheses 

15 (0.622 odds ratio – 1) x 100 = 38%; (0.636 odds ratio – 1) x 100 = 36%; (0.377 odds ratio – 1) x 100 = 62% 

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Limitations 

The results of this study are bound by the following practical considerations. 

1. Because a state student identifier is necessary for linking the student records provided by 

College Now to the source of the higher education outcome data (National Student 

Clearinghouse), student records without these identifiers were excluded from the evaluation. 

We do not know the extent to which these results represent the full population of students 

served by AmeriCorps College Guides. 

2. Information about other college support services that may be available to students of CMSD 

and/or the comparison district is unknown. It is possible that students in the comparison group 

received support and other services that may contribute to their college enrollment and 

completion. In that case, this evaluation is a measure of the impact of AmeriCorps College Guide 

services versus unspecified supports, and not a measure of the effect of AmeriCorps services 

versus no services. 

3. Neither CMSD nor the comparison district report economic disadvantagement at the individuallevel, preventing precise measurement of this effect on higher education. Instead, the effects of 

being economically disadvantaged are accounted for at the school level. 

4. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to quantify. There is evidence to suggest 

there may have been an effect on their first year enrollment: The results of the logistic 

regression reported in Table 7 show that students who graduated from high school in school 

year 2019 were significantly less likely to have enrolled in college in their first year after high 

school than students from the 2015 graduating cohort. This result cannot be entirely explained 

by the pandemic, however. Although the latter half of the first year enrollment measure 

coincides with the onset of the pandemic for the 2019 cohort, most students would have 

submitted college applications and enrolled in the Fall 2019 term, prior to Spring 2020. 

Similarly, college completion appears to have been negatively impacted by the pandemic (Table 

7): College completion is significantly lower for 2018 and 2019 high school graduates than for 

2015 graduates, but these students have also graduated from high school more recently than 

earlier cohorts and therefore have had less opportunity to complete college (see Table 11 for a 

timeline of post-high school data availability). The confounding effects of the pandemic, 

postsecondary data availability, and any potential programmatic differences over time are 

impossible to disentangle in this study. 

Table 11. Postsecondary Data Timeline by High School Graduation Cohort 

Cohort Years Post-High School 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 

2019 2020 2021 2022 

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Conclusions 

Overall, the results of this evaluation indicate that students who received services from the AmeriCorps 

Ohio College Guides program were not more likely to enroll in or complete college than similar students 

who did not receive AmeriCorps support. 

We did, however, find several factors that were positively related to college enrollment among students 

who received services from the AmeriCorps College Guides: 

• Number of service sessions. Students who participated in six or more sessions of the 

AmeriCorps College Guides program were much more likely to enroll in college than students 

with lower participation levels; 

• ACT and SAT scores. Unsurprisingly, students with stronger test scores were more likely to 

enroll in college in the year after high school graduation; 

• Cohort. AmeriCorps-served students who graduated from high school in 2015 were more likely 

to enroll in college than 2016, 2018, and 2019 graduates; and 

• Race. Black or African American students were more likely to enroll in college in their first year 

after high school than White students. 

We recommend that College Now conduct a follow-up review of their 2015 through 2019 programming, 

resources, and priorities to explore the following: 

1. What are the characteristics of students with a low level of service participation and how do 

they differ from students who participate in 6 or more sessions? Are they less motivated to 

pursue college and, if so, are there proactive outreach efforts that might encourage their 

engagement? What is the nature of the services associated with a higher number of sessions 

attended? Are there features of these activities that may explain the strong college enrollment 

outcomes? If so, perhaps these activities could be implemented as mandatory activities to 

benefit even students with low participation levels. 

2. What program efforts could be prioritized to improve test scores? Although this study does not 

distinguish between the direct impact of test scores on college enrollment (i.e. test scores as 

part of the admission criteria) and the unobserved attitudes and behaviors of students that 

impact both test scores and college enrollment, the relationship between testing and college 

enrollment is clear enough to warrant consideration in programmatic planning. 

3. How did annual programming and resources vary across the five years? Were there particular 

features of the 2015 program that were not present in 2016, 18, and 19 that could explain 

cohort differences? An alternative explanation for the cohort effects found in this evaluation 

could lie in an examination of the study sample. Are there non-random reasons for missing state 

student identifiers in certain years that might be related to the likelihood of enrolling in college? 

4. Are there racial patterns in the types of services with which students engage? Reviewing the 

types of services most frequently leveraged by Black or African American students may shed 

light on the efficacy of various program features. 

13 

Ohio Education Research Center December 13, 2022