Ready for College in Colorado: Evaluation of the Colorado SUN and the College Connection Program
Author: Bragg, Debra D.
Date: 2010-12-15
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Out of School Youth,Transitional Programs,Community Colleges,Grants,Mathematics Tests,Reading Tests,College Readiness,Program Effectiveness,Adult Education,Statistical Analysis

In fall 2007, the state of Colorado received one of four federal grants from the Ready for College (RFC) grant program of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), U.S. Department of Education. The Colorado (CO) SUN project (where SUN stands for Success UNlimited) was designed to identify and enhance innovative practices from Colorado's Adult Education and Family Literacy program and extend them to other Adult Secondary Education centers across the state. The project was commissioned by the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) Foundation, and it aligned well with other initiatives of the Governor's P-20 Education Coordinating Council, the Colorado Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II Workforce Investment Act, and other state agencies. The overarching goal of CO SUN was to create innovative transition programs and practices to promote the successful transition of out-of-school youth to community colleges. This evaluation utilized qualitative and quantitative methods to examine Colorado's RFC initiative, including documenting implementation of key components of the College Connection program and assessing student performance on required OVAE performance measures and related outcomes identified by the CCCS leadership as important to the Colorado context. Results of the evaluation reveal promising outcomes for the overall learner group, referred to as the CO SUN participants, and for the sub-group of students who met the RFC criteria: (a) was 18 to 24 years of age prior to or during the CO SUN program, (b) had taken the TABE reading or math pretest, or both, and (c) had 60% or better attendance in the CO SUN program. The following results provide insights into the impact of the College Connection program on student outcomes: (1) The majority of RFC learners showed gains on the TABE reading and math tests; (2) A total of 16 (26.2%) RFC learners tested college ready in at least one subject; (3) The majority of RFC learners in five of six pilot sites showed one or more level gains in developmental math, with 64.6% of the RFC learners in Site 1, 73.9% in Site 2, 100% in Site 3, and 50% in Sites 4 and 5 showing one or more level gains; (4) RFC learners in five sites showed gains of one or more levels in developmental reading, with 59.9% of RFC learners in Site 1 showing a gain of one or two levels and 55.5% of RFC learners in Site 2 showing a similar level of achievement; (5) RFC learners in two pilot sites showed gains of one or more levels in developmental English, specifically 59.5% of RFC learners at Site 1 and 50% of RFC learners at Site 3; and (6) A total of 49 (80.3%) of the 61 RFC learners enrolled in college-level community college courses, either while participating in the CO SUN program or after completing it. A list of recommendations that support future implementation of college transition programs is also presented. Colorado SUN College Connection Survey is appended. (Contains 8 tables and 18 figures.