National Evaluation of Student Support Services: Examination of Student Outcomes after Six Years. Final Report
Author: Chaney, Bradford W.
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Grants,College Outcomes Assessment,Outcomes of Education,Academic Support Services,Academic Persistence,College Transfer Students,Graduation Rate,Federal Programs,Improvement Programs,Models,Program Evaluation,Program Effectiveness,Program Descriptions,Longitudinal Studies,Measurement Objectives,Measurement Techniques,Multivariate Analysis,Structural Equation Models,Achievement Gains,College Freshmen

This is the final report of the National Evaluation of Student Support Services (SSS). SSS is one of eight federally funded grant programs that are administered as part of the Federal TRIO Programs within the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The SSS program, in particular, focuses on students while they are enrolled in college. In general, SSS provides the most services to first-year college students, though it does also provide services in later years. The purpose of the study was to estimate the effects of SSS on the outcomes of the student participants. The full report discusses five academic outcomes. For brevity, this summary focuses only on the key outcomes: (1)retention in college; (2) transfers from two-year to four-year institutions; and (3) degree completion. The study used a variety of statistical methodologies to estimate the effects of participating in the SSS program as a college freshman (the only year for which it was possible to collect program participation data) and also the more general effect of receiving supplemental services during college. The major finding is that analytic models that account for differences in service levels generally showed positive and statistically significant effects. Participation in SSS projects as measured by the amount of services received during the freshman year is associated with moderate increases on the key measures of college retention and degree completion but neither increases nor decreases student transfers from two-year to four-year institutions and neither increases nor decreases the outcomes on some of the key measures in the HLM models. Although these models controlled for student demographics and, whenever possible, prior achievement, one limitation of this model is the potential selection bias of participants who received more services. Models that measure supplemental services regardless of whether they were offered by the SSS project or were offered by some other service provider on campus are associated with positive and statistically significant effects on all outcome measures of retention, transfers from two-year to four-year institutions, and degree completion. In addition this report includes analyses that simply consider whether or not the student was classified as being in SSS as a college freshman, although this comparison was considered of limited validity given the structure of SSS grants. A major limitation of this analysis is that it does not account for the level of service received by SSS participants; nor does it account for the fact that comparison students may have received similar services that were not funded by the federal SSS program. This measure did not show any effect from participating in SSS as a college freshman. Appended are: (1) Detailed Tables; and (2) Methodology. (Contains 51 exhibits and 41 footnotes.)