Citation
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of the Detroit Promise Path program on community full-time college enrollment, enrollment persistence, and credits earned.
- The study was a randomized control trial that used college administrative data and National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data to compare the outcomes of young adults who participated in the Detroit Promise Path program and were eligible to receive a Detroit Promise scholarship to a control group who only were eligible for the scholarship.
- This study found a positive statistically significant relationship between the Detroit Promise Path and enrollment in the second semester of college, full-time enrollment, and credits earned in the first year of college.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Detroit Promise Path program, and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
Detroit Promise Path
Features of the Intervention
In Detroit and surrounding areas, students face a variety of barriers to completing higher education. As a result, educational attainment rates are low. In 2013, the Detroit Regional Chamber launched a scholarship fund, called the Detroit Promise program, to help more local high school graduates enroll in college by funding tuition after financial aid for up to three years. While Detroit high school graduates were more likely to enroll in college due to the scholarship, many dropped out in their first year. The Detroit Promise Path program was created to add support services to the existing scholarship program to help students succeed in college, improve college attendance, and encourage completion.
As part of the Detroit Promise Path program, participating students 1) met in person with coaches on a twice monthly basis for an entire year, starting in the summer before their first year, 2) were offered $50 monthly gift cards for completing meetings with their coach, and 3) were encouraged to enroll in summer courses or participate in a summer job program. Coaches are employed by the Detroit Regional Chamber, but are housed at each campus to work with students during regular school hours.
The program serves recent Detroit, MI high school graduates who are eligible for a Detroit Promise scholarship and intend to enroll in community college.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized controlled trial that assigned Detroit Promise scholarship applicants to receive the Detroit Promise Path program or to the control group who were eligible to only receive the scholarship. The sample included 1,268 high school graduates in Detroit, Michigan who applied for the Detroit Promise scholarship and were expected to matriculate to a local community college in Fall 2016 or Fall 2017. 829 young adults were randomly assigned to participate in the Detroit Promise Path program (the intervention), and 439 young adults were assigned to the control group. The majority were female (58%), Black/African American (80%), and did not live with a parent who earned a bachelor’s degree (80%). The study followed the students over their first four semesters of college and is an interim report on the impact of the Detroit Promise Path program.
The authors compared the outcomes of intervention and comparison group members using a statistical model based on data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) and administrative data from the five participating community colleges. NSC data included overall college enrollment for all treatment and comparison group members. Community college administrative data only includes academic information for participants who matriculated into one of the five colleges participating in the study.
Study Sites
There were five Detroit-area community colleges that participated in the study:
- Henry Ford College
- Macomb Community College
- Oakland Community College
- Schoolcraft College
- Wayne County Community College District
Findings
Education and skills gains
- The study found that Detroit Promise Path participants were significantly more likely to be enrolled in the second semester of their community college program (62.7%) than the control group (54.6%), but enrollment rates were the same across groups for the first semester of community college.
- The study found that a significantly higher proportion of Detroit Promise Path participants were enrolled full-time at one of the five community colleges in both the first (37.1%) and second (32.9%) semesters relative to the control group (31.1% and 22.6%, respectively).
- The study found that Detroit Promise Path participants earned significantly greater numbers of college credits in each of their first two semesters (0.6 and 1.2 more credits) as well as cumulatively over their first year of community college (1.7 more credits) relative to control group members.
- There were no significant differences observed between students participating in Detroit Promise Path and the control group in the second year of college. However, outcome data for year two were only available for a portion of the sample at the time of the study.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The study authors estimated multiple related impacts on outcomes related to education and skills gains. Performing multiple statistical tests on related outcomes makes it more likely that some impacts will be found statistically significant purely by chance and not because they reflect program effectiveness. The authors did not perform statistical adjustments to account for the multiple tests, so the number of statistically significant findings in these domains is likely to be overstated.
Random assignment was conducted prior to students’ full matriculation into their intended college, and a relatively high proportion of participants in both the intervention and control groups (about 25%) never started college in the study period. The study also used an opt-out approach for study enrollment, so almost half of the students assigned to the intervention did not actively engage in the program. The authors report that these two factors likely bias all outcomes downward so that the effect of the program may be understated.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Detroit Promise Path program, and not to other factors.