EDUCATION
“An education,” Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, “is the very foundation of good citizenship.” Providing a solid foundation for learning requires continual examination and refinement of education policy, programs, and curricula intended to help everyone succeed academically. It also requires understanding and addressing the factors—at the individual, community and societal levels—that affect learning and academic achievement.
DSG’s Education Practice is devoted to promoting education excellence and equity through rigorous research and evaluation of programs and policies, training and technical assistance to support the implementation of evidence-based curricula, and consultation with school administrators and teachers to improve classroom performance.
The members of DSG’s Education Practice possess comprehensive knowledge, skills, and experience concerning the entire education continuum, from early childhood through college and beyond, including expertise in college and career readiness. We stay current on local, state, and national education policy and we know what works.
EDUCATION
“An education,” Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, “is the very foundation of good citizenship.” Providing a solid foundation for learning requires continual examination and refinement of the policies, programs, and curricula intended to help everyone succeed academically. It also requires understanding and addressing the factors—at the individual, community, and societal levels—that affect learning and academic achievement.
DSG’s Education Practice is devoted to promoting education excellence and equity through rigorous research and evaluation of programs and policies, training and technical assistance to support the implementation of evidence-based curricula, and consultation with school administrators and teachers to improve classroom performance.
The members of DSG’s Education Practice possess comprehensive knowledge, skills, and experience concerning the entire education continuum, from early childhood through college and beyond, including expertise in college and career readiness. We stay current on local, state, and national education policy. And we know what works.
FEATURED PROJECTS IN EDUCATION
Effects of College Aid Programs: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
This project aims to summarize the relationship between financial aid and student progress through postsecondary education by drawing on data from a wide range of financial aid studies. Despite the widely held belief that financial aid positively effects postsecondary progress and degree completion, researchers have arrived at varying estimates on the magnitude and significance of this relationship. And despite substantial investments in financial aid by states and the federal government, students from the lowest income quartile lag significantly behind their high-income counterparts in college degree completion. Given wide variation in types of aid programs, their generosity, the conditions under which they release aid to students, and the methods used to analyze their relations to student outcomes, there is a need to compare the effects of these different approaches. By employing a meta-analysis of existing financial aid studies that carefully accounts for variation in program type and features as well as the analytical techniques used to evaluate them, researchers can arrive at an accurate estimate of the relationship between financial aid and postsecondary outcomes.
Estimating the Costs of Compliance and Accreditation to Support Postsecondary Student Success
The goals of this study are to:
- Quantify and describe the costs that IHEs incur to comply with:
- Institutional and programmatic accreditation requirements
- Regulations authorized under the Higher Education Act (HEA)
- Federal regulations outside of the HEA
- Identify possible areas for streamlining compliance and accreditation activities to increase efficiency.
To achieve these goals, the research team is first conducting a comprehensive landscape review of federal regulations and accreditation processes which will inform a nationally representative economic evaluation of regulatory compliance and accreditation costs in higher education. The landscape review will examine how institutional systems respond to federal regulation compliance requirements and investigate institutional and programmatic accreditation processes, outlining differences across institution types and programmatic areas. As part of the landscape review, we are also collecting primary data from a limited sample of IHEs to help inform survey development and the sampling plan for the full-scale national study. For the full study, we will conduct a stratified random selection of more than 200 IHEs to capture differences across institutions that may affect compliance and accreditation costs. Surveys will ask about demographic characteristics; job-related information regarding the participants and the resources they manage, non-personnel resources, and input on opportunities to streamline current compliance and accreditation requirements. We will use the “ingredients method” to inform federal policy on reducing the burden of complying with federal regulations and accreditation requirements.
What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
Preschool-to-Postsecondary Evidence Synthesis Task Orders (WWC–PESTO) Task Order 05: Supporting Student Success in Secondary School Classrooms
WWC—ACT/SAT Test Preparation and Coaching Programs
Test preparation programs—sometimes referred to as test coaching programs—have been implemented with the goal of increasing student scores on college entrance tests. They generally a) familiarize students with the format of the test, b) introduce them to general test-taking strategies (for example, get a good night’s sleep), c) introduce specific test-taking strategies (e.g., whether the test penalizes incorrect answers, and what this means for whether one should guess an answer if it is not known), and d) practice specific drills (e.g., factoring polynomial expressions). The programs can be delivered in person or online, and in whole class settings, in small groups, and individually.
Strategies for Postsecondary Students in Developmental Education: A Practice Guide for College and University Administrators, Advisers, and Faculty—Institute of Education Sciences
This practice guide presents six evidence-based recommendations for college and university faculty, administrators, and advisers working to improve the success of students academically underprepared for college. Each recommendation includes an overview of the practice, a summary of evidence used in support of the evidence rating, guidance on how to carry out the recommendation, and suggested approaches to overcome potential roadblocks. Each recommendation includes an implementation checklist as guidance for getting started with implementing the recommendation.
WWC—Linked Learning Communities
Overall, the effects of linked learning communities on academic achievement, degree attainment, postsecondary enrollment, credit accumulation, and progress in developmental education for postsecondary students were neither statistically significant nor large enough to be considered to be substantively important. Therefore, the WWC considers linked learning communities to have no discernible effects on these outcomes for community college students in developmental education.
WWC—Dual-Enrollment Programs
Dual-enrollment programs were found to have positive effects on students’ degree attainment (college), college access and enrollment, credit accumulation, completing high school, and general academic achievement (high school), with a medium to large extent of evidence. For the staying in high school, college readiness, and attendance (high school) domains, dual enrollment programs had potentially positive effects with a small extent of evidence. Dual enrollment programs were found to have no discernible effects on general academic achievement (college) with a small extent of evidence.
WWC—First-Year Experience Courses
First-year experience courses, often referred to as college success courses or freshman seminars, are courses for first-year students in 2-year and 4-year colleges. The general goals of first-year experience courses are to support the academic performance, social development, persistence, and degree completion of college students. Additionally, first-year experience courses often aim to increase students’ sense of campus community and connection to their institutions, while giving them the opportunity to interact with faculty and peers.
