The Impact of Early College High Schools on Postsecondary Enrollment, Performance, and Degree Attainment: Results From a Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Trial in North Carolina

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Abstract

The proposed paper presents results from an IES-funded eleven-year longitudinal randomized control trial (RCT) that evaluate North Carolina’s Early College model. The paper addresses the following questions:

1. What is the impact of the early college model on postsecondary enrollment, academic performance, and degree attainment?
2. Do the program impacts vary for specific sub-groups including those who are low-income, first in their family to go to college, members of underrepresented minority groups, and who were academically unprepared for high school?

As implemented in North Carolina, early colleges are small high schools that embed extensive dual enrollment opportunities within the context of a whole school reform effort. Located on the campus of a higher education partner, early colleges develop an aligned curriculum that allows students to attain a high school diploma and two years of college credit in a four or five year time period with the end goal of ensuring college readiness for all.

This study is designed as a multi-site RCT of 12 early colleges that used lotteries to select eligible 8th grade students between 2005 and 2008. Drawing on a sample of 1,671 students, this study compares short- and long-term outcomes between eligible applicants who gained admission (treatment group) against those who did not (control group, who generally attended the traditional high school in the district or “business as usual”). We employ linked transcript data collected from the University of North Carolina (UNC) system and the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), college enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), and high school data collected by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to conduct our analyses. Primary impact analyses are conducted within the Intent-to-Treat framework using linear regression models that control for lottery fixed effects and student baseline characteristics. Standard errors are clustered at the high-school level.

Results presented in Table 1 suggest that the program had positive and statistically significant impacts on postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment after high school (the paper presents results from a larger set of outcomes that support this conclusion). The impact on cumulative GPA was null. The full paper also presents results by the targeted sub-groups which suggest larger impacts on students who are disadvantaged and underprepared for high school.

Results from this RCT-based study with high internal validity (low attrition, balanced treatment and control groups, and low noncompliance with random assignment) shows that the early college model as implemented in North Carolina is succeeding in its goal to increase the number of students who are enrolling in postsecondary education and obtaining postsecondary credentials. We discuss the potential mechanisms driving these improvements through a conceptual framework that focuses on the professional development of teachers and staff, changes to the structures of instruction, personalization of support services, curriculum alignment, and teaching and assessment practices.

Authors

• Fatih Unlu, RAND Corporation

• Julie A. Edmunds, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

• Elizabeth J. Glennie, RTI International