Effects of CUNY Start on Educational Attainment: Early Findings

• In Event: CUNY Start: Addressing Students' Remedial Needs at Public Community Colleges

Abstract

An individual random assignment research design is used to identify the causal effects of the opportunity to participate in CUNY Start. The evaluation includes 3,835 students, across four community colleges and three cohorts. After agreeing to participate in the study, 2,997 students were randomly assigned to the program group, who had the opportunity to participate in CUNY Start. A total of 838 students were randomly assigned to the control group, who had the opportunity to matriculate at CUNY, enroll in developmental and college-level courses, and utilize other services offered at their college, just not CUNY Start. A linear estimation model is used to obtain regression-adjusted estimates of the effect of the opportunity to participate in CUNY Start. All analyses described below include all 3,835 students who were randomly assigned. Student demographic characteristics were collected as part of the CUNY Start application process and follow-up data on students’ college enrollment and educational attainment was collected from the CUNY Institutional Research Database.

The offer of CUNY Start caused more students to enroll in a formal education program (either CUNY Start or matriculating in college) during the first semester after they were randomly assigned. Not only are these students more likely to enroll, but the offer of CUNY Start caused a large proportion of students to become fully college-ready, who otherwise would not have become fully college-ready. This occurred because of the program’s positive effects on helping students become college-ready in mathematics, reading, and writing, with especially large effects in mathematics. In regards to student progression, as expected after one semester, students offered CUNY Start earned fewer college-level credits than did their control group counterparts. Being offered CUNY Start did not have a discernable effect on students’ likelihood of re-enrolling in college during semester two (the first post-program semester for CUNY Start students).

Based on these short-term results, the program is performing in line with its theory of change. Students offered CUNY Start are asked to make a trade-off, prioritizing completion of developmental requirements over college credit accumulation, in the short-term. CUNY Start is one response to the challenges faced by community colleges seeking to address the needs of underprepared students. CUNY Start differs from other developmental education reforms in terms of the breadth of changes to the student experience: changes in the course schedule/structure, curricular changes, pedagogical changes, student supports, and even instructor supports. These results are promising; however, longer-term follow up (which is planned) is required to see if these early gains in college readiness, at the expense of college credit accumulation, translate into retention, college credit accumulation, and ultimately graduation.

Author

• Michael Joseph Weiss, MDRC