Scaling and Adapting for Student Success: Findings from Three States Implementing a Proven Postsecondary Model

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This session explores findings and lessons learned from studies in three states that have replicated and/or adapted the ASAP model at their postsecondary institutions. Originally at the City University of New York, ASAP is a comprehensive program that supports students by providing holistic advising, financial benefits, and structured academic pathways. It has been demonstrated in multiple rigorous studies to dramatically improve graduation rates for both community college and four-year colleges students across different sites and student populations. In recent published reports from randomized control trials, the model has been found to increase community college graduation rates by 12-18 percentage points (Scrivener, et al., 2015; Dai, Warner & Sommo, 2025), senior college graduation rates by 12 percentage points (Scuello & Strumbos, 2024) and earnings after six years by 12 percent (Hill, Sommo & Warner, 2023).

Due to its strong evidence base of effectiveness, ASAP is being replicated across the country under a variety of policy and funding conditions, continuing to gain momentum within the current political environment. While all official replication partners receive training, resources and technical support from the original program designers at CUNY on implementing with fidelity, adaptations have been made to accommodate local contexts, to reach system scale and, in some cases, to reduce costs.

In this session, we bring together researchers who are studying the replication and adaptations of the model in North Carolina, Tennessee and New York to share what they are finding about its implementation and impacts. The studies span a range of research methodologies, including randomized controlled trials, mixed-methods, and quasi-experimental designs. Taken together, the studies incorporate a rich trove of data reflecting student experiences, staff perspectives, site visit observations as well as administrative data on academic outcomes and labor market indicators. The emerging findings from this body of research reveal common themes about why the model is so powerful as well as important takeaways about implementation and adaptations that are valuable for both practitioners and policymakers seeking to bring or scale evidence-based student success models in their states.  

Policy Area

• Education

Chair

• Diana Strumbos, City University of New York

Discussant

• Katharine Meyer, Brookings Institution

Organizer

• Diana Strumbos, City University of New York

Individual Presentations

• Extending the Promise: Student Outcomes and Experiences in Evolving Supplemental College Promise Programs - Presenting Author: Mary Madison Smith, Washington University in St. Louis

• Transfer, Accelerate, Complete, Engage (TrACE): Experimental Evidence on Transfer Student Success at Four-Year Universities - Presenting Author: Steven W. Hemelt, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Staying on track with SUNY ASAP|ACE: Results from the first year of the program - Presenting Author: Leigh Ramsay Wedenoja, SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government

• Unpacking the Long-Term Impact of Holistic Supports for Community College Students - Presenting Author: Kelly Hallberg, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Emileigh Harrison, The University of Texas at Austin