Do Community College "Promise" Programs With Low-Bar Merit Criteria Improve High School Performance?
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| Title: | Do Community College "Promise" Programs With Low-Bar Merit Criteria Improve High School Performance? |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Monaghan, David B.1 (AUTHOR) dbmonaghan@ship.edu, Coca, Vanessa M.2 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Community College Review. Oct2023, Vol. 51 Issue 4, p509-537. 29p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Scholarships, *Community colleges, *High schools, *Special education, *Limited English-proficient students |
| Geographic Terms: | Milwaukee (Wis.) |
| Abstract: | Objective/Research Question : Community college "Promise" programs have proliferated recently, particularly in areas with many low-income, academically struggling students. Many Promise programs restrict eligibility by high school performance but set eligibility thresholds quite low. As such they function as "low-bar" merit scholarships, and merit scholarships are often believed to incentivize improved academic performance. But do such "low-bar" merit scholarships boost high school attendance and grades? Methods: We investigate impacts of one such program, the Milwaukee Area Technical College Promise, on high school students in Milwaukee Public Schools, exploiting program design features to identify treatment effects through a differences-in-differences strategy. Results: The program appears to have marginally improved high school grades while slightly lowering attendance. These effects cancel each other out in terms of meeting combined GPA and attendance eligibility thresholds. Estimated positive impacts on GPA were statistically significant but very small for males, Black students, free lunch eligible students, special education students and current English language learners, while impacts on attendance were negative for most subgroups. The positive GPA effect was restricted to the program's second year. Conclusions: We do not find strong evidence that low-bar scholarships are effective at improving academic performance. Policymakers should reconsider conventional wisdom underlying inclusion of merit criteria in broad-based scholarships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Community College Review is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 170902078 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Do Community College "Promise" Programs With Low-Bar Merit Criteria Improve High School Performance? – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Monaghan%2C+David+B%2E%22">Monaghan, David B.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> dbmonaghan@ship.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Coca%2C+Vanessa+M%2E%22">Coca, Vanessa M.</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Community+College+Review%22">Community College Review</searchLink>. Oct2023, Vol. 51 Issue 4, p509-537. 29p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scholarships%22">Scholarships</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Community+colleges%22">Community colleges</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22High+schools%22">High schools</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Special+education%22">Special education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Limited+English-proficient+students%22">Limited English-proficient students</searchLink> – Name: SubjectGeographic Label: Geographic Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Milwaukee+%28Wis%2E%29%22">Milwaukee (Wis.)</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Objective/Research Question : Community college "Promise" programs have proliferated recently, particularly in areas with many low-income, academically struggling students. Many Promise programs restrict eligibility by high school performance but set eligibility thresholds quite low. As such they function as "low-bar" merit scholarships, and merit scholarships are often believed to incentivize improved academic performance. But do such "low-bar" merit scholarships boost high school attendance and grades? Methods: We investigate impacts of one such program, the Milwaukee Area Technical College Promise, on high school students in Milwaukee Public Schools, exploiting program design features to identify treatment effects through a differences-in-differences strategy. Results: The program appears to have marginally improved high school grades while slightly lowering attendance. These effects cancel each other out in terms of meeting combined GPA and attendance eligibility thresholds. Estimated positive impacts on GPA were statistically significant but very small for males, Black students, free lunch eligible students, special education students and current English language learners, while impacts on attendance were negative for most subgroups. The positive GPA effect was restricted to the program's second year. Conclusions: We do not find strong evidence that low-bar scholarships are effective at improving academic performance. Policymakers should reconsider conventional wisdom underlying inclusion of merit criteria in broad-based scholarships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Community College Review is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=170902078 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1177/00915521231181941 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 29 StartPage: 509 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Scholarships Type: general – SubjectFull: Community colleges Type: general – SubjectFull: High schools Type: general – SubjectFull: Special education Type: general – SubjectFull: Limited English-proficient students Type: general – SubjectFull: Milwaukee (Wis.) Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Do Community College "Promise" Programs With Low-Bar Merit Criteria Improve High School Performance? Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Monaghan, David B. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Coca, Vanessa M. IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 10 Text: Oct2023 Type: published Y: 2023 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 00915521 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 51 – Type: issue Value: 4 Titles: – TitleFull: Community College Review Type: main |
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