Texas Developmental Summer Bridge Study

Project

Overview

Project Overview

Too many students enter college without sufficient skills in English and math to succeed — which forces them to take developmental (or remedial) education courses. Across the nation, roughly 30 percent of entering freshman students enroll in developmental math or English courses. Among community college students, enrollment in developmental education doubles to about 60-70 percent. These students will need to spend more time in college — and expend more money on classes and books — before they can earn a certificate or a degree. Not surprisingly, these students are less likely than others to persist through the completion of a degree.

As colleges and policymakers seek to lessen the time students spend in developmental education and to make the time they do spend more rewarding, summer bridge programs have emerged as a potentially promising strategy. These programs — which typically occur in the summer between high school graduation and fall matriculation in college — offer students accelerated, focused learning opportunities that can help them acquire sufficient knowledge to reduce the need for remediation and better prepare them for college success. Despite the increased popularity of summer bridge programs across the country, little empirical research on their outcomes or impacts had been conducted.

STATUS: Completed

Basics

Issue: P-12 Education, Higher Education

Focus Area: High School, Transition to Postsecondary, Developmental Education, Student Services

Population: Children and Schools, Young Adults

Focus Population: High School Students, Students Experiencing Academic Struggles, College Students

Locations: Texas

Intervention: Student Services, Counseling/Advising, Financial Incentives, Financial Aid, Curricular/Instructional Reforms, Developmental Education, Dual-Enrollment/Bridge Programs, Accelerated Programs

Bridging the Gap

An Impact Study of Eight Developmental Summer Bridge Programs in Texas

Eight developmental summer bridge programs offered accelerated and focused learning opportunities for entering college students with low skills in Texas. An evaluation shows positive impacts on introductory college-level course completion in math and writing, which faded by the end of two years. The programs had no impact on persistence or the average number of credits students attempted or earned.

Overview »

Full

Issue Focus

Can Summer Bridge Programs Narrow the “College Readiness Gap”?

Overview »

Agenda, Scope, <br> & Goals

Agenda, Scope, and Goals

As a part of the National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR), MDRC and its research partners conducted a rigorous multi-college study, led by the Community College Research Center (CCRC), of developmental summer bridge programs in Texas. Many of these programs were coordinated and funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

With funding from the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education, Houston Endowment, and the Ford Foundation, the study was designed to produce rigorous evidence of the programs’ impacts and answer several policy-relevant questions:With funding from the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education, Houston Endowment, and the Ford Foundation, the study is designed to produce rigorous evidence of the programs’ impacts and answer several policy-relevant questions:

Do developmental summer bridge programs help reduce the need for students to participate in remedial education?
Do they help students make a successful transition to college in the fall?
Do they help students earn more college-level credits in their freshman year?
Do they help students persist to their second year?

STATUS: Completed

Basics

Issue: P-12 Education, Higher Education

Focus Area: High School, Transition to Postsecondary, Developmental Education, Student Services

Population: Children and Schools, Young Adults

Focus Population: High School Students, Students Experiencing Academic Struggles, College Students

Locations: Texas

Bridging the Gap

An Impact Study of Eight Developmental Summer Bridge Programs in Texas

Overview »

Full

Issue Focus

Can Summer Bridge Programs Narrow the “College Readiness Gap”?

Overview »

Design, Sites, & <br> Data Sources

Design, Sites, and Data Sources

Eight colleges and universities throughout Texas participated in the study. Each site implemented a program that included an intensive academic experience for recent high school graduates, with four to five weeks of remedial coursework during the summer of 2009. The programs incorporated pedagogical strategies, such as accelerated and contextualized learning; included lessons on college knowledge to help prepare students for the social and academic rigors of college; and provided stipends of roughly $400 to students who participated and successfully completed the summer program. The eight sites are:

El Paso Community College, El Paso
Lone Star College–CyFair, near Houston
Lone Star College–Kingwood, near Houston
Palo Alto College, San Antonio
San Antonio College, San Antonio
South Texas College, McAllen
St. Philip’s College, San Antonio
Texas A&M International University, Laredo

The study used a random assignment research design to determine the impact of the programs by comparing the outcomes of approximately 800 students enrolled in the developmental summer bridge programs with a control group of about 500 students who did not participate in the programs.

Bridging the Gap describes the eight summer bridge programs and presents their impacts on student academic outcomes in the two years after the summer intervention.