Creating a College Culture

Our pilot school program was designed to increase college access and success using nationally identified best practices and the National College Attainment Network's (NCAN) common measures and benchmarks.

A small number of Mississippi high schools were selected to participate in our model college access program. This pilot program was designed to help support a college culture and to empower students to get into college and be successful there.

What we did

Finding that underserved students (low income, first gen and students of color) in our three Get2College centers were going to college and persisting at a very high rate, in 2015, we created a partnership with eight high schools to deliver similar services to help enhance a college-going culture and to increase the college-enrollment rate of students. On-site support included college timeline workshops, application days, parent financial aid nights, FAFSA completion events, and college tours. Get2College supported high school administrative teams and the high school counselors by providing analyses and recommendations to promote data driven decisions.

PILOT SCHOOL EVALUATION

Researchers in the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University conducted an evaluation of the WHEF’s Get2College (G2C) pilot school program. The overall goal of the evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of the G2C pilot school program in preparing high school students’ transition to college. The specific goals were to:

1. Assess the extent to which the G2C program increased college enrollment and second year retention rates of students enrolled in the model school programs.

2. Determine the dose-response relationship for various G2C services (and combinations of services) in impacting college enrollment.

3. Determine the predictors of college enrollment among G2C users including performance on ACT, completion of college applications and FAFSAs, campus tours, and socio-demographic factors.

4. Use qualitative analyses to provide a baseline assessment of the college-going culture, as well as to identify barriers and unmet college access needs.

5. Provide Woodward Hines Education Foundation (WHEF) with analyses and recommendations to promote data-driven decisions, impact public policy, increase community and partner participation, and build in-house analytic capacity.

What We Discovered

A brief overview of the Pilot School Program and SSRC's findings can be found below.

Executive Summary Report

The comprehensive evaluation by SSRC, including all quantitative and qualitative findings, is here.

Get2College Pilot School Program Evaluation