The College Aid Quandary
The College Aid Quandary

Author: Lawrence Gladieux

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2011-04-01

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 081570724X

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Each year, millions of American families struggle with the expense of higher education. For the past fifty years, the U.S. government has helped students and families pay for college; but with the entire domestic policy agenda in flux, federal aid to education hangs in the balance. This book analyzes government policies for helping students pay for education beyond high school. It is being published at a time when aid to education is a prominent issue in battles over the federal budget and policymakers are debating the need for and effectiveness of federal student assistance programs. Starting with the post-World War II GI Bill, the book reviews the 50-year history of federal student aid legislation, assesses the results, and identifies trends and problems that cloud the future of this critically important national effort. The authors draw on the thinking of the country's top experts in examining the rationale and structure of the student aid system and how it might more effectively expand college opportunities while ensuring educational quality. Their analysis encourages policymakers to consider the multiple objectives of government aid—not just getting more students into college, but promoting student success and degree completion. The book offers a framework for future policy debates aimed at improving a system vital to America's economic future and its continued promise of opportunity. Copublished with the College Board / Dialogue on Public Policy

An Analysis of the Factors that Contribute to the Perceived Effectiveness of a Targeted Intervention Program for At-risk Students
An Analysis of the Factors that Contribute to the Perceived Effectiveness of a Targeted Intervention Program for At-risk Students

Author: Jarod Leroy Mendenhall

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13:

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"The purpose of this study was to identify and describe those factors most important to the perceived effectiveness of a targeted intervention program for at-risk students. This research was a qualitative multiple case study of 3 public school sites that had developed and implemented a targeted intervention program for at-risk students. Approximately 450 students in Grades 7, 8, and 9 were being served in the three programs. The focus of the programs was to create an environment where students were provided the necessary supports to gain the needed skills to proceed academically and experience success. The primary sources of data for this study were documentation, archival records, interviews, and direct observations. A cross-case synthesis technique was used to analyze the data. This technique treated each intervention program at the individual school sites as a separate case study; yet it permitted the researcher to aggregate the findings across the three case studies"--Abstract.

A Program Evaluation
A Program Evaluation

Author: Brittany Elizabeth Higgins

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9781339932347

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Nearly one in five Americans suffer from the negative effects of mental illness. Therapists in mental health settings are often negatively affected by the recollection of such horrible events, enacting vicarious traumatization on the part of the clinicians. The Sanctuary Model is a trauma-informed model of treatment which works to combat the re-traumatizing effects of the mental health setting. As part of the Sanctuary Model, Student Support Centers have been established to help adolescents cope with crises on an individual, short-term, problem-solving focused basis during the school day. The proposed study evaluated the effectiveness of the Student Support Center as a tenet which attempts to increase the feelings of program effectiveness and problem-solving ability of the adolescents served. Analyses supported the primary hypothesis in that the participants generally experienced the program as being more effective after the implementation of the Student Support Center, with specific improvements in terms of the perceived support, clarity of the rules and structure, and intention to produce more autonomous individuals. Problem-solving ability was additionally increased over the course of this study, with the greatest amount of change occurring from the baseline to the three-month interval, although it was not directly related to utilization of the Student Support Center. Exploratory analyses concluded that support was also significantly related to improvements in problem-solving ability over the course of the study. Racial group differences were significant for aspects of program effectiveness at the six-month interval and for problem-solving ability both at baseline and at the six-month interval. Time in program was only related to problem-solving ability at six-month follow-up. Overall, the Student Support Center can be an effective tool in boosting positive views of a treatment facility and an aide to the progress sought through individual, group, and family therapy by improving problem-solving ability. As these aims are found in mission statements across treatment facilities and even in non-therapeutic settings, such as schools, centers similar to the Student Support Center would likely produce similar and beneficial results in a variety of settings for individuals across the lifespan.

An Examination of Higher Educational Stakeholders' Perceptions on the Effectiveness of Programs that Impact Student Persistence from Freshman to Sophomore Year
An Examination of Higher Educational Stakeholders' Perceptions on the Effectiveness of Programs that Impact Student Persistence from Freshman to Sophomore Year

Author: Melissa M. Lantta

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13:

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The first year of college is critical to the growth and retention of the freshman college student. Students enter college with a wide range of backgrounds, skills and dispositions and it is the responsibility of the institution to do all it can to assist students in achieving their education goals. The purpose of this mixed methods research design was to understand the perceptions of higher educational stakeholders' on what impacts student persistence from freshman to sophomore year in order to bring forth recommendations for institutional action through Tinto and Pusser's (2006) model for institutional action. The following questions guided the study: a) What differences in perception, if any, are there between higher educational stakeholders on the impact of academic advising, relationships with a faculty and/or staff member, Supplemental instruction, feedback, and active learning on student persistence from freshman to sophomore year?, b) How do faculty members perceive their impact on student persistence?, c) How do academic advisors perceive their impact on student persistence?, d) How do faculty members' and academic advisors' perceptions on student persistence align with students' perceptions of their impact on their persistence? Case study methodology was employed to explore the retention efforts at a single university through the data collection techniques of mixed methods descriptive surveys, interviews and focus group. Approximately 250 sophomores and 25 administrators, faculty and academic advisors at a four-year public university in the Midwest participated in a survey. Following the survey, 9 students and 3 faculty participated in individual interviews and 6 academic advisors and 1 administrator participated in a focus group. The results were generally consistent with Tinto and Pusser's (2006) model of institutional action. Although support and feedback are necessary retention tools, in this study, participants claimed that involvement in extra-curricular activities and active learning experiences have a greater impact on freshman to sophomore year persistence. The research concludes that in order to increase student retention, a model of institutional action should immediately connect students to extracurricular activities that fit their interests and then link the outcomes of these activities to the learning objectives in an active learning classroom environment.