Community colleges are essential for United States higher education, but their students have low retention and graduation rates. Community college students assigned to mathematics remediation are particularly unlikely to graduate. Corequisite remediation (college-level coursework with additional support) has shown short-term increased student…

This case study describes a small randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing alternative strategies for monitoring and supporting academic achievement in Year Up's Professional Training Corps (PTC) program. Year Up is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing economically disadvantaged young adults for well-paying jobs with advancement…

Despite growing economic opportunities in "middle-skills" science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions, the majority of community college STEM students leaves the STEM pipeline or withdraws from college altogether. We tested an intervention that addressed one reason why students abandon STEM: psychosocial…

Although graduation rates are rising, the high school dropout problem remains a national crisis, and evidence-based information about interventions for at-risk students is critically needed. Prior research shows that Check & Connect, an individualized mentoring program, has positive effects on school persistence and progression for students…

Although graduation rates are rising, the high school dropout problem remains a national crisis, and evidence-based information about interventions for at-risk students is critically needed. Prior research shows that Check & Connect, an individualized mentoring program, has positive effects on school persistence and progression for students…

This dissertation contains chapters that explore higher education policy issues related to student outcomes. In the first chapter, I examine the results of a controlled randomized trial of a brief, inexpensive phone call outreach to a sample of Pell eligible students at the University of Missouri intended to increase FAFSA filing, on-time FAFSA…

Although high school graduation rates are rising--the national rate was 82 percent during the 2013/14 school year (U.S. Department of Education, 2015)--dropping out remains a persistent problem in the Midwest and nationally. Many schools now use early warning systems to identify students who are at risk of not graduating, with the goal of…

The consequences of failing core academic courses during the first year of high school are dire. In the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), only about one-fifth of off-track freshmen--students who fail more than one semester of a core academic course and/or fail to earn enough credits to be promoted to 10th grade--graduate high school, compared with…