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The subjects of Tinto’s study are students at high risk of failure because they are underprepared for college-level work. Supported by a $956,700 Lumina Foundation® grant, Tinto plans to build on his research and document the long-term impact of learning communities on underprepared students enrolled at primarily nonresidential two-year and four-year colleges.

“We’re targeting our study to those places where the needs are most pressing,” explains Tinto. “In particular, we’re looking at urban schools that serve large numbers of low-income students.”

Through a multi-step process, Tinto and his colleagues will identify 20 colleges as test sites and will track groups of students as they strive toward their educational goals. He will compare groups that participate in learning communities with groups that do not have organized peer support.

“We want to study and document programs that work,” he emphasizes. “Learning communities vary, and one of our challenges is to identify common characteristics that schools can adopt as guidelines for practices. From our 20 survey sites we’ll select four locations for detailed qualitative case studies. One of our goals is to develop powerful portraits of students who have been able to build successful educational careers.”

A Lumina Foundation® grant will fund the first three years of Tinto’s project, but he hopes to follow the students for an additional two to three years to measure the effects of learning communities on college graduation. Depending on his findings, such long-term evidence could attract the attention of education decision makers at various levels of government. “We want to answer two questions,” he says. “First, are there exemplary cases that can serve as models for other schools? Second, is there sufficient evidence to recast state and national policies that govern the education of underprepared students in higher education?”