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The project, called Opening Doors, is currently testing different interventions to find out which ones have the greatest impact on student achievement.

The multi-year project, supported by Lumina Foundation for Education and 10 other national foundations, will evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies on thousands of low-income adult students – many making the transition from low-wage jobs to skilled positions.

“If we find that the strategies we are testing make a difference in students’ retention rates, academic success rates and in the labor market, then future generations of students can benefit if colleges adopt these practices,” says Robert Ivry, senior vice president of development and external affairs at MDRC.

One of the strategies implemented at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, already has shown some promising preliminary results. Groups of students are randomly assigned to learning communities or control groups. In the learning communities, 25 students take three classes together during the first semester. The classes include a developmental reading or math course, an academic course and a college acclimation course. These students also receive $200 for textbooks and have access to a program case manager and team of support staff to help them with their studies and other personal matters, such as child care or transportation issues.

After the project’s first semester in September 2003, 63 percent of students in the learning communities passed all of their classes; in the control group, the success rate was only 40 percent.

“We were certainly heartened by the results,” says Ivry. “But the true test will be in the upcoming September semester.” After the first semester, students in learning communities are "mainstreamed" into the college’s student population and must work on their own. They maintain contact with their counselors throughout their college experience.

“That first semester is the make-or-break point. The attrition level is the highest, and students realize just how demanding this work is,” Ivry says.

MDRC began testing a different strategy in January at Delgado Community College and Louisiana Technical College, both in New Orleans. Students in the study group receive a $1,000 scholarship per semester for two consecutive semesters as long as they attend school half time and maintain academic progress. They also receive intensive counseling to ensure that they take the right classes to achieve their desired degree.

Typically community college counselors are assigned about 800 students. In this study, one counselor works with about 80 to 100 students.  Ivry says the study could have tested a lower student-to-counselor ratio, but MDRC wanted to test a strategy that, if successful, community colleges could realistically implement.

In Ohio, MDRC’s project is aimed at helping older, displaced workers enroll and succeed at Lorain County Community College near Cleveland and Owens Community College near Toledo. “Going to college is almost like going to a foreign country for many of these students,” Ivry explains, noting that many students come from families where no one has gone to college.

The main focus of this strategy, which began in September, is enhanced student services. A four-person team – a counselor, adviser, tutor and financial aid expert – work with groups of 25 students. The team members help students determine their courses of study and make sure students enroll in the appropriate sequence of classes. Students also receive a $150 scholarship per semester for two semesters.

At Chaffey Community College in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., the Opening Doors project will test ways to help students advance out of academic probation. About 3,000 students of 20,000 enrolled are on academic probation each semester. “If they don’t get out of probation, they lose their financial aid, and then they drop out,” Ivry says. In this project, set to begin in January 2005, students on academic probation will be randomly assigned to a control group or a 15-week course featuring study skills and good work habits along with five weeks each of intensive instruction in reading, math and writing.

MDRC plans to document the results of each intervention by studying 1,000 to 1,500 students in each state and then will follow the students’ success for three years. “Ultimately we want to know what kinds of jobs these students get,” Ivry says. “Do they have fringe benefits? What’s their level of civic engagement? Do they maintain a healthy lifestyle?”

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Lifelong learning is an economic necessity

Completing college is difficult for low-income adult students. Many have work and family obligations that can get in the way of attaining a postsecondary degree. Yet additional education beyond high school is necessary for these adults to move into higher-paying jobs and out of poverty.

Consider the following statistics:

47 percent of low-income adult students aspired to earn a bachelor’s degree in 1995-96; and, by 2001, only 7 percent had succeeded. During the same time, 20 percent of low-income adults said they desired an associate’s degree; and, by 2001, 8 percent had reached their goal. (Low-Income Adults in Profile: Improving Lives Through Higher Education, American Council on Education)

Low-income adult students are at greater risk of dropping out of school. Sixty-one percent of low-income adult students had a score of four or more on the National Center for Education Statistics Risk Index* compared to only 8 percent of traditional students.  (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: 1999-2000)

70 percent of the fastest growing jobs by 2010 will require a postsecondary degree, and yet, 80 million low-wage working adults lack that degree. In addition, jobs requiring a college degree are projected to account for 42 percent of new jobs (created from 2000 to 2010) compared to 29 percent in 2000. (Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment and total job openings by education or training category, 2000-2010)

U.S. Census figures show that in 2001 annual income for full-time year-round workers with a bachelor’s degree was $49,273, while those with a high school diploma earned just $30,166. People without a high school diploma earned $21,633.

*Students at risk were defined as 1992 high school graduates who had risk characteristics that increased their chances of dropping out of high school. These included being from a single parent household, having an older sibling who dropped out of high school, changing schools two or more times other than the normal progression (e.g., from elementary to middle school), having C's or lower grades between sixth and eighth grades, being from a low socioeconomic status (SES) family or repeating an earlier grade.