Final Evaluation of the ACED Grant at Salt Lake Community College.
Bragg, D., Cosgrove, J., Cosgrove, M., & Blume, G. (2018). Bragg & Associates, Inc. .
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examining1,448Students, gradePS
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: December 2019
- Practice Guide (findings for Competency-based education (CBE))
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Highest Wage, Q1 to Q8 |
Competency-based education (CBE) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
|
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Employment in First Quarter Post-Completion |
Competency-based education (CBE) vs. Business as usual |
3 Months |
Full sample;
|
21.60 |
16.60 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 34%
Male: 66% -
Urban
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Utah
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Race Native American 2% Other or unknown 33% Pacific Islander 2% White 63% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 23% Not Hispanic or Latino 77%
Study Details
Setting
Utah's Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is home to six schools, one of which - the School of Applied Technology and Technology Studies (SATTS) - was the setting for this study. SATTS offers 24 programs of study (POS) within six career clusters. SATTS was a Round 4 TAACCCT grantee and used the funding to support conversion of their POSs to a competency-based education (CBE) model. The POSs offer various credentials and certificates to recognize student accomplishment and competency: 1) Certificate of Completion (CC) is awarded upon successful completion of 30-33 semester credit hours in a coherent sequence of courses, typically one year long; 2) Certificate of Proficiency (CP) is awarded upon successful completion of 16-29 credit hours, typically less than a year in length; and 3) Certificate of Achievement (CA) has no minimum or maximum length or general education requirements but is issued by individual departments, divisions, or schools; they are not recorded on the transcript.
Study sample
Over half of the students were White (63%), less than 10% identified as any other race, and less than one-quarter (23%) were Hispanic. Two-thirds (66%) were male. Just under half (44%) had some college at the start of the program, and over half (54%) were employed at the start of the program.
Intervention Group
A TAACCCT grant supported improvements to 24 programs of study in the form of competency-based education, with the goal of reduced time to completion, reduced cost of attendance, emphasis on self-paced and self-directed learning, etc. Improvements to student supports included improving relationships among campus units, improving marketing and communications with students, and redesigning a wide range of student supports such as onboarding and initial advising (page 2). Efforts were also made to engage with employers. Some of the 24 programs of study could be completed in a year or under, while some took more than a year to complete.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison condition were enrolled in POSs that had not yet converted to the CBE model - following a traditional credit-hour-based approach.
Support for implementation
A TAACCCT grant supported the implementation of this intervention.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).