Transforming Comprehensive High Schools into Early Colleges: The Impacts of the Early College Expansion Partnership
Edmunds, Julie; Lewis, Karla; Hutchins, Bryan; Klopfenstein, Kristin (2018). SERVE Center at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED618202
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examining14,520Students, grades9-12
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: December 2024
- Practice Guide (findings for Early College Expansion Partnership)
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a cluster quasi-experimental design that provides evidence of effects on individuals by satisfying the baseline equivalence requirement for the individuals in the analytic intervention and comparison groups.
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 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Earned high school credit for college-level courses |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
3.74 |
3.73 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Completing English I and Algebra I or higher |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
-4 Years |
Full sample;
|
53.70 |
56.10 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Completing English I and Algebra I or higher |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
-4 Years |
Students performing below grade level;
|
47.20 |
51.20 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Completing English I and Algebra I or higher |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
-4 Years |
English language learners;
|
49.90 |
54.00 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Did not drop out |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
-2 Years |
Full sample;
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96.40 |
95.90 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Did not drop out |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
-2 Years |
Students performing below grade level;
|
95.60 |
94.10 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Did not drop out |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
-2 Years |
English language learners;
|
95.60 |
94.80 |
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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50% English language learners -
Female: 50%
Male: 50% -
Suburban, Urban
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Colorado, Texas
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Race Other or unknown 92% White 8% -
Ethnicity Other or unknown 100% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 88% No FRPL 12%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in 11 schools in six districts in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and 18 schools in the Denver Public Schools district in Colorado.
Study sample
The analytic sample included 14,520 students in grades 9 through 12 from 29 schools. Approximately 50% of the students were female, 88% were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 50% were English learners. Approximately 8% of students were White and race was not reported for the other 92% of students.
Intervention Group
The Early College Expansion Partnership, a collaboration among national and state educational non-profit organizations and participating school districts, aims to increase the number of high school graduates and prepare them for enrollment and success in postsecondary education by applying strategies from the Early College High School model in traditional comprehensive high schools. Early College High Schools serve students starting in grade 9 and aim to enable students to graduate in four or five years with a high school diploma and two years of transferable college credit. Through the Partnership, strategies of the Early College High School model were applied in participating comprehensive high schools and included a college-ready academic program, College Headstart, and wraparound student supports. College-ready academic programs have an instructional framework aligned to college-ready standards, are rigorous and untracked, and offer an aligned sequence of college courses that leads to 12+ credits. College Headstart involves exposure to the culture and norms of college, explicit instruction on academic and social college behaviors, and inclusive college application and financial aid advising. The intervention includes a suite of professional development and technical assistance services intended to allow schools to implement the Early College High School model. Technical assistance was provided to districts by the non-profit organizations involved in the Partnership and focused on planning for implementation of the Early College High School model and the creation of postsecondary partnerships while professional development aimed to help both administrative teams and teachers understand and apply the strategies from the model.
Comparison Group
Comparison group schools did not offer the Early College Expansion Partnership.
Support for implementation
No implementation support was described separate from the intervention components, which included technical assistance and professional development.
Department-funded evaluation
Review Details
Reviewed: December 2021
- Department-funded evaluation (findings for Early College Expansion Partnership)
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a cluster quasi-experimental design that provides evidence of effects on individuals by satisfying the baseline equivalence requirement for the individuals in the analytic intervention and comparison groups.
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 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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College preparatory course success (taking and passing English I and Algebra I or higher) |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample (9th grade);
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53.70 |
56.10 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
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College preparatory course success (taking and passing English I and Algebra I or higher) |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
EL students (9th grade);
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49.90 |
54.00 |
No |
-- | ||
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College preparatory course success (taking and passing English I and Algebra I or higher) |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Low performing students (9th grade);
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47.20 |
51.20 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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High school credits received for college-level courses |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
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3.74 |
3.73 |
No |
-- |
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Cohort dropout rate |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
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3.60 |
4.10 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
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Cohort dropout rate |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Low performing students;
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4.40 |
5.90 |
Yes |
-- | ||
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Cohort dropout rate |
Early College Expansion Partnership vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
ELL students;
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4.40 |
5.20 |
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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50% English language learners -
- B
- A
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- I
- H
- J
- K
- L
- P
- M
- N
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- W
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Colorado, Texas
Study Details
Setting
The study was implemented in five intervention schools and six comparison schools in Texas, and nine intervention schools and nine comparison schools in Colorado.
Study sample
Fifty percent of the sample were English Learner students and 65 percent were low-performing students.
Intervention Group
The Early College Expansion Partnership (ECEP) aims to increase the number of high school graduates and prepare them for enrollment and success in postsecondary education by applying strategies from the Early College High School model. These strategies include a college-ready academic program, college headstart, and wraparound student supports. College-ready academic programs have an instructional framework aligned to college-ready standards, are rigorous and untracked, and offer an aligned sequence of college courses that leads to 12+ credits. College headstart involves exposure to the culture and norms of college, explicit instruction on academic and social college behaviors, and inclusive college application and financial aid advising. The intervention includes a suite of professional development and technical assistance services implemented in 12 high schools, 14 middle schools, and two 6th-12th grade schools in three districts in Colorado and Texas.
Comparison Group
Schools in the comparison condition conducted business-as-usual and did not receive the ECEP intervention.
Support for implementation
No implementation support was described separate from the intervention components, which included technical assistance and professional development.
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.
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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.
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Study findings for this report.
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and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).