Virtual advising for high-achieving high school students.
Gurantz, O., Pender, M., Mabel, Z., Larson, C., & Bettinger, E. (2020). Economics of Education Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.101974.
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examining16,256Students, grades11-PS
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: September 2021
- Single Study Review (findings for Virtual advising)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
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 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
College Attendance |
Virtual advising vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
87.60 |
87.30 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Attendance at a CollegePoint college |
Virtual advising vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
52.60 |
50.00 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Attendance at a four-year college |
Virtual advising vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
83.70 |
82.70 |
No |
-- | ||
|
College selectivity-Barron's top 3 |
Virtual advising vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
62.60 |
60.90 |
No |
-- | ||
|
College selectivity-Barron's top 4 |
Virtual advising vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
24.80 |
26.10 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of SAT score sends |
Virtual advising vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
6.27 |
5.97 |
Yes |
|
|
|
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
CollegePoint SAT score sends |
Virtual advising vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
4.60 |
4.29 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Non-CollegePoint SAT score sends |
Virtual advising vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
1.68 |
1.68 |
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: 47%
Male: 53% -
Race Asian 33% Black 5% Other or unknown 24% White 38% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 18% Not Hispanic or Latino 82%
Study Details
Setting
The study includes high-achieving, low- and middle-income high school seniors from the class of 2018 identified by the College Board.
Study sample
The analytic sample includes 16,256 students, with 12,215 students in the intervention condition and 4,041 students in the comparison condition. Demographic characteristics were as follows: 47% were female, 38% were White, 33% were Asian, and 5 % were Black. 18% were Hispanic.
Intervention Group
Virtual advising provided remote, computer-based one-on-one face-to-face interactions with a college advisor. The focus of the interactions was on college planning and application support. Advisors, as needed could also communicate with students via phone, email or text. The virtual nature of the intervention allowed advisers to provide assistance to high schools students in different geographic regions no longer limited by physical proximity to a specific institution.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison group experienced standard advising provided by their high school.
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).