Setting
The Northeast Resiliency Consortium (NRC) is composed of seven community colleges in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York: Atlantic Cape Community College (NJ), Passaic County Community College (NJ), Bunker Hill Community College (MA), Capital Community College (CT), Housatonic Community College (CT), Kingsborough Community College (NY), LaGuardia Community College (NY).
Study sample
"Across the consortium, participants are older students, with an average age of 30.67, and are racially and ethnically diverse: 31% are Black or African American, 29% are White, 10% are Asian, and 9% reported multiple races. In addition, more than one-fourth identified as Hispanic (any race). Slightly less than half of participants reported a high school diploma or less as their highest credential prior to enrolling in the NRC (40% of participants received a high school diploma and 6% received a GED), and these participants were younger, on average, than the overall participant group (average age=28.30). Participants were almost evenly split between men and women." (p. 17)
Intervention Group
The study assessed the impact of receiving comprehensive support services or enrolling in a continuing education to credit pathway on educational outcomes. Comprehensive support services focused on the career, personal, and academic issues.
Comparison Group
Business as usual. The comparison group for each contrast was formed using PSM on the pool of NRC participants who did not receive each intervention.
Support for implementation
The NRC colleges participated in the Achieving the Dream, which is a non-governmental reform movement designed to promote for student success. This movement entails providing colleges with technical assistance around building pathways to success and any needed institutional change.