Study: 82727

Strategies for Postsecondary Students in Developmental Education–A Practice Guide for College and University Administrators, Advisors, and Faculty

Review Details

Reviewed: February 2024

At least one finding shows promising evidence of effectiveness

At least one statistically significant positive finding

Meets WWC standards without reservations

For:

Strategies for Postsecondary Students in Developmental Education–A Practice Guide for College and University Administrators, Advisors, and Faculty Practice Guide (findings for Performance-based monetary incentives – Miller et al. (2011))

Using:

Rating:

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

Academic achievement outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
Proportion of students with GPA of 2.0 or higher and at least 30 credits by the end of the second semester	Performance-based monetary incentives – Miller et al. (2011) vs. Business as usual	2 Semesters	Full sample; 988 students	0.43	0.34	Yes	8
Proportion of students with GPA of 2.0 or higher and at least 27 credits by the end of the second semester	Performance-based monetary incentives – Miller et al. (2011) vs. Business as usual	2 Semesters	Full sample; 988 students	0.63	0.56	Yes	6

Access and enrollment outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
Registered for any courses at 21 day census of first semester	Performance-based monetary incentives – Miller et al. (2011) vs. Business as usual	21 Days	Full sample; 1,081 students	0.98	0.99	No	--

Attainment outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
Earned degree by end of tenth semester	Performance-based monetary incentives – Miller et al. (2011) vs. Business as usual	10 Semesters	Full sample; 1,081 students	0.38	0.33	No	--

Credit accumulation and persistence outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
Cumulative number of credits earned by end of fifth year	Performance-based monetary incentives – Miller et al. (2011) vs. Business as usual	5 Years	Full sample; 1,081 students	91.60	91.20	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.

Female: 61%
Male: 39%
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New Mexico

Race
White		22%

Ethnicity
Hispanic		61%
Not Hispanic or Latino		39%

Study Details

Setting

The study was implemented at University of New Mexico at its Albuquerque Main Campus location. The 18,000 undergraduates and 6,000 graduate students enrolled at the institution reflects the state’s population with the majority of UNM students belonging to minority groups. The UNM is a U.S. Department of Education–designated Hispanic-Serving Institution with Hispanic students accounting for 38.4 percent of entering freshmen at UNM and Native-Americans make up 4.6 percent of UNM entering freshmen. UNM students are at the national average in ACT scores and second-year retention but have graduation rates than are slightly below that average. Approximately 42.5 percent of UNM students graduate in six years compared with 44.6 percent nationally.

Study sample

The full sample included all students eligible for a Pell grant (e.g. low-income). The sample was also 60.8% female and they were 60.6% Hispanic and 21.8% White. Also, 22% of them spoke a language other than English regularly in their home. The first-time entering freshmen were 17 to 18 years of age with few students who were married or have children. In terms of academic performance, close to 40 percent had a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher with the distribution of ACT scores similar to that of students nationwide. Approximately 33 percent of students reported that they were the first in their family to attend college.

Intervention Group

Each freshmen cohort entering the VISTA Scholarship program condition received a $1,000 scholarship per semester in addition to other financial aid, and enhanced academic advising. The scholarship was provided for four consecutive semesters in increments tied to three academic milestones: (1) enrolled at the 21-day census, (2) participated in mid-term evaluations, and (3) met end of semester GPA and earned credit requirements. The enhanced advising component was implemented by a VISTA site coordinator, within the University College Advisement Center, who employed five VISTA advisors. Two VISTA advisors were linked directly to the scholarship. The remaining three VISTA advisers were part of UNM’s general advising program; they were assigned to work with VISTA students along with their general advising load. Advisors were randomly assigned to students. The student-advisor ratio for VISTA staff was 75 to 1 for the first year of the program and 150 to 1 for the second and later years. These relatively low caseloads were designed to enabled advisors to spend more time with their VISTA students, develop and foster a more holistic advising relationship, ensure students had access to early-semester and mid semester advising in order to earn interim payments. To meet the VISTA requirements, students were expected to maintain at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA and acquire at least 57 credits by the end of their fourth semester. Students who do not qualify for the midterm payment could recoup the full payment at the end of the semester provided that they (1) improved their GPA or (2) they raise their earned credits or GPA for the semester by taking winter intersession or summer session courses. Students receive payments in each program semester that they met the milestones.

Comparison Group

This study utilized a business as usual comparison condition. "Students who were selected for the control group …were told that they were not eligible to receive the VISTA scholarship but would continue to receive all financial aid and student services that they would have received had they not participated in the study."

Support for implementation

The support for implementation included hiring of "VISTA Advisors' with a much lower advisor:student ratio than was normally the case at this college. The college employed five VISTA advisors -- two were linked directly to scholarship recipients, and the other three were part of the general advising program and worked with non-VISTA students as well. "These relatively low caseloads allowed the advisors to spend more time with their VISTA students to develop and foster a more holistic advising relationship". Funding for the monetary incentives came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Open Society Foundation.

Additional Sources

In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.

Binder, Melissa; Krause, Kate; Miller, Cynthia; Cerna, Oscar. (2015). Providing Incentives for Timely Progress toward Earning a College Degree: Results from a Performance-Based Scholarship Experiment. MDRC.

Staying on Track: Early Findings from a Performance-Based Scholarship Program at the University of New Mexico