Project Activities
The project followed three cohorts of graduating seniors from 111 Texas high schools to evaluate the impact of Advise TX on student college-going. Thirty-six high schools were randomly assigned to receive Advise TX and 76 were assigned to the control group (with one not taking part). The project collected and compared intermediate outcomes towards college-going (e.g., completing an application to attend college, applying for financial aid), college-going (enrollment and persistence), and changes in the high-schools' college-going culture. In addition, two sets of case studies were done to examine the meaning of college-going culture and the reasons for treatment schools to stop using the program.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This project took place in 111 Texas high schools.
Sample
In the Spring of 2010, the THECB identified 418 high schools that met their initial criteria to receive Advise TX (the criteria were based on percent free/reduced lunch participation, percent graduating students attending college within 1 year, and percent of students experiencing a college-prep curriculum). Two hundred thirty-seven of these schools applied to take part in Advice TX. A selection committee examined these schools, excluded 50, and accepted 84. The remaining 112 schools were divided into 23 regions and 36 schools were randomly selected among these 23 regions to receive Advise TX and were included in the study. The other 76 schools were assigned to the control group and 1 school dropped out of the study. The sample includes high school students at the 36 treatment schools and the 75 control schools for the 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14 school years.
Intervention
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) adopted Advise TX in the 2011–2012 school year. Through Advise TX, an adviser was placed in a high school to provide one-on-one student mentoring and group counseling to students and parents on applying to college and applying for financial aid. The adviser, a recent graduate from one of five Texas universities, received ongoing training to be an adviser from their university. In addition, the adviser worked with the high school staff to coordinate college-going activities in the schools and sought to create a college-going culture. Advisers served all students at the school but focused on low-income and potential first-generation college students who often lacked information on how to apply and misperceived college costs and aid availability. Advise TX's central features included: (1) a near-peer (no more than 6 years after high school graduation) counselor for high school students who has graduated from a Texas university, (2) the adviser remained linked to their university and receives ongoing training from the university, (3) the adviser served the whole high school and attempted to promote a college-going culture, (4) the adviser focused on finding the best matched college for students.
Initial research
A randomized experiment was completed with 36 schools randomly assigned to Advise TX and the other 75 schools to the control condition. School-level outcomes were compared for the graduating classes of 2012, 2013, and 2014. Students were followed for up to 6 years after graduation. A student survey and case studies were used to examine college-going culture in both treatment and control schools.
Control condition
The comparison group included the 75 Texas high schools that applied to implement Advise TX and met the requirements to receive Advise TX but were not randomly selected to receive the program.
Key measures
Three outcomes were addressed: college enrollment and college-going, intermediate outcomes to college-going, and the creation of a high school culture of college-going. College enrollments and completions were measured using initial enrollment in college, full-time versus part-time enrollment, 2-year or 4-year institution, students' persistence through their first year of college, students' transfer rates from 2- to 4-year colleges, and college completion of high school graduates through the 2020 school year. Intermediate outcomes to college-going included course selection, grades, completion of college applications, filing of financial aid forms, and participation in college entrance exams. College-going culture was measured using surveys, focus groups, and guided rubrics on college-going. Fidelity of implementation measures came from three sources: an administrator survey, a student survey, and monthly reports from advisers. Data on comparison groups came from the administrator survey and the student survey.
Data analytic strategy
For the school-level analysis, multivariate regression was used to further control for region, time, and school-level covariates (e.g., school size, the school's selection score, the percent of students attempting various levels of curriculum strength, schools' college enrollments for prior cohorts, the percent of the school on free/reduced lunch, the percent of the school from various minority groups, and the availability of other college-access programs in the school). Subgroup analysis based on these school-level covariates were also done. For the student-level analysis, multivariate analysis was used to control for the school and student characteristics.
Key outcomes
College enrollment increased overall by 1.8 percentage points, and the impacts were larger for the targeted students which included free/reduced lunch and underrepresented minorities. Most of the impact came through increased two-year enrollments for Hispanic and low-income students. After the first year, comparison schools began recruiting and implementing similar programs leading to an attenuation of the impact so that for the third cohort the impact became very small and statistically insignificant. Whereas the initial years of the project tested the counterfactual of Advise TX versus a status quo of only guidance counselors, subsequent years examined a counterfactual of Advise TX versus comparable programs. Student survey results suggest that treated students increased significantly the number of college "action" items (e.g. college applications, deposits) that they completed. (Bettinger & Evans, 2019).
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Publications:
Bettinger, E. and Evans, B. (2019). College Guidance for All: A Randomized Experiment in Pre-College Advising. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 38(3), 579-599.
Antonio, A.L., Mercado-Garcia, D., and Foster-Hedrick, J. (2023). Referrals, Collaborative Actions, and Norm-Setting Practices: How College Access Programs Partner with High Schools. American Journal of Education, 130(1).
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigator: Antonio, Anthony
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
