Project Activities
The researchers will work closely with participating colleges to recruit 3,700 students from 4 colleges across Florida using administrative data and support the colleges as they implement the REACT program over 5 semesters (including summers) for 2 cohorts. The team will test the efficacy of the program for inducing re-enrollment and degree completion. In addition, the project team will conduct interviews with administrators and students to understand how the program is functioning and where there may be room for improvement.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The research will take place at four community colleges across Florida, representing a range of sizes, located in urban and rural parts of the state.
Sample
The sample will include a census of approximately 3,700 near completers who have recently stopped out of college and are close (within 15 credits) to completing their associate degree.
The REACT program has three core components:
- multimodal messaging that is sustained over the program period to encourage re-enrollment, promote use of the tuition waivers, and encourage take-up of ongoing support services
- tuition waivers for up to five courses (15 credit hours) available over five semesters (including summer semesters)
- student support services including proactive, case management-style advising and personalized degree mapping with an advisor dedicated to these returning students throughout the 5- semester program period
Research design and methods
The researchers will employ a multisite block-randomized design with student-level random assignment taking place within each of the participating colleges. They will work with three colleges to recruit two cohorts of students, one prior to spring 2025 and the second prior to fall 2025. They will recruit one cohort of students at a fourth college prior to fall 2025. The researchers will randomize at the student-level, using the full census of students identified as meeting the eligibility criteria according to administrative data, into either the REACT intervention group or the control group. Random assignment will occur within seven unique blocks, representing the three colleges for the first cohort and four colleges for the second cohort. The colleges will implement the REACT program for 5 semesters for each of the two cohorts. The sample size will enable precise estimates of the intervention's impact on re-enrollment and associate degree completion. The researchers will supplement the impact evaluation with a qualitative study of implementation and analysis designed to generate detailed insights into institutional context and factors influencing fidelity and service contrast. In addition, they will conduct cost and cost-effectiveness analyses using the ingredients method.
Control condition
Control group members will not receive re-enrollment outreach from the REACT program. If control group students re-enroll, they will have access to their college's business-as-usual set of support services, which will not include the REACT tuition waivers or REACT's enhanced support services.
Key measures
The researchers will construct measures of re-enrollment and associate degree completion from colleges' administrative records and data from the National Student Clearinghouse. They will construct measures of implementation fidelity and service contrast from in-depth interviews with staff and students as well as the collection of program implementation data. They will also construct measures of program cost from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Institutional Survey component, the CBCSE Cost-Out Tool, colleges' cost data, staff interviews, and publicly available documentation on state websites.
Data analytic strategy
The researchers will estimate the average intent-to-treat effect of REACT by comparing regression-adjusted average outcomes of the program group and control group members. The main estimation model will include block (that is, cohort and college) fixed effects, baseline covariates, and a treatment indicator. All analyses will use heteroskedastic robust standard errors to account for the possibility that outcome variances may differ across random assignment blocks and experimental groups. The researchers will conduct exploratory subgroup analyses based on students' sex, race, age, low-income status, pre-intervention GPA, and remaining credits to graduate.
Cost analysis strategy
The researchers will conduct cost and cost-effectiveness analyses from the societal and college perspectives, using the ingredients method and cost data collected from the colleges, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and IPEDS. The cost analysis will include calculations of net cost per student offered the REACT program and cost per unit increase in each of the confirmatory outcomes. The researchers will estimate increases in tuition revenue and state funding resulting from improvements to student outcomes in order to provide college-perspective versions of the cost findings.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Products: This project will result in evidence of the efficacy of the REACT program for near completers. The project will also result in a final dataset to be shared and a range of products tailored to stakeholder audiences including presentations, briefs, reports, and a journal article.
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
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Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
