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Acceleration through a holistic support model: An implementation and outcomes analysis of FastStart@CCD (Edgecombe et al. 2013)

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Citation

Edgecombe, N., Jaggers, S., Baker, E., & Bailey, T. (2013). Acceleration through a holistic support model: An implementation and outcomes analysis of FastStart@CCD. Community College Research Center Report. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.

Highlights

    • This study’s objective was to examine the impact of the FastStart developmental math program on college persistence, credit accumulation, and course completion.
    • This study used transcript data from students at the Community College of Denver to compare outcomes of students who chose to participate in the FastStart developmental math program with the outcomes of students who participated in the standard developmental math program.
    • The study found that students in the FastStart program were significantly more likely than students in the comparison group to complete the highest-level developmental math course and to enroll in and complete a gatekeeper math class.
    • The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is moderate because it was based on a well-implemented nonexperimental design. This means we are somewhat confident that the estimated effects are attributable to FastStart, but other factors might also have contributed.

Intervention Examined

The FastStart Program

Features of the Intervention

The FastStart program was a developmental math program that compressed two courses into a single semester. In the standard developmental math program, students took the two courses sequentially across two semesters. The program incorporated case management and additional support for career and education planning, and development for FastStart faculty. The Community College of Denver first implemented the program in 2005.

Features of the Study

The study used transcript data from 1,355 students at the Community College of Denver who took developmental math for the first time from the spring 2006 to spring 2008 semesters and who were not dual-enrolled high school students. The authors used a nonexperimental design in which they compared students who enrolled in the FastStart program with students in the standard developmental math series. The authors used regression models to estimate impacts.

Findings

    • Students in the FastStart program were significantly more likely than students in the comparison group to complete the highest-level developmental math course and to enroll in and complete a gatekeeper math class.

Considerations for Interpreting the Findings

The authors noted that program participants were more likely to be female and Hispanic, and less likely to be African American, than comparison students. These differences were modest in magnitude, so the included controls were sufficient to account for bias that might result from differences in these observed variables.

Causal Evidence Rating

The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is moderate because it was based on a well-implemented nonexperimental design. This means we are somewhat confident that the estimated effects are attributable to FastStart, but other factors might also have contributed.

Reviewed by CLEAR

February 2016

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