Citation
Sommo, C., Mayer, A.K., Rudd, T., & Cullinan, D. (2012). Commencement day: Six-year effects of a freshman learning community program at Kingsborough Community College. New York: MDRC.
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of the Opening Doors learning communities at Kingsborough Community College in New York on progress toward completing a degree and actual completion of a degree. Impacts were measured six years after random assignment. Students in the Opening Doors learning communities took three linked courses during one semester and were provided with tutoring and case management services.
- The study was a randomized controlled trial. Eligible students were randomly assigned to either the treatment group, which was offered the opportunity to participate in one of the learning communities, or the control group, which was not allowed to enroll in a learning community. The primary data sources were a baseline survey on the background characteristics of students, students’ transcripts, and degree attainment information from the National Student Clearinghouse.
- The study found no significant impacts on the total number of semesters enrolled, total credits earned, percentage of participants who earned a degree, percentage of participants who earned a bachelor’s degree or higher or an associate’s degree, or the percentage of participants who ever enrolled in a four-year institution.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects would be attributable to the Opening Doors learning communities, and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
Opening Doors Learning Communities at Kingsborough Community College
Features of the Intervention
At Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, the Opening Doors learning communities program involved enrolling small cohorts of students in three linked courses during one semester. These learning communities involved an English course, a college-level course required for a specific major, and a one-credit freshman orientation class. The freshman orientation class was a seminar designed to reinforce the learning objectives of the other two courses. Each learning community also had a case manager who offered academic guidance to students and a tutor who provided students with one-on-one tutoring. Learning community students were also provided with $150 textbook vouchers. This study focused on four cohorts of students who participated in the Opening Doors learning communities from 2003 to 2005 and examined their educational outcomes six years after random assignment.
To participate in the Opening Doors learning communities, students had to be first-time incoming freshman ages 17 to 34 planning to attend college full-time during the day, and be enrolled in either a developmental or college-level English course. During the 2003–2004 academic year, Kingsborough Community College also implemented a separate set of career-focused learning communities for four majors. Any student who had declared one of those four majors was not eligible to participate in the first year of this study of Opening Doors learning communities. After the first year, however, students in the four majors could participate in the study.
Features of the Study
This study was a randomized controlled trial. Randomization occurred at the student level, separately for each cohort (fall 2003, spring 2004, fall 2004, and spring 2005). Eligible students who consented to participate in the study filled out a baseline data form. Then, the students were randomly assigned to either the treatment group, which was offered the opportunity to enroll in a learning community, or the control group, which could not enroll in a learning community but could access existing college services. There were 1,534 students in the study with 769 in the treatment group and 765 in the control group.
The authors used data from the baseline data form, students’ transcripts, and the National Student Clearinghouse for outcomes related to progress toward degree completion and actual degree completion. The authors estimated program impacts using a linear regression model that included student-level baseline characteristics and cohort-level fixed effects as control variables. The main focus of this study was on students’ outcomes six years after random assignment.
Findings
- The study found no significant differences between the treatment and control groups on the total number of semesters enrolled or the total number of credits earned six years after random assignment.
- The study also found no significant differences between the treatment and control groups on the percentage of participants who earned a degree, the percentage of participants who earned a bachelor’s degree or higher or an associate’s degree, or the percentage of participants who ever enrolled in a four-year institution six years after random assignment.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
Although all the basic features of the Opening Doors learning communities were implemented at Kingsborough Community College, the authors noted a few concerns with fidelity to the program model. First, although the program planned for classes to have about 25 students, the learning community courses were often underenrolled, with class sizes varying from 6 to 25 students and averaging 17 students. Second, the level of integration between courses and collaboration between faculty teaching the linked courses varied by learning community, which might have dampened the overall impact of the integrative component of the Opening Doors learning community model at Kingsborough.
This study examined the impact of a one-semester program six years after random assignment. Over the course of the long follow-up period, it is possible the program impacts might have faded.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects would be attributable to the Opening Doors learning communities, and not to other factors.