Study Details | Pathways to Work

101023-Study of Success Pro

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it is a quasi-experimental design that does not demonstrate that the intervention and comparison groups were sufficiently similar before the intervention.

Intervention: Success Program

Population and employment barriers:

Age (Young adults (age 16-24)), Educational attainment (At least a high school diploma or equivalent)

Services provided:

Basic skills/bridge programs, Case management, Mental health services, Peer mentoring, Physical health services, Soft skills training

Setting: Suburban only

Study design

Design:

Quasi-experimental design

Study group formation:

The authors used a difference-in-discontinuity (DiRD) design to compare the outcomes of students assigned to the SP to the outcomes of students whose GPAs were just above the cutoff for academic probation (2.0 or lower for the first academic quarter of their freshman year). Data were collected and analyzed at the individual level using school administrative data along with wage and employment data from California's Employment Development Department.

Time period of study:

The intervention was studied between 2007 and 2017

Pathways only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

Age

Young adults

100%

Sex

Female	44%
Male	56%

Participant race and ethnicity

White	58%
Unknown, not reported, or other	42%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Participant education

Had a high school diploma or GED

100%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

Not described.

Intervention services:

The Success Program (SP) is a mandatory academic coaching program for freshmen who placed on academic probation at the end of their first academic quarter. SP consists of a two-hour workshop led by faculty coaches followed by either a one-on-one session with a coach or the completion of a reflection assignment after visiting a campus resource.

Mandatory services:

Basic skills/bridge programs

Comparison services:

The comparison cohort is comprised of students just under the GPA cutoff for academic probation who were not eligible for SP.

Study publications

Canaan, Serena, Stefanie Fischer, Pierre Mouganie, and Geoffrey C. Schnorr (2022). "Keep Me In, Coach: The Short- and Long-Term Effects of Targeted Academic Coaching." Upjohn Institute Working Paper 22-370. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. https://doi.org/10.17848/ wp22-370

Mouganie, Pierre, Serena Canaan, Stefanie Fischer, and Geoffrey C. Schnorr (2022). "College Academic Coaching Can Increase College Success and Later Earnings." Employment Research 29(4): 1-3. https://doi.org/10.17848/1075-8445.29(4)-1

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

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Study of Success Program