Current and Recent Projects – CSSR

The purpose of this project is to estimate the effect of developmental education on the college persistence of students with learning and attention disabilities. These students are often not prepared well by their secondary education experiences and may benefit more than other students from the goals of developmental education, which are to bolster students’ foundational skills in order to reduce dropout and increase success. However, developmental education could be more detrimental to this group given the lack of attention to individual need and personalized delivery in developmental education. This study utilizes data from the High School Longitudinal Study and a doubly robust research design, combining coarsened exact matching with regression techniques, to estimate causal effects. It considers two-year and four-year institutions as unique given heterogeneity in their prevalence of students with learning and attention disabilities, treating institution type as a moderating factor. By examining whether developmental education in college helps to break a cycle of disadvantage, or in fact contributes to it, findings from this study will influence ongoing developmental education reforms, as well as the practices of disability services offices and counselors in college, all aimed at improving the college success for this growing yet underserved population of students.

Center for Student Success Research Lead: Ryan Wells 

Funder: Spencer Foundation

This project is a partnership with the Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) program housed in the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst that examines student learning through interdisciplinary honors program focused on problems of practice. The three-year collaboration includes a qualitative grounded theory study of the program, a mixed methods survey design, and analysis of longitudinal learning outcomes. To learn more about iCons, visit their website: http://icons.cns.umass.edu/

Center for Student Success Research Leads: Ryan Wells, Genia Bettencourt, Ezekiel Kimball

Collaborators: Scott Auerbach, Justin Fermann

Peer Mentoring Pathways Program will be established in Computer Science / Engineering departments at three pairs of Massachusetts community colleges and University of Massachusetts campuses, which have consistent pathways of students transferring from the community college to the partner UMass campus. Students who have successfully transitioned to four-year institutions will act as near-peer mentors. They will support new transfer students at their four-year institutions and visit their 2-year alma maters to reach out to students who are considering transferring to their UMass campus. The Center for Student Success Research, via doc student Gabriel Reif, will serve as the evaluator on the project.

Center for Student Success Research Lead: Gabriel Reif

Collaborators: Fred Martin, Sashank Narain, UMass Lowell; Jason (Jay) Termini, Northern Essex Community College; Kimberly Griffith, Bristol Community College; Megan Chiavini, UMass Dartmouth; Steve Fernandez, UMass Amherst; Gordon Snyder, Holyoke Community College

Funder: REBLS Seed Grant from the Institute of Diversity Sciences, UMass Amherst

Research on broadening students’ participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) typically focuses on individuals’ experiences in STEM or on specific learning contexts (schools, colleges, or universities). Far less research has taken an organizational approach to examine structures and communication practices within and between organizations that reduce barriers and enhance opportunities as students navigate through institutions and transition from one institution to another during their educational journey. Research on collaborative infrastructure that brings people and organizations together who otherwise work in isolation provides a way to identify effective communication practices and organizational structure that can be replicated and scaled at other sites in order to promote student recruitment, retention, and success in STEM during key transition periods in development. To that end, our proposed project will shed light on a multi-organization research-practitioner collaboration in Western Massachusetts between an informal learning community organization with a large public research university and local schools; STEM internship organizations in Western Massachusetts; local colleges; participating adolescents and their families; and Girls Inc. National that collectively work on a program called “Eureka.” Eureka has successfully enhanced girls’ engagement and success in science as they transition from middle school to high school and beyond in economically underserved communities.

Center for Student Success Research Leads: Ezekiel Kimball, Chrystal George Mwangi, Ryan Wells

Collaborators: Nilanjana Dasgupta, Mark Pachucki

Funder: National Science Foundation

CSSR will provide a robust evaluation of the next iteration of Student 5.0, ReadyCT's rapid-response program to support students from under-resourced school districts. Ultimately the project will improve the college and career success of marginalized students graduating high school during the worst social crisis in recent memory.

Center for Student Success Research Leads: Sade Bonilla, Ryan Wells

Collaborators: Shannon Marimón, Tami Christopher

Funder: Public Service Endowment Grant, UMass Amherst