The Story of Scaling Up: Highlights from the Interim Report on the Impact of Success Boston's Coaching for Completion

• Published in: Abt Associates
• Main Authors: Linkow, Tamara, Bumgarner, Erin, Lack, Kelly, Nichols, Austin
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Abt Associates 01.10.2019
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; At Risk Students; Barriers; Coaching (Performance); College Attendance; College Credits; College Readiness; College Students; Colleges; Costs; Disproportionate Representation; Ethnicity; Gender Differences; Grade Point Average; High School Graduates; High School Seniors; Institutional Characteristics; Interpersonal Communication; Low Income Students; Minority Group Students; Partnerships in Education; Program Effectiveness; Program Implementation; Racial Differences; Student Adjustment; Student Financial Aid; Student Participation; Student Recruitment; Transitional Programs; Massachusetts (Boston)

The Success Boston initiative was launched in 2008 specifically to improve Boston public high school graduates' access to and success in college, particularly for members of groups traditionally underrepresented in college degree attainment. Higher college graduation rates, in turn, are expected to increase students' access to employment in such local industries as technology, financial services, higher education, and health care that routinely require advanced training. The Success Boston initiative unites several organizations in a concerted effort to improve college completion rates for Boston public school graduates. The partners focus on boosting college persistence and ultimately improving college completion rates for these graduates through a purposeful combination of program, policy, and practice-based activities. It funds and supports the nonprofit organizations that provide one of the core programs within the overall initiative: one-on-one transition coaching, or Success Boston Coaching (SBC). Through this program, students can access one-on-one coaching, starting as early as the last year of high school and continuing for the first two years after high school graduation. This brief highlights findings from the "Success Boston The Story of Scaling Up: Impact of Success Boston's Coaching to Completion" report, which answers two key research questions: (1) What is the effect of SBC on student success in college?; and (2) How, if at all, do the impacts of SBC vary by student characteristics and features of the coaching? The analyses estimate that SBC students have better early college outcomes than do their carefully matched peers not participating in SBC. Additionally, SBC students are more likely to complete FAFSA renewals for their second year of college. [For "The Story of Scaling Up: Interim Report on the Impact of Success Boston's Coaching for Completion," see ED602748.]