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These remarks, which were given as the 2022 Recipient of the Peter H. Rossi Award for Contributions to the Theory or Practice of Program Evaluation, emphasize ways to increase the impact of program evaluation. First, is the importance of asking good questions, including ones that challenge the assumptions and models that dominate the field. Relatedly, we need to question the assumption that "one size fits all" and recognize the variation that exists—across contexts, time, and individuals. The key question is what works for whom under what conditions, and this also pushes us to think about why effects differ and what is driving those differences, that is, the underlying mechanisms. It is also important to incorporate new perspectives to improve our questions, models, research design, and interpretation, thus helping to address the aforementioned points. We should both welcome diverse perspectives into the research community and listen carefully to the communities we seek to study and incorporating their insights. Although the examples focus on a career in education research, the implications of the points are relevant for any aspect of social policy.

There are many barriers to college access and success. One major barrier is affordability, as college prices and student debt levels have risen to alarming heights. For many students, however, academic preparation may be an equally formidable barrier to postsecondary education. This policy memo offers three key recommendations for better addressing the academic preparation problem with the hope of improving rates of college success. The recommendations focus on actions that could be taken by states, university systems, and school districts. The federal government could also play an important role by creating incentives for states and institutions to address these issues or by supporting a central organization with the purpose of providing guidance on best practices to states and institutions. ; The Hamilton Project

Potential students and their families must navigate a labyrinth of incomplete and uncertain information when deciding where to go to college, what to study, or what career to pursue. The result, in too many cases, is an array of poor choices being made every day, as exemplified in low completion rates, more students taking longer to complete degrees, and large student debt relative to income. This proposal calls for the federal government to expand the types of information that are available and allow users to compare indicators like cost, financial aid, student debt, employment outcomes, and average salaries following graduation, across peer institutions. It also calls for dissemination, making sure that the information collected is available to all who could benefit. Improving the information available to consumers, assembling it in clear ways, and actively disseminating the information will lead consumers to make more informed education decisions that will likely improve post-college outcomes. ; The Hamilton Project ; Center for American Progress

AbstractAlthough workers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields earn above‐average wages, the number of college graduates prepared for STEM jobs lags behind employer demand. A key question is how to recruit and retain college students in STEM majors. We offer new evidence on the role of financial aid in supporting STEM attainment. Exploiting a regression discontinuity that allows for causal inference, we find that eligibility for need‐based financial aid increased STEM credit completion by 20 to 35 percent among academically‐ready students in a large, public higher education system. These results appear to be driven by shifting students into STEM‐heavy course loads, suggesting aid availability impacts the academic choices students make after deciding to enroll. We also find suggestive evidence that aid offers increase degree attainment in STEM fields, although we cannot rule out null impacts on STEM degree production.

Low rates of college completion are a major problem in the United States. Less than 60 percent of students at four-year colleges graduate within six years, and at some colleges, the graduation rate is less than 10 percent. Additionally, many students enter higher education ill-prepared to comprehend college-level course material. Some estimates suggest that only one-third of high school graduates finish ready for college work; the proportion is even lower among older students. Colleges have responded to the poor preparation of incoming students by placing approximately 35 to 40 percent of entering freshmen into remedial or developmental courses, along with providing academic supports such as summer bridge programs, learning communities, academic counseling, and tutoring, as well as student supports such as financial aid and child care. Eric Bettinger, Angela Boatman, and Bridget Terry Long describe the role, costs, and impact of these college remediation and academic support programs.

According to a growing body of research, the effects of remedial courses are considerably nuanced. The courses appear to help or hinder students differently by state, institution, background, and academic preparedness. The mixed findings from earlier research have raised questions ranging from whether remedial programs, on average, improve student academic outcomes to which types of programs are most effective. Administrators, practitioners, and policy makers are responding by redesigning developmental courses and searching for ways to implement effective remediation programs more broadly. In addition, recent research suggests that colleges may be placing too many students into remedial courses unnecessarily, suggesting the need for further examining the placement processes used to assign students to remedial courses.

The authors expand the scope of remediation research by discussing other promising areas of academic support commonly offered by colleges, including advising, tutoring, and mentoring programs, as well as supports that target the competing responsibilities of students, namely caring for dependents and balancing employment with schoolwork. They conclude that the limited resources of institutions and equally limited funds of students make it imperative for postsecondary institutions to improve student academic supports and other services.