Student Success Toolkit

Exploring the Alignment between Student Academic Achievement Outcomes and College Access Intervention Programs Using Participatory Action Research

This project will examine the activities of supplemental college access intervention programs and their alignment with the student learning and achievement goals set by schools by bringing together a unique collaboration of researchers and practitioners to identify a theory of change and by using data as the basis for school-based decision-making and critical reflection.

Recent observations confirm that college access intervention programs tend to function in isolation of the school system or multiple programs function in isolation within one school. School leaders often times do not know who is receiving services, what services the students are receiving, or if the services are being provided to the students who need them the most. More attention needs to be given to linking the programs to the long-term systemic plans and instructional goals of the schools in which they function to promote student success and equity in achievement outcomes.

This project will use the theoretical framework of participatory action research to gather empirical evidence to generate hypotheses and a theory of change to address this seemingly widespread problem. Participatory action research is a method of creating new knowledge that involves a group of practitioners coming together to conduct democratic advocacy research through an inquiry process into their own and their organizations’ practices.

The research will be conducted by the National College Access Network and its partners, the Center for Urban Education (CUE) at the University of Southern California, Boston Public Schools, ICF Macro, and two high schools in Boston, Massachusetts.
CUE at the University of Southern California will provide training and consultation to school team members and the research team on the methods of participatory action research and the use of CUE’s Equity Model to examine vital signs to address inequities in student outcomes.

Work on this project will begin in July 2010.