College Readiness and Success

We conduct research and team up with education partners to enhance high school and postsecondary outcomes for low-income and underrepresented minority students.

We also partner with colleges and universities to explore the potential of new educational models for making a postsecondary degree attainable for a larger population of students. Currently, we are working with higher education institutions to help them measure and improve the effectiveness of innovations involving adaptive courseware and competency-based approaches to instruction.

Projects

• Every Learner Everywhere  – The Every Learner Everywhere Solution Network, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is working with colleges and universities implementing digital learning innovations to help a broad group of students succeed in general education and gateway courses. We are conducting continuous improvement research for higher education institutions leveraging digital learning to improve outcomes for these students.
• Postsecondary Competency-Based Education – Digital Promise is collaborating with Southern New Hampshire University on research and evaluation around a novel competency-based education (CBE) program designed for traditional age college students. The project compares CBE students’ social and academic engagement and learning outcomes to those of students taking regular on-campus courses.
• STEM High Schools – By gathering evidence on the effectiveness of STEM high schools that accept students on the basis of interest rather than test scores, we are studying the impacts of students attending inclusive STEM high schools in 3 states. The iSTEM project is funded by the National Science Foundation and is conducted in partnership with SRI Education.
• Statistics Teaching and Technology Studies (STATS) – Digital Promise is conducting a multi-year project to study statistics teaching practices and courseware that advance racial and socioeconomic equity, particularly prioritizing low-income students and those who identify as Black or Latinx. We will be working with statistics faculty from across the country to identify better ways to teach and learn.