MORE GUIDANCE, BETTER RESULTS?

AcknowledgmentsThe Opening Doors demonstration has received support from several foundations andgovernment agencies, which are listed at the front of this report. We are grateful for their generousbacking and ongoing commitment. We owe special thanks to Lumina Foundation forEducation for providing the early support that made the demonstration possible and the fundsthat allowed the completion of this report. We also owe thanks to the funders that focused inparticular on the demonstration at Lorain County Community College and Owens CommunityCollege: The George Gund Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, and KnowledgeWorksFoundation. We are grateful to Brett Visger, who worked at KnowledgeWorks when thedemonstration began, for providing us with introductions and access to the Ohio colleges.We are also grateful to the administrators and staff at Lorain and Owens who rose tothe challenge of developing and running a new program and participating in a complex researchproject. Space does not permit us to name everyone who has played a role in OpeningDoors, but we want to particularly acknowledge some individuals. Lorain’s President RoyChurch and Owens’s President Christa Adams supported the project from its inception andprovided crucial leadership. At Lorain, Judith Crocker, Mary Murphy, and Joe Fraconnaworked closely with MDRC to develop the program model and fit the study’s research proceduresinto the college’s operations. Judith has continued to work with MDRC throughout theproject and reviewed an earlier draft of this report. At Owens, Linda Stacy, Bill Ivoska, DonnaGruber, and Chip Campbell worked with MDRC to adapt the program for their college andset up the study’s research procedures. Donna and Bill have served as our contacts at the college,and Bill reviewed an earlier draft of this report.The Opening Doors coordinator and counselors at each college brought the programmodel to life. Ray Kneisel coordinated the program at Lorain, and Laura Hiss and Kita Grahamplayed that role at Owens. They and the other Opening Doors counselors — Carrie Delaney,Maureen Hess, Eddie Henson, and Pat Zolman at Lorain; and Gwen Ames, Anna Cihak, PatDymarkowski, Beth Senecal, and Amy Towner at Owens — devoted a lot of time and effort torecruiting and assisting students. Mary Szabados at Lorain and Laurene Markis at Owens assistedwith recruitment and provided valuable administrative support. We appreciate everyone’swillingness to participate in various activities related to the study, including interviews withMDRC staff during numerous campus visits. Finally, we appreciate the help of the followingindividuals who provided student records data to MDRC: Stacy Lease, Lu Phillips, and DianaSmarsh at Lorain; and Jason Stokes and Matthew Lewis at Owens.Many MDRC staff members have contributed to Opening Doors and to this report.Robert Ivry developed the demonstration, helped design the Ohio program, and providedxi