MORE GUIDANCE, BETTER RESULTS?

Doors services or to a control group that received only the college’s standard services. Bothgroups were tracked over time to determine which group attained better outcomes (such ascredits earned and retention). Random assignment ensures that the motivation levels andpersonal characteristics of students in the program group and control group were similar at thebeginning of the study; 8 hence, any subsequent substantial differences in outcomes can beattributed with a high level of confidence to differences in the way students were treated afterthey were randomly assigned. Using statistical techniques, studies that do not utilize a randomassignment research design are still capable of accounting for observable differences (in suchvariables as gender, race, and income) between the program group and a comparison group.However, one major advantage of the random assignment design is that, since program andcontrol group members are assigned at random, the two groups will, on average, be equivalenton both observed characteristics and unobserved characteristics (such as motivation and ability).For this reason, the experimental design is ideal for attempting to make causal inferences abouta program’s effectiveness.This report focuses on one of the Opening Doors programs designed to increase students’chances of achieving academic success: enhanced student services and a modest stipend.The following sections provide some background on student services in the community collegesetting; a detailed description of the Opening Doors program implemented at Lorain CountyCommunity College and Owens Community College appears in Chapter 3.Background on Student Services at Community CollegesComponents of Student ServicesTo begin, it is important to consider what is meant by student services. Definitions canvary, but the following catalog of their elements — developed as part of an earlier MDRCpublication on student services 9 — offers one useful, relatively comprehensive description ofwhat student services encompass:• Academic guidance and counseling, including orientation, information onnavigating the college, reading and math assessments, educational planningand advising that helps students select courses to meet major requirementsthat fit their career goals, monitoring students’ progress to ensure that theyreach educational benchmarks in a timely way, early registration, forums orpresentations on topics to help students persist, and transfer counseling to en-8 The program group and control group should be similar in terms of averages, as well as other distributionalcharacteristics.9 Purnell and Blank (2004).4