A new initiative to help College Promise programs, which comprise a variety of free or discounted community college efforts around the country, will provide research-based best practices to improve students’ academic outcomes.

The education and social policy research organization MDRC is partnering with the College Promise Campaign and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) Association to launch the College Promise Success Initiative. With funding from Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates, the initiative will provide technical assistance and improvement and research support to College Promise and free-college programs.....

.....Beginning this spring, MDRC will run a series of open-access webinars covering topics based on its research in postsecondary education. Programs can learn from MDRC and its partners to strengthen their operations, help their specific populations of students succeed, and implement best practices in areas such as behavioral science and student services.....

.....The initiative builds on MDRC’s successful partnership with the Detroit Regional Chamber in creating the Detroit Promise Path, which added student success components to the existing Detroit Promise scholarship. MDRC’s evaluation found that the program had a sizable impact on enrollment in the second semester and on full-time enrollment in the first and second semesters. Detroit’s experience makes clear that strengthening promise programs can help students stay in college, according to advocates.....

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