CFDA Number: | 84.042A - TRIO Student Support Services |
Program Goal: Increase the percentage of low-income, first-generation college students who successfully pursue postsecondary education opportunities. |
Objective 8.1 of 1: Increase postsecondary persistence and completion rates of low-income, first-generation individuals in the academic pipeline. |
Indicator 8.1.1 of 1: Postsecondary persistence and completion: Percentages of Student Support Services participants persisting and completing a degree at the same institution. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Targets and Performance Data | Assessment of Progress | Sources and Data Quality | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Explanation: Data from the national study of the Student Support Services Program provide the baseline ata (1999 actual performance). The re-designed Student Support Services' annual performance report has been used to determine if the performance targets for college persistence have been met. The six-year college completion baseline of 29% includes only SSS students who remain at the same school through graduation. It has been set at this level because the annual performance reports will only report the academic progress of SSS participants that remain at the grantee institution. Preliminary data show that the graduation rate of SSS participants who were college freshmen in 2001-2002 is 12%. This rate is calculated after four years (not six years as with the baseline data) and does not include those SSS participants who completed an associate's degree within four years. Thus, we expect the graduation rate to increase as additional years of data become available. The long-term goals for SSS are to increase the persistence and completion rates to 70% and 31%, respectively, by 2007. |
Source: ED Evaluation Evaluation: Higher Education. Section: A Study of the Talent Search Program (1995) Analysis and Highlights. Additional Source Information: The re-designed Student Support Services performance report that all grantees are required to submit annually. Frequency: Annually. Collection Period: 2002 - 2003 Data Available: January 2005 Validated By: No Formal Verification. The baseline data from the National Study of the Student Support Services Program met the data collection standards of the Department of Education. The annual performance report comprises self-reported data; a variety of data quality checks are used to assess the completeness and reasonableness of the data submitted. Limitations: The national study was a longitudinal evaluation of program participants and a comparison group. Data from this study have provided the baseline on persistence and graduation rates. Since this longitudinal evaluation cannot be used to measure program improvements annually, the annual performance reports have been used to assess attainment of persistence targets and will be used to determine four-year graduation rates beginning with the 2001-02 data and six-year graduation dates beginning with the 2003-2004 data that should be available in late 2005. |