Summer counseling produces a small but statistically significant positive effect on credit accumulation and persistence (WWC rating: potentially positive effects)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r3 · q3 · i1 small
Currency · newest study 2018 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? In one RCT (Castleman et al., 2014; 1,397 students), summer counseling produced a positive and statistically significant difference on the percentage of students who remained enrolled after the spring of freshman year and after the fall of sophomore year. → Summer Counseling 2018 q3 i1 The domain average for credit accumulation and persistence is an effect size of 0.15, an improvement index of +6, statistically significant at p < .05. → Summer Counseling 2018 (2)

Evidence¶

Summer Counseling 2018¶

Summer Counseling. (2018). What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report, Transition to College. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/693

q3 · i? · review · r3

The WWC systematic review's credit accumulation and persistence domain rests on this single RCT conducted in Boston (MA) and Fulton County (GA), rated as "a statistically significant positive effect" with a small extent of evidence (1,397 students). The WWC confirmed the difference; no effect size is printed in this section's text.

"Castleman et al. (2014) reported, and the WWC confirmed, a positive and statistically significant difference between the summer counseling group and the comparison group on the percentage of students who remained enrolled in college after the spring of their freshman year and after the fall of their sophomore year."

Summer Counseling 2018 (2)¶

Summer Counseling. (2018). What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report, Transition to College. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/693

q3 · i1 · review · r3

WWC-calculated findings table for the Castleman et al. (2014) domain: adjusted means were 82.4% (intervention) versus 78.5% (comparison) for continuous first-year enrollment, mean difference 3.9, effect size 0.15, improvement index +6, p < .05.

"Continuous first-year enrollment (%) Full sample 1,397 students 82.4 (na) 78.5 (na) 3.9 0.15 +6 < .05"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• ASAP likely increases credit accumulation and persistence rates — related
• FLIGHT may increase college enrollment among disadvantaged students, with 97% of the FLIGHT group versus 83% of the comparison group enrolling in college — related
• First year experience courses show potentially positive effects on credit accumulation, with two of three qualifying studies showing statistically significant positive retention effects and one showing no significant effect — related
• Summer counseling has mixed effects on college access and enrollment for recent high school graduates, with a domain-average improvement index of +5 percentile points — related
• In the Castleman et al. (2012) RCT, summer counseling showed a substantively important positive effect on fall college enrollment despite non-significant test statistics — related
• Three of the five reviewed RCTs found no statistically significant effect of summer counseling on fall college enrollment (indeterminate effects) — related