Compare CBE program participants with students in traditional online and brick-and-mortar programs at the same colleges¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The evaluation's design compares CBE participants' education and employment outcomes "to those of students enrolled in traditional online and brick-and-mortar information technology programs at the same colleges." This same-institution comparison strategy grounds summative findings about CBE in a relevant counterfactual population, while the authors note that differences "may reflect unobservable differences between the groups."

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Access to outcome data for both CBE participants and traditional-program students within the same colleges.

Constraints¶

• Because participants and comparison students were not randomly assigned, outcome differences may reflect unobservable differences between the groups, as the report itself states.

Target Learners¶

• Community college students in online and traditional IT programs

Target Learning Goals¶

• Gatekeeper course completion
• Credential completion
• Employment and wage outcomes

Related Strategies¶

• Evaluate CBE programs against both implementation milestones and participant outcome targets, including comparison benchmarks

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Person, A. E., Thomas, J., Bruch, J., Johann, A., & Maestas, N. (2016). Outcomes of Competency-Based Education in Community Colleges: Summative Findings from the Evaluation of a TAACCCT Grant. Oakland, CA: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/outcomes-of-competencybased-education-in-community-colleges-summative-findings-from-the-evaluation