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Summer bridge (for high school graduates)

Higher Education
  Literature review updated December 2016.

Summer bridge programs enroll first-year college students during the summer before the student's first semester of college. Students usually take academic remedial courses and participate in academic and college skills workshops to assist with the college transition. These programs often target low-income, minority, and/or low-performing students.
 
ALL
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Enroll in any college
Enroll in either a 2-year or 4-year higher education institution.
 18 1 793 -0.015 0.084 18 -0.015 0.861
Graduate with any degree
Graduate with a degree from either a 2-year or 4-year higher education institution.
 18 1 413 0.130 0.063 23 0.245 0.001
Remedial credits earned
Course credit earned in courses that are below college level. Also called developmental credits or basic skills credits, these often do not count toward graduation requirements.
 18 1 793 -0.112 0.056 20 -0.112 0.046

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Barnett, E.A., Bork, R.H., Mayer, A.K., Pretlow, J., Wathington, H.D., & Weiss, M.J. (2012). Bridging the gap: An impact study of eight developmental summer bridge programs in Texas. New York, NY: National Center for Postsecondary Research, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Douglas, D., & Attewell, P. (2014). The bridge and the troll underneath: Summer bridge programs and degree completion. American Journal of Education, 121(1), 87-109.