Higher Education Outreach Programs
Summary
This report by PACE was commissioned by the University of California to inform deliberations of the Outreach Task Force on strategies to enhance university participation by students who are disadvantaged or from groups that have been historically underrepresented. The report reviews evaluations of current outreach programs, identifies effective practices, and makes recommendations for the improvement of programs and of the methods used to evaluate programs.
The report presents an analysis of what has been learned about outreach programs in order to inform deliberations relative to the following questions:
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What do we know about the effectiveness of current efforts to increase the numbers of underrepresented and disadvantaged students who are well-prepared for higher education? Are there certain practices of program components that rate most effective in college preparation programs?
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How might the evaluations of outreach programs be improved?
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What essential principles should be considered in designing college preparation programs for disadvantaged students?
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What are the implications of these findings for policy decisions on strategies of future outreach efforts?