RFA received funding from Arnold Ventures to conduct a four-year Randomized Control Trial of an intensive coaching program for Tennessee Promise students from low-income households. This study is being conducted in partnership with tnAchieves, the partnering organization to the Tennessee Promise Scholarship in 90 of 95 counties in Tennessee.
RFA’s four-year study includes an RCT of approximately 4,000 Tennessee Promise students at the state’s 12 community colleges. Students will be randomly assigned to (i) receive tnAchieves’ intensive coaching or to (ii) a control group that will receive such coaching only upon their request. The study will measure the impact of coaching on college retention and certificate/degree completion over a follow-up period of three years. In addition, researchers will conduct a streamlined implementation study and a descriptive cost analysis study of completion coaching.
RFA’s study kicked off in Fall 2019 and will follow the 2019 Tennessee Promise cohort for three years. RFA will be supported in this work by Jaime Thomas of Format Consulting LLC, a woman-owned small business providing economic, strategy, and evaluation consulting services to nonprofit, philanthropic, and other organizations.
