Comparing Student Outcomes Between Student Support Services Participants and Nonparticipants in the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This report compares the academic achievements attained by students who first participated in the Student Support Services (SSS) program as college freshmen in the 2003–04 academic year with the achievements of students in a sample of matched nonparticipants. Both the SSS participants and nonparticipants were those who provided information as part of the National Center for Education Statistics’ 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09). The sample of matched nonparticipants in the BPS:04/09 was selected using propensity score modeling, a statistical technique that allowed researchers to match up to five nonparticipants to each SSS participant in the BPS:04/09 who had similar demographic and high school achievement characteristics.