New Profit College Summit National Evaluation Report

The College Summit Navigator program (Navigator) is a nationwide program that aims to improve the college-going culture and college enrollment rates in high schools serving low-income, minority, and first-generation college-going students. Navigator aims to:

• Provide high school seniors with greater knowledge of the college search and admissions processes
• Provide the support and tools necessary to navigate the college selection and enrollment processes

Study Goals:

The goals of the study were:

• To understand if Navigator was implemented with fidelity across the participating schools;
• To document any differences in school outcomes between College Summit and comparison schools; and
• To assess the program’s impact on college enrollment rates.

Research Questions:

The study included both implementation and impact research questions. The research questions were:

• Implementation Questions:
  1. To what extent are the core components of the 12th-grade Navigator program implemented as intended by the program developer?
  2. Which factors do school staff involved in implementing College Summit’s 12th-grade Navigator program identify as facilitating or impeding implementation?
  3. How do educators involved in implementing the 12th-grade Navigator program rate the quality and utility of its materials and the training and support provided by College Summit staff?
  4. How do school staff members involved with implementing College Summit describe the relationship between implementation and the development of a college-going culture?
• Impact Questions:

1. Does the College Summit 12th-grade Navigator program impact the rate at which students enroll in any college and the rate at which students enroll in a four-year college in the school year following high school graduation?
   1. How do the enrollment rates change across time for schools implementing the program compared to those of non-implementing schools?
2. Does the impact on college enrollment rates differ by region, baseline college enrollment rates, and the percentage of students participating in College Summit?

Findings:

The evaluation found the following:

• Implementation of Navigator was successful in many schools. Several core components and the percent of students served varied across schools.
• Impact analyses found no statistically significant differences in student enrollment rates in any college or four-year college following high school graduation between schools that implemented the Navigator program and the comparison schools.

For more information, download the full report and report brief.