IU researchers to evaluate 21st Century Scholars Program

IU-based researchers will be given two years to conduct a study to determine the success of the 21st Century Scholars Program. \nThe researchers have been awarded a grant of $497,000 to conduct the study. \n“The research is being done to help identify ways of improving access to higher education for students from low-income families,” said Rob Toutkoushian, associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies and chair of the educational leadership program in the IU School of Education. “Traditionally, these students have been underrepresented in colleges and universities.”\nToutkoushian is one of the researchers and is also the co-principal investigator on the project along with George Kuh, Chancellor’s professor of higher education and director of the Center for Postsecondary Research, and Don Hossler, professor of educational leadership and policy studies and director of the Project on Academic Success.\nThe 21st Century Scholars Program is available to any middle school student in Indiana and other participating states. Those who are eligible for free lunch, maintain a 2.0 grade point average throughout school and sign a pledge to abstain from using drugs or alcohol are potential candidates for the program. \nCollege tuition and fees will be paid for high school graduates in the 21st Century Scholars Program. All IU schools, as well as Purdue, Ball State and Ivy Tech Community College, participate in the program. \nThe Chicago-based Spencer Foundation, the same organization that funds the 21st Century Scholars Program, will fund the study, Toutkoushian said. The study follows Indiana students who completed a 1997 survey during their ninth-grade year. Toutkoushian said the researchers will create a longitudinal database starting with 71,000 ninth grade students in Indiana who were surveyed in 1997. The researchers will then add information on these students to the database, such as their participation in the SAT, application for financial aid, enrollment in college, engagement in successful behaviors in college and success in college. \n“The techniques we will employ will take into account the observable and unobservable factors that influence whether students sign up for the 21st Century Scholars Program,” Toutkoushian said.\nThose involved in the research hope to make it easier for students to participate and succeed in higher education, as well as explain why many eligible students are not joining the 21st Century Scholars Program.