Summary
Program
NYC Outward Bound operates eleven high schools in New York City that enroll students from
underserved communities. Research conducted in 2012 by Drs. Ben Castleman and Lindsay Page
indicated that text messaging campaigns increase persistence among students enrolled in
two-year community college programs, several of which focused on low-income high school
districts. The results from the 2012 study, inspired Outward Bound to create their own program
modeled after it. Their study identified financial applications and bureaucratic obstacles in
higher-education environments as barriers to persistence. Outward Bound’s implementation in
their To and Through program utilizes text nudges to address these barriers for their high school
alumni, many of whom are low-income, first-generation college students. Therefore, we should 2
expect the results of the text messaging nudge program to be similar to, or surpass that of
Castleman and Page’s results in increasing persistence. This proposal evaluates the text
messaging program, also referred to as nudges.
Evaluation Design
First, a focus group will be conducted to produce qualitative data which will consist of a
cross-section of the current and former Outward Bound To and Through students. Text messages
sent via Signal Vine will be used to recruit participants. Additionally, a quasi-experimental
research design will address the effectiveness of the nudge program. Effectiveness will be
defined as students persisting- graduating from high school and attending college- as a direct
cause of this program. Long term impacts include graduation and job placement. Using Castleman and Page’s research outcome of 7% increased persistence as a control group, Outward
Bound can use their data to establish their persistence rate as a comparison group.
Recommendations
Using the proposed evaluation design, an additional quasi-experimental research design with
comparison groups which will address the question of program delivery. This research design
will help determine the optimization of the nudge’s schedule and content. It would require all
students that currently receive nudges to continue to receive them, however there would be
distinguishing factors to determine the optimal ‘formula’ for optimization. There will be a
control group that continues to receive nudges based on Outward Bound’s current schedule and
content. This control group would be the benchmark to determine the effects of the comparison
groups. One of the groups would receive nudges to address frequency, while another comparison
group would be designed to measure the impacts of the content of the nudge’s students receive.
The comparison groups would also include the involvement of parent stakeholders, who would
be chosen through the process of random selection for involvement in the program.
For sources and more information, or to read the report, please contact me directly.
Prepared by Anne Kennedy, Nicholas Macdonald, Adam Steele, and Coretta Mondesir