Intervention to increase college and. high school students. Guidebook for Schools

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1 Intervention to increase college and high school students Guidebook for Schools

2 Why do we want to do this study? As educators, we care very much about ensuring that more and more students get access to a high-quality college education. However, this access gets limited by students ability to pay for college. Research shows that despite their eligibility, many students do not apply for financial aid, or are unable to successfully complete their application for federal loans or assistance (King 2004; Romano & Millard, 2006). In addition, low-income and first generation students in particular are often least likely to apply for financial aid (King 2004). Studies have consistently demonstrated that students from different economic backgrounds face disproportionately different systemic barriers and psychological strain, in school as well as in college. These impediments can contribute to the achievement gap in post-secondary institutions. Since many of these barriers are psychological in nature, they have the ability to be remedied through appropriate interventions. Our study aims to reduce some of these barriers, by admistering an intervention targeted towards increasing college and financial aid applications among high-school students, and especially among students that are highly susceptible to psychological strain. Why does this problem persist? For students, applying to college and for financial aid can be extremely daunting. The complexity of the application, coupled with its role in determining their future can inadvertently create a state of psychological threat. Our research has identified two main factors that could be causing this barrier to persist: First, people who feel stigmatized by their background or socioeconomic status tend to avoid engaging in behaviors that would confirm that status. For instance, low-income students might actually refrain from completing or starting a financial aid application, because it would confirm their status as a low-income individual who is in need (Cohen & Garcia, 2005; Walton & Cohen, 2007). Second, financial aid and college application processes can be rather complex and confusing. Such task difficulty can be demotivating to all students, although some might be more vulnerable to demotivation than others. For example, students that have extreme demands on their time, or have limited access to knowledgeable members in their social groups that are able to advise them about their application (Shafir, 2013), could be much less likely to complete their applications on time.

3 How do we plan to address this? This study aims to counter both these factors by delivering intervention content through a smartphone app to high school students that are in the process of applying to college and/or financial aid. The two types of interventions are: Values-affirmation: The first barrier we plan to address is that of motivational disengagement, where students hesitate to confirm their stigmatized status. This can be countered using a self-affirmation intervention (e.g., see Cohen et al., 2006). Studies have shown that brief (about 5 to 15 minute) reflection exercises that get students to reflect on the broader range of values that are important to their identity has the positive effect of buffering against threat or stress. As such, affirmed students would not be as vulnerable to the threat of being branded as low-income. Channel factors: The second barrier is that task complexity causes delay and confusion that can hinder timely completion of financial aid applications. This difficulty is addressed by systematically breaking down larger complex tasks into smaller and more manageable sub-tasks with specific deadlines. This form of task simplification (or channel factors) have consistently shown more successful task completion for complex tasks (e.g.., Levanthal, Singer, & Jones, 1965; Bettinger, 2012). We believe that this intervention will help all students more effectively navigate through the complex applications required to gain access to a post-secondary education. However, we anticipate that these interventions will be prove particularly effective for groups of students who are most vulnerable to the two psychological barriers noted above (low-income and first-generation minority students).

4 We will deliver the interventions through a smartphone app

5 Why a smartphone app? A smartphone app will be used to deliver the two proposed interventions, because smartphones are nearly ubiquitous among student populations (Miller, 2012; Smith, 2013). The rationale for the app-based delivery system is that it provides a vehicle for delivering individually-tailored and timely intervention prompts to users. That is, users carry the delivery device in their pockets, making it possible to intervene at moments of need. Given that approximately 79% of smartphone users carry their phones with them over 95% of their waking hours (Levitas, 2013), we believe that this delivery portal is optimal to implement the two interventions during times when students would otherwise not be accessible. The affirmation will be delivered at stressful moments, such as when students are contemplating whether to apply for financial aid, that is, when the stigma of poverty has the potential to dampen their motivation to apply, and then again soon before the application deadline.

6 Intervention Detail VALUES AFFIRMATION INTERVENTION This intervention will consist of a short reflection task in which participants reflect on core values such as relationships with friends, family, religion, or belonging in certain groups, etc. By asserting the importance of these values, people start to bring to mind a more expansive view of self. When this happens, they are less likely to feel threatened by a stereotype or stigma-based stressor, because their identity is perceived as being much broader, instead of being limited to the stereotype or stigma. At particularly stressful times, or at times when the student might most feel stigmatized (such as before starting the financial aid application, or filling out the household income section of the financial aid application), the app will deliver a values affirmation intervention. This intervention would ask the student to reflect on values that are important to them by having them take a picture of an object or person consistent with these values. Simple activities such as these have been shown to be affirming and effective at buffering students against stress and improving performance outcomes. CHANNEL FACTORS INTERVENTION Channel factors essentially consists of well-timed information, which can facilitate action. They are especially useful for breaking down complex and daunting tasks into smaller, manageable milestones interspersed over a longer period of time. Once downloaded, students will choose which specific financial aid or college application they intend to complete. The app will be programmed to break down each of these large, complex, applications into smaller, more manageable subtasks, each with its own associated deadline. The app will then send out timely reminders and information to the students on how to effectively complete each of the subtasks in a timely fashion. Importantly, the messages will contain key instructions and resources necessary to accomplish the task, and will also have the option of linking the student to an advisor at school that will be able to help them overcome any hurdles they may encounter. Each subtask will reveal itself as part of a bigger goal or intention that is important to the student, thereby linking the action to the wanted outcome in a more obvious way. The app will also positively reinforce the students upon completion of each subtask, gamifying the experience through checks, stars, or progress bars.

7 Hi Andy, You indicated that being a good friend is very important to you. Please write a short note about why it is important to you, or take a picture of something that makes you think about being a good friend? Values Affirmation Example

8 Hi Andy, Well done! You re halfway there! Here is the next chunk you need to complete, click one of the sections to tackle: Find bank information Get bank statement Find asset information Fill out asset details Calculations Channel Factors Example

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10 Timeline for Schools June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Schools volunteer to take part in the study. Schools assign a liaison that researchers will primarily communicate with. Researchers meet with liaison to walk them through the features of the app, and talk about how to best customize the app experience for their school.

11 Timeline for Schools June July Aug Sept Oct Nov School liaisons provide researchers with a short document consisting of any content or timing considerations that need to be implemented into the app for it to match well with school s expectations and goals (for example, internal deadlines to apply for financial aid, dates and times of college workshops, etc.) Liaisons and any other interested school representatives attend a meet-and-greet event at Stanford University to meet the researchers, learn more about the project, and meet other participating school districts. (Date TBD) Researchers conduct a small focus group session at the participating schools to discover more insights about what their students tend to struggle with in the college and financial aid application process. (Optional)

12 Timeline for Schools 2015 Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Researchers work to complete customization and development of the app to specifications agreed upon by the researchers and the school liaison. School liaison and researchers demo the app to ensure consistency and accuracy of material provided.

13 Timeline for Schools 2015 Dec Jan Feb March April May Researchers attend certain classes or workshops (as predetermined by the school liaison and researchers) to show students (and interested teachers) how to use the app. Students begin using the app; study officially begins.

14 Timeline for Schools May June July Aug Sept Oct Researchers meet with schools to share preliminary results and discuss plans and potential applications going forward.

15 How could this study benefit your school? Should our results support our hypotheses, they will be practically and theoretically important for educators, policy makers, and researchers trying to reduce barriers to higher education. Our research will test the efficacy of theory-driven interventions that could be implemented on a large scale to effect positive educational outcomes and lessen educational inequality based on race and class. Additionally, one of the exciting features of the app-based technological delivery system we propose is its potential to permit large-scale administration of interventions in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The results from this project will be shared with the partner schools to better inform future initiatives and relevant outcomes from the project. This information will provided in an end-of-project report for each partner school. In addition, results from this project will be reported in peer-reviewed papers and professional conference presentations. Furthermore, we will share the results of our collaboration with the partner schools in talks and presentations with scientists, practitioners, and policy-makers both within Stanford and beyond. Working with the partner schools, we hope to disseminate these findings to policy makers and educators to improve the application process for financial aid and college admissions. Finally, the findings from this project will inform future studies aimed at closing achievement gaps in higher education. In a society where economic opportunity depends heavily on scholastic accomplishment, even a partial closure of achievement gaps would have a large and broad positive impact on the lives of underprivileged students and their families.

16 What implications could our results have on your school? This study will provide important insights into the psychological and cognitive-resource based factors that affect the tendency of low-income high school students to restrict their success in receiving financial aid, and therefore attending four year colleges. Your school will not only gain more in-depth knowledge of these factors and its precise effect on their students, but will also get a timely, applied intervention that is based on technology that is readily available. Schools will co-create the content of the app with the researchers at Stanford, thereby providing their students a personalized, and relevant intervention that integrates with current schools policies and programs. The app is not intended to replace the initiatives that are currently in place at the schools, it is there to integrate those initiatives into a method and delivery system that is familiar and intuitive to most students (smartphone app), minimally taxing on teachers and policy makers time, and backed by new and significant research in the field. If the intervention is successful, schools will be able to utilize similar technology to improve their goals and outcomes, and help empower students to attend four year colleges. Once the study is over, schools can obtain permission to continue to use the smartphone app to aid their students, use the knowledge from the research to adapt their current policies and make them more effective, utilize similar interventions in order to deliver future content, and improve future outcomes for the schools.

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18 Questions & Answers

19 How much will it cost my school to participate in this study? Participation is free and does not cost the school anything! We have received financial support from the Lumina Foundation to work with schools in the Bay area to develop and implement this intervention, with the goal of increasing financial aid and college application rates, especially among disadvantaged groups. Which students can participate in this study? The main intervention project is intended for junior and senior-year students who are interested in applying to financial aid or college admissions. However, we are committed to working with each partner school to identify specific needs or groups of students that might benefit from this intervention. Do all our students need to participate in order for my school to be eligible for this study? We would want to present this opportunity to the entire junior and senior-year student body. However, participation in this study is strictly voluntary, and anyone can choose not to participate at anytime without any negative consequences. What about the students that were in the control group and didn t receive an intervention? Since this is a scientific study, not all students who participate will be able to receive an intervention. 25% of students will be randomly assigned to a control condition in order to test the validity of our interventions. However, schools will have the option to have the researchers deliver the intervention content to students in the control condition once the project is complete, so that they can also gain from the benefits of the study. I'm interested in finding out more, how should I proceed? If you are looking for more information, or would like to start formalizing our relationship with your school, please contact the Project Director to set up a meeting to discuss whether this project is the right fit for your school. The Project Director for the study is Dr. Omid Fotuhi, and he can be reached at omidf@stanford.edu.

20 The Research Team Omid Fotuhi Post Doctoral Fellow Dept of Pscyhology Stanford University Project Director Geoff Cohen James G. March Professor (ED) Professor (PSY) Dept of Psychology Dept of Education Stanford University Julio Garcia Daniya Kamran-Morley Dept of Pscyhology Stanford University Dept of Pscyhology Stanford University Research Consultant Research Assistant

21 Project Director: Dr. Omid Fotuhi Stanford University Department of Psychology Jordan Hall Building Serra Mall Stanford, CA 94305