It is estimated that by 2050, the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population in the United States is projected to reach nearly 40 million people. As our nation becomes increasingly diverse, it is critically important to promote college success among students of color. Minority-Serving institutions (MSIs) enroll a disproportionately high concentration of low-income minority students, reinforcing these institutions’ relevancy to our nation’s higher education policy priorities of increasing college degree attainment among all students. Unfortunately, MSIs often face an array of problems including underfunding, low retention rates, and overall performance levels.

In a new report, Measuring the Impact of MSI-Funded Programs on Student Success, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) and the National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education (CARE) discuss the ways in which funding is being leveraged at one of the newer MSI programs: Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs). The study tracks the impact of targeted interventions on the institutional performance of AANAPISIs that were part of the first group of institutions funded by Congress in 2008–City College of San Francisco, De Anza College, and South Seattle Community College. Evaluation of the three AANAPISI-funded programs are meant to provide higher education policymakers, practitioners, and researchers with a deeper understanding of innovative and scalable practices that may help elevate student success in various areas such as course performance, transition to college-level courses, persistence, degree attainment, and transfer from two- to four-year institutions.

NOTABLE FINDINGS ON AANAPISI-FUNDED PROGRAMS
The report’s findings reveal the critical role of the federal government to increase the capacity of institutions serving low-income minority students. The following pinpoints the extent to which MSI-funded programs are contributing to student success and greater overall institutional performance:

Participating students have higher degree attainment rates relative to students in the comparison group. Students in intervention also attempted more credits, had a shorter time to completion, and were more likely to earn an associate’s degree instead of a certificate.
Students have a greater likelihood of transferring to a four-year institution relative to the comparison group. When they transferred, students in intervention did so in less time than the comparison group.
Learning communities have success with helping students transition from basic skills to college-level courses. Students in these learning communities also had a better rate of persistence to the term following the intervention.
Scaling up the practices of AANAPISI-funded programs could have a measurable impact on improving outcomes for targeted populations, which is critical information for recruitment strategies, programmatic efforts, and how campuses determine their desired.

“This report demonstrates the important role of targeted programs in enhancing successful outcomes at institutions that serve disproportionately high concentrations of low-income minority students,” said Neil Horikoshi, APIASF president & executive director. “The programs at AANAPISIs help address many of the challenges faced by AAPI students and have the potential to impact thousands of additional students by being brought to scale. We need ongoing support for our AAPI students–in addition to the scholars served by APIASF–to leverage the opportunity that exists at AANAPISIs.”

Measuring the Impact of MSI-Funded Programs on Student Success is being released today at a special event hosted by the Center for American Progress titled, “The Changing Face of America: Higher Education Policy and the Role of Minority Serving Institutions,” during which a distinguished panel will discuss the report’s findings. Panelists include Martha Kanter, distinguished visiting professor of higher education, New York University and former president, De Anza College; Deborah A. Santiago, chief operating officer and vice president for policy, Excelencia in Education; and Ajita Talwalker, senior policy advisor for education, Domestic Policy Council, The White House, along with Horikoshi, serving as the moderator, and Teranishi, presenting the study’s other key data.

The report is the second in a series from APIASF and CARE as part of their work through the Partnership for Equity in Education through Research (PEER) project, a national three-year initiative bringing additional attention to and improving educational outcomes for AAPI college students. Other activities from the PEER project include providing academic scholarships, institutional capacity-building efforts, and institutional collaboration based on research. In addition, APIASF and CARE launched in March 2013 the “We’re the Changing Face of America” campaign, to help ensure that access and success challenges experienced by the AAPI student population do not continue.

Support from the PEER project was received from the Kresge Foundation, Lumina Foundation, USA Funds, and Walmart Foundation. To date, the PEER project has become one of the largest investments in history in support of the AAPI student population, receiving more than $2 million.

To learn more about the PEER project, visit APIASF’s website at www.apiasf.org and CARE’s website at www.nyu.edu/projects/care. Also, follow APIASF on Facebook (www.facebook.com/apiasf) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/apiasf). Details about the “We’re the Changing Face of America” campaign can be found by visiting www.changingfaceofamerica.com.