Opening Doors Demonstration

About this grant

This grant will support MDRC’s Opening Doors Demonstration, a five-year demonstration and evaluation project launched in 2003 to determine how community colleges can more effectively serve low-income students and improve student achievement. The project – targeting low-income adults between the ages of 18 and 34 – provides access to high-quality community college programs leading to associate’s degrees or employer-recognized occupational certificates.Third- and fourth-year funding will support objectives that include papers on the short-term impacts of Opening Doors on academic achievement; a report on the participation of young adults in community college programs; and a report on the implementation and short-term impacts of the project at six sites. In addition, MDRC will test the effectiveness of various reform strategies – curricular innovations, enhanced student services and increased financial aid – through a random-assignment research design.During the first two years of the project, Opening Doors was implemented at five community colleges; more than 3,000 of an expected 5,500 students enrolled in the research sample; the 12-month survey instrument was completed; and MDRC staff met with congressional staff and senior officials in the departments of education and labor to discuss the project.