Bridge of Promise: Comparing the Academic Outcomes of Kalamazoo Promise to Public School Students in a 4-Year Institution

This study compares Kalamazoo Promise (KPromise) students to non-Promise, public high school graduating students at a 4-year institution. The final sample for this study was N=9,969; n = 310 (3%) were KPromise students. Descriptive analysis suggests that KPromise students were racially more diverse and less affluent than non-Promise students. Unweighted regressions show that being a KPromise student was correlated with lower college GPA, increased chance of Academic Dismissal, and lowered likelihood of Degree Attainment. Weighting the sample using Inverse Probability Weighing with Regression Adjustment (IPWRA), being a KPromise student was not correlated to any examined outcomes. However, we were unable to generate a suitably similar comparison sample with the variables we could access. Overall, the Kalamazoo Promise allows students to access the university who are so different from the comparison population that it interferes with standard approaches to assessing outcomes. Discussion centers on descriptive differences and highlights the need for better student-level data.