Access and persistence
Current and Completed Projects:
Postsecondary pathways and outcomes of international students in Ontario
As part of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario’s Consortium on International Education SRDC is analyzing the pathways of select cohorts of incoming international students to Ontario, to identify trends over time in the composition of students and their schooling, migration, and labour market outcomes whether they attended public institutions or not. Specifically, the proposed project would contribute new information on the relationship of various student, program, and immigration characteristics to each outcome of interest to HEQCO and the Consortium.
Start-end date: March 2023 - February 2025
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO)
Survey for the Evaluation of the Apprenticeship Grants (AG) Program
This project involves the design, development, pilot-testing, implementation, and analysis of a survey as part of the Apprenticeship Grants (AG) evaluation. The AG program provides grants to apprentices in designated Red Seal trades to pay for tuition, travel, tools, and other related expenses. It consists of the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant (AIG), the Apprenticeship Completion Grant (ACG), and the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant for Women (AIG-W). The survey examines the net impacts of the AG program on the entry, progression, certification, and labour market attachment of apprentices. The data collected also contribute to the first formative evaluation of the AIG-W, which was introduced as a five-year pilot in 2018. Through a Gender-based Analysis plus (GBA+) lens, the analysis of the survey data aims to assess the extent to which the AIG-W helps reduce financial barriers to apprenticeship for women in male-dominated Red Seal trades. The project also examines the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on apprentices’ experience with the AG application process, as well as on their labour market outcomes beyond the program.
Start-end date: November 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Effects of Student and Family Background Characteristics on Post-Secondary Education Access, Persistence, and Completion and Labour Market Outcomes in British Columbia
This project examines how a range of student, family, neighbourhood, and schooling characteristics are related to 1) access to college and university, 2) completion of a postsecondary education (PSE) credential, and 3) labour market outcomes of students originally enrolled at the K-12 level in British Columbia (B.C.). The study will also provide a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the barriers to PSE young people may face, especially those belonging to under-served groups. The intent is to provide evidence on how PSE experiences differ and contribute to later employment and labour market outcomes in order to support policies that aim to improve access to higher education, the completion of a PSE credential, and subsequent labour market outcomes. SRDC is using data from the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP) including: B.C. K-12 enrollment data; enrollment records from all publicly funded colleges and universities in Canada through the Postsecondary Student Information System; trades registration through the Registered Apprenticeship Information System; and student and parental tax records from the Canada Revenue Agency’s T1 Family File (T1FF). Linking these datasets together through the ELMLP generates a longitudinal data file that can identify the relationship between socioeconomic and K-12 schooling background and PSE schooling and labour market experiences and outcomes of young people who attend school at the K-12 level across B.C.
Start-end date: November 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Health and criminal justice outcomes of furthering education
Future to Discover is a randomized controlled trial which began tracking a sample of 5,429 Grade 9 students originally drawn from 51 high schools in Manitoba and New Brunswick in 2004-05. It tested the effectiveness of two early high school interventions designed to help students overcome barriers to access postsecondary education (PSE): enhanced career education and a guarantee of a grant to students from lower-income families. Previous reports have demonstrated the impacts of offering the interventions separately and together on youths’ later PSE and labour market experiences. This new study uses new linkages to the Future to Discover dataset to estimate the impacts of being allocated to the treatment groups (that obtained increased education) on health and justice outcomes. It thus contributes valuable evidence to the analysis of education as a social determinant of health and justice outcomes.
Start-end date: October 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Post-secondary education non-completion in Ontario
Students enrolling in post-secondary programs but not graduating with the initially-intended credential is often portrayed as a policy problem. It is seen as costly; costly to government as they invest heavily in post-secondary education (PSE); costly for students who discontinue their own education and do not reap the benefits associated with a credential; and costly to the economy in the form of net lower skills in the workforce, a weaker match between the individual and the labour market, and even reduced participation, all yielding lower earnings. To inform the policy conversation in Ontario related to the costs of non-completion, SRDC is working to build a more nuanced understanding of non-completer pathways and their outcomes, placed in the context of the outcomes of graduates. Our work intends to answer the following four questions: What is systemwide non-completion and the rate of non-completion in Ontario? What are the characteristics of different types of non-completers and how do they compare to students who “complete” PSE? What are the labour market outcomes of non-completers and how do they vary across types and available learner characteristics? and How do labour market outcomes of non-completers compare to students with different PSE pathways? We use the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP) that links post-secondary enrolment data to tax records nationally. Several studies have investigated the outcomes of PSE graduates using the ELMLP, but very few to date have explored non-completion and non-completers’ labour market outcomes.
Start-end date: July 2022 - March 2023
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
Plan My Path Plus: Piloting New Approaches to Increase Young Albertans' Access to PSE
The Alberta Government is developing a new tool called Plan My Path (PMP), a website designed to guide students in their postsecondary choices, with the goal to increase the proportion of the province’s high school students achieving success in accessing postsecondary education (PSE). The government will roll out PMP in 2023 as an ongoing service to high school students but wants to know how best to implement this tool to yield optimal outcomes for young people. SRDC is advising on the design of PMP, and testing potentially replicable additional features such as workshops on the tool and the coverage of PSE application fees, that could enhance take-up and use of the tool and hence its efficacy among Grade 12 students. The intent of this is that providing postsecondary education application assistance to youth in their Grade 12 year will improve their transition rates to PSE. The initial participants to receive this assistance will be youth attending high schools with low transition rates to PSE. SRDC will coordinate this PMP Plus demonstration project to pilot the additional features during 2023-24 to determine the impact these additional features have on the success of PMP, to guide the province on the optimal longer-term strategy for the delivery of the program.
Start-end date: December 2021 - March 2025
Sponsor: Alberta Advanced Education
Educational, Labour Market and Demographic Characteristics of Indigenous Peoples and Racialized Canadians
This project uses Canada-wide survey data from the Longitudinal International Study of Adults and potentially other surveys to generate in-depth knowledge to support education policy, including answers to the following questions: What are the educational attainment levels and institution types Indigenous and racialized Canadians attend, and how do they compare over time and with non-Indigenous and non-racialized Canadians? What are the fields of study and occupations that Indigenous and racialized Canadians pursue, compared with non-Indigenous and non-racialized Canadians? What are the sources of funding used by Indigenous and racialized Canadians to pursue PSE, compared with non-Indigenous and non-racialized Canadians? What barriers do Indigenous and racialized Canadians face in pursuing further education and training? Do they differ from those faced by non-Indigenous and non-racialized Canadians? What are the characteristics of Indigenous and racialized Canadians who face barriers to further education and training? Do the characteristics of those with barriers to further education and training (unmet learning need or want) differ from those with no unmet need or want? What are the labour market outcomes and earnings of Indigenous and racialized Canadians, compared with non-Indigenous and non-racialized Canadians? and Are there certain types of life events over time that correlate to (re-)entry into PSE and training for Indigenous and racialized Canadians, and do they differ from those faced by non-Indigenous and non-racialized Canadians?
Start-end date: November 2021 - March 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Connecting the Dots
This project aims to develop, implement, and evaluate an integrated, accessible, and adaptive training and support system, serving as an online one-stop shop of educational tools, materials, and community resources for apprentices in the construction trades. The goal is to empower apprentices to take a proactive role in addressing multiple levels of challenges during apprenticeship training. As part of the project, SRDC is designing and implementing a cohesive evaluation framework and data collection tools that not only track the progress of participating apprentices but also collect input and feedback from trades instructors, employers, unions, and other stakeholders to inform current and future products, tools, and services. The project contributes to facilitate the entry, retention, and advancement of underrepresented groups in the trades through an innovative, self-directed approach to online learning and interaction. It is designed to provide equal opportunity and access for groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the trades, such as women, newcomers, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples, youth, and low-skilled and displaced workers. Findings, best practices, and lessons learned from this project will be shared to support larger-scale expansion of this technology-driven approach to skills development within and beyond the construction sector.
Start-end date: March 2021 - February 2026
Sponsor: SkillPlan
Improving student success in Surrey School District (Phase 1)
SRDC is reviewing the school district’s datasets that could be used to undertake a study focused on understanding student transitions and success within the Surrey School District education system. The aim is to design a project to answer key questions within the context of a study of student transitions through the K-12 system in Surrey including entry from pre-K and access to PSE and the labour market, where data allow. Given successful grade to grade transitions provide evidence of progress towards graduation, the first question is what are some strategies and structures that support successful transitions? Other questions include: What does graduation mean for students? What factors influence transitioning into post-secondary education or training programs? What factors influence transitioning into sustaining employment? What are some of the barriers or limitations faced by students who don’t graduate within six years of entering secondary school in Surrey?
Start-end date: March 2021 - April 2021
Sponsor: Surrey Schools
Enhancing Access to Student Financial Assistance for Adult Learners
Helping Canadians access post-secondary education (PSE) and acquire the skills and training they need to participate in a changing labour market is a key priority for federal, provincial, and territorial governments. While many existing programs respond to the needs for skills development, education, and training for adults, a significant portion of adults in Canada are not proactively upskilling or participating in existing continued learning programs. The primary objective of the project is to identify ways to improve access to student financial assistance (SFA) for such adults across Canada. SRDC is designing, conducting, and analyzing the results of interviews and discussions with individuals aged 25-64, who have expressed interest in enrolling in post-secondary education but who have not done so. The project goes beyond identifying already known barriers, to clarify the knowledge, understanding, and perspectives of adult learners who are interested in pursuing PSE and exploring access to SFA from adult learners’ perspectives.
Start-end date: December 2020 - October 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Indigenous Students' Access to Post-Secondary Education in B.C.
The project examines the descriptive characteristics of Indigenous students in high school in British Columbia and accessing post-secondary education (PSE) to better understand academic pathways and transitions from kindergarten through to PSE. The results are intended to contribute evidence for policy development to support current and future generations of Indigenous learners to access higher education. Two specific research questions are addressed: What are the trends in access to PSE among Indigenous students in BC? and How is access to PSE related to a range of student and educational background factors, such as individual student characteristics; scores on standardized tests for reading, writing, and numeracy administered in Grades 4 and 7; participation in special programs; school characteristics and district; course choices; and academic performance. The main data source is BC linked administrative data.
Start-end date: November 2020 - June 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Economic Feasibility Study: Public policy alternatives to promote education savings
SRDC is supporting Momentum to examine the economic costs of implementing policy options intended to ensure all eligible children claim their Canada Learning Bond. The principal methodology is economic modeling using tools such as the Statistics Canada Social Policy Simulation Database and Model to analyze three policy alternatives: establishing new Canada Education & Training Account; disbursing Canada Learning Bond funds through the Canada Student Loans Program; and expanding Ontario’s online Newborn Registration 5-in-1 Service Bundle nationwide. The aim is to estimate the potential costs that would result from developing and implementing the three policy alternatives in question, as well as any potential savings. The final report is intended to describe the methodology, analysis, findings, and limitations of costing for the three policy alternatives.
Start-end date: November 2020 - March 2021
Sponsor: Momentum
Skills Compass
Young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) are at risk of becoming socially excluded, with low income and lacking the skills to improve their economic situation. Indigenous youth, and youth who are newcomers to Canada, may face additional barriers to becoming engaged in employment or education. Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is leading a pilot project to address potential barriers faced by Indigenous and newcomer NEET youth through a pre-employment training program, wraparound supports, and employment placements. SRDC as the evaluation partner is responsible for developing the evaluation framework and data collection instruments, measuring outputs and outcomes, integrative data analysis, reporting findings, and participating in knowledge mobilization.
Start-end date: October 2020 - March 2023
Sponsor: Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan)
The Campus Mental Health Action Tracker – a tool to support implementation of the Post-Secondary Student Standard
In response to growing concerns about mental health issues faced by students in post-secondary education (PSE), colleges, universities, CÉGEPs, and polytechnics in Canada are undertaking various initiatives, including direct services, programs, or institutional policies; others are at earlier stages of addressing the issue. To provide the PSE sector with guidance on how to consider and address student mental health, the Mental Health Commission of Canada, in collaboration with CSA Group (as the standards development organization), has championed the development of the CSA Z2003:20 Standard for Mental health and Well-being for Post-secondary Students, now available. SRDC was engaged to develop a self-assessment tool of implementation progress, called the Campus Mental Health Action Tracker; a prototype was produced and tested, and received promising feedback from users. An opportunity to use the Tracker is now being made available to a larger group of postsecondary institutions. The purpose of the self-assessment tool is to help post-secondary institutions identify achievements made to date, as well as gaps and opportunities for further action. Information collected through the confidential online tool will also help inform what implementation of this voluntary standard looks like across the sector, to pave the way for evaluating its effects on PSE institutions and students' mental health and well-being.
Start-end date: May 2020 - October 2023
Sponsor: Mental Health Commission of Canada + Bell Canada + RBC Foundation + Rossy Foundation
Learning Accounts Impact Analysis: Results Replication Study
This is a methodological study to estimate impacts of interventions from the Future to Discover project under different design assumptions. Specifically, the study takes advantage of the family income cut-off that meant some New Brunswick families did not receive an offer of (a) Learning Accounts or (b) Learning Accounts plus Explore Your Horizons in the original project. This hard cut-off to each family’s eligibility can be utilized in an evaluation based on a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to estimate the impacts of the interventions. This study produces two reports. The first proposes precisely how the analysis and comparison are to be done. The second re-analyzes the original Future to Discover project data to produce the RDD impact estimates. The estimates of impact from the original randomized controlled trial (RCT) design and RDD are compared for a range of key outcomes to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the RDD relative to the RCT approach.
Start-end date: March 2020 - February 2022
Sponsor: Laura and John Arnold Foundation
Empowering Youth for Post-secondary Education Preparedness
This is a project intended to research and consolidate information about best practices to empower youth from lower-income families to be active participants in their own preparation for post-secondary education (PSE). SRDC is undertaking an international literature review of best practices for youth empowerment approaches and a Pan-Canadian environmental scan of existing community programs, services, and supports. As one product, SRDC is generating an inventory of current interventions for PSE preparedness for youth from low-income families, including interventions that address non-financial barriers to PSE.
Start-end date: January 2020 - July 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Raise the Grade Phase 3
Since its launch in 2012, the Raise the Grade (RTG) program from Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) has provided youth ages 12-18 across Canada with academic support, career discovery, mentoring, and interest-based activities in dedicated RTG Tech Centres, all within the safe and supportive Boys and Girls Club environment. Now in 46 Clubs, RTG promotes academic engagement among young people, and aims to increase their rate of high school completion and participation in post-secondary education. With funding from RBC Future Launch and ESDC, BGCC has once again partnered with SRDC in a third project phase. This phase will see RTG expanded into five new communities and an even larger, highly trained community of RTG mentors. In addition to analysis of program implementation and youth outcomes, this utilization-focused evaluation builds on learnings from prior phases to develop and pilot enhancements to core program components through an innovative, Club-led Incubator model approach.
Start-end date: December 2019 - October 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Literature Review on effective labour market programs and services to assist youth and social assistance recipients to integrate into the labour market
ESDC has commissioned SRDC to undertake literature reviews of labour market programs that have been shown to be effective for integrating youth and social assistance recipients into the labour market. The focus is on recent (last five years) activation programs in Canada and OECD countries.
Start-end date: November 2019 - July 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Evaluation Planning and Design: Assessing the Effectiveness of the Government of Canada's Outbound Mobility Pilot
Announced in Budget 2019 as part of the International Education Strategy, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is piloting a program to encourage participation of underrepresented groups in outbound international student experiences. The pilot program aims to test and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce barriers to studying and working abroad. SRDC is providing advice and recommendations to ESDC in the form of a comprehensive evaluation framework and plan for rigorously evaluating the five-year pilot.
Start-end date: November 2019 - March 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Characteristics of adults who return to Education and Training, and understanding the barriers to Adult Learning
This project seeks to examine the characteristics of Canadian adult learners with labour market experience who took further education or training for upskilling or reskilling, as well as those who expressed an unmet learning need and want. The project analyzes data from the Longitudinal International Survey of Adults linked to tax records to gain a better understanding of adult learners, including: causes and correlations for (re)entry into education and training, such as job loss, change in family status or other life events; and the barriers adults face in pursuing education and training. The research also considers how federal and provincial/territorial student financial assistance programs can better support adult learners.
Start-end date: October 2019 - October 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Follow-up survey of Willingness to Pay (Choices) study participants
This project extends SRDC’s previous study on Willingness to Borrow for post-secondary education (PSE) – a project funded by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario and the now-defunct Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. The original fieldwork used an innovative, laboratory experiment design to assess receptivity to various types of PSE financing among Canadian students in their final year of high school. The experiment took place during the 2008-09 academic year, and involved 1,248 students from 12 different schools in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Quebec. After completing the experiment, the vast majority of the original sample agreed to being contacted for a follow-up study. This project initiates the follow-up survey to track ten years of post-high school outcomes among the original participating students. The survey is to generate a unique longitudinal data set for use by CIRANO and SRDC researchers, linking activities in the final year of high school to PSE enrolment and persistence outcomes in the context of a uniquely rich set of experimental and survey data from the original study, which captured preferences for PSE, willingness to pay and borrow as well as the experimental assignment of grants and loans. SRDC’s analysis of the follow-up project dataset will explore the role of less-understood barriers (e.g., price sensitivity and loan aversion) on PSE access, completion and labour market outcomes, particularly amongst under-represented groups. It will permit baseline measures of preference, numeracy, tolerance for risk, and willingness to borrow to pay for PSE to be harnessed as predictors of later PSE and labour market outcomes, permitting policy makers to better understand who goes to PSE and why.
Start-end date: July 2019 - March 2022
Sponsor: CIRANO, Max Bell Foundation, and Employment and Social Development Canada
The role of career education during high school in postsecondary success
This project seeks to find better ways to support youths’ career decisions and make the case for policies that prolong learning into appropriately aligned postsecondary education. SRDC is using
two rich longitudinal data sources created to test experimental career interventions through the linkage of education records to surveys of youth and parents in three provinces. The data document the lives of 7,000 young Canadians, including their occupational aspirations as high school students at age 14, their postsecondary education and earnings outcomes over 10 years. Research tasks include the team mapping the students’ early collected occupational aspirations to their course and program choices as well as outcomes on leaving high school. SRDC’s researchers are taking advantage of the experimental design, but also using non-experimental methods to analyze the factors over this key period that caused changes in career choices, and altered career pathways. The study builds knowledge about (a) how and when to intervene to assist youth in their career decision making, and (b) for whom supports are effective yet currently lacking. The intent is to help equip the career counselling profession to respond authoritatively to increasingly urgent policy questions about how optimally to structure career education for young people. Positive and negative impacts of interventions and tracking of outcomes following specific mediators of advice (such as parents, teachers, counsellors, peers) would point to future best practices and the development of tools to support the work of counsellors and guide students in their planning and decision making regarding career choices early in, and throughout, high school.
Start-end date: February 2019 - January 2021
Sponsor: CERIC
Equity in Education Collective Impact Initiative
Together, Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Center, Pathways to Education Ottawa, and stakeholders from across the city of Ottawa, have established a collective impact initiative to address the inequity in educational outcomes for youth living in low-income in the city. The long-term vision of the Equity in Education Collective Impact Initiative (EiE) is to engage stakeholders from all sectors to come together to provide tangible interventions that draw on the learnings of the Pathways to Education ProgramTM and other successful evidence-based models to inform policy and systems changes. SRDC will work with EiE to conduct a case study examining how EiE’s collective impact structure can inform student, parent, and community-level outcomes related to educational experience and attainment along the pathway to post-secondary enrolment; as well as how EiE-led initiatives influence the collective impact structure at the community level. This project is being funded by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO).
Start-end date: June 2018 - April 2019
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre
Equity in Education – Student/Parent Support Worker Evaluation
Pathways to Education is a well-known model of comprehensive supports for youth living in low-income communities, designed to enhance their engagement and persistence in high school and post-secondary education. SRDC will evaluate the impact of coordinated, wrap-around, holistic services amongst existing community organizations/stakeholders for youth and their families through three pilots based on the Student Parent Support Worker position of the Pathways to Education model. This evaluation will also explore how systemic barriers manifest differently depending on cultural background, immigration history, family composition, and homelessness risk. These pilots will be implemented in three priority neighbourhoods across Ottawa and will be coordinated through a Collective Impact initiative (Equity in Education). Equity in Education is being led by the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre and Pathways to Education Ottawa in partnership with the Ottawa Local Immigrant Partnership (OLIP) and the Ottawa Child and Youth Initiative (OCYI). These community-led projects are being funded through Ontario's Local Poverty Reduction Fund, which is administered by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Start-end date: January 2018 - January 2021
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre
Student Financial Assistance for Indigenous Learners
SRDC is compiling and reviewing available data on access and usage of CSLP and provincial and territorial student aid programs by Indigenous learners. The broad aim is to support assessment of the effectiveness of existing student financial assistance under CSLP as it relates to Indigenous learners. Federal funding for First Nation and Inuit learners under the Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) has been capped since 1996, and program eligibility requirements can be limiting. Indigenous learners who do not receive PSSSP – or whose needs are not fully met – can apply for student financial assistance (SFA) from the federal and provincial/territorial governments, as a mix of student loans and grants. The work considers the demographic characteristics of clients identified as Indigenous learners, their aid received, loan repayment, and default rates. The deliverables will aid these jurisdictions' ongoing review of how effectively the system works to improve PSE access and affordability.
Start-end date: August 2017 - March 2018
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
High School Student and Parent Perceptions of OSAP
This project examines the relationship between aspirations towards postsecondary education and students/parents’ perception and knowledge of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). The project administers surveys before and after students’ compulsory Grade 10 career studies class, and tracks postsecondary access and student financial aid use over four years, to evaluate provision of new interventions including information on OSAP and the likely actual costs and benefits of postsecondary education. The evaluation framework involves a clustered randomized trial.
Start-end date: August 2017 - August 2018
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
The relationship between education savings accounts and postsecondary education aspirations
SRDC is undertaking an original analysis of its unique “Future to Discover” dataset to help answer questions on how best to maximize the impact of education savings programs such as Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) and associated government grants, such as the Canada Education Savings Grants (CESG) and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) on access to postsecondary education (PSE) for students from low-income family backgrounds. Specifically, this new study sheds light on whether the positive educational outcomes associated with these approaches arise because (a) acquiring accounts changes families’ orientations towards PSE over time or (b) the funds in accounts help students overcome financial barriers at the point of paying for their studies.
The findings of this study will inform the search for new ways to increase the take up rate of RESPs, CESG, and CLB. The study will assess factors that lead to the opening of accounts; the role of parental involvement and level of education; the relationship of family income to educational attainment of the child; sources of personal contributions to RESPs; and the relationship of educations savings to debt and the availability of student financial assistance in relation to the determination to participate in PSE. In addition, the analysis explores the role of trusted intermediaries and sources of information regarding decision-making related to PSE. The study findings will be structured to provide concrete lessons learned from the research for optimal next steps in the development and delivery of RESPs, CESG, CLB, and related programming.
Start-end date: April 2017 - January 2018
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Evaluation of Student Financial Assistance Programs for Indigenous Learners
SRDC is undertaking an evaluation to provide recommendations on improving access to postsecondary education for Indigenous learners. Key questions include: whether Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP)-eligible First Nations and Inuit students who are turned down for PSSSP funding apply for provincial and federal student financial assistance; whether these learners are more likely to abandon or delay their plans for postsecondary; whether Indigenous learners are more debt-averse than non-Indigenous learners, including variation between populations; whether certain groups are more likely to apply for and receive assistance; whether Indigenous learners who receive assistance are more likely to default on loans, and if so, what are the reasons for this.
These questions are being answered through a combination of three research and evaluation activities: reviews of existing research evidence on learners' financial barriers to accessing post-secondary education and available sources of financial aid, as well as evidence on debt aversion; analysis of administrative records on applicants and recipients of federal and provincial aid; and primary data collection with Indigenous people. The project will conclude with recommendations for federal and provincial governments to improve post-secondary education access for Indigenous learners, including an impact analysis of proposed program changes.
Start-end date: March 2017 - March 2019
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education
Relationship between PSE participation and household income
The current decade has seen very little new research into the relationship between household income and PSE participation for Canada in general and Ontario in particular. The effects of recently adopted policies aimed at increasing PSE accessibility on this relationship, such as the reforms to the Ontario Student Assistance Program, are consequently poorly understood. This project uses a time series of harmonized long-form data from the Canadian Census 1996-2016 to examine the relative impact of household income and parents’ human capital on their children’s post-secondary education participation.
Start-end date: March 2017 - October 2018
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
Learning more from the BC AVID Pilot Project: impacts of program delivery on postsecondary persistence
This project examines the long-term impacts of BC AVID on students’ post-secondary outcomes by obtaining up to four more years of updated postsecondary records. It is the first stage of a two-phase research endeavour to learn which elements of AVID program fidelity are predictors of student success. The research team is analyzing the patterns of outcomes and evolution of impacts over time. If the program impacts vary between student cohorts experiencing different levels of AVID program intensity, the research team will seek a second phase to study the relationship between AVID program fidelity and students’ long-term outcomes.
Start-end date: January 2017 - September 2017
Sponsor: AVID Center
Life After High School Ontario – Phase III
The purpose of Life After High School is to improve the rates at which high school students transition to post-secondary education by reducing the non-financial and financial barriers students face. The program applies lessons from behavioural economics to provide all Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. Students are guided through online tools and video in the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program without incurring a fee, and applying for financial aid. As options are considered for the delivery of a streamlined Life After High School program in Ontario in future years, SRDC is running the program in 69 low-transition schools in 2016-17.
Start-end date: September 2016 - June 2017
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development
The long-term impacts of offering enhanced career education to Manitoba high school students
This project extends analysis of the impacts of offering Future to Discover (FTD) enhanced career education on Manitoba high school students. While FTD reports to date have covered the 2005 to 2010 period for Manitoba, this extension permits analysis of impacts on later education and labour market participation through to the end of 2014 when the participants were in their mid-twenties. The study examines impacts on education and earnings using tax records that capture outcomes for all 1,044 participants regardless of whether the participants still reside in Manitoba.
Start-end date: February 2016 - October 2017
Sponsor: Manitoba Department of Education and Training
Long-term Education and Labour Market Impacts from the Future to Discover Project
Postsecondary access has been the dominant priority in Ontario’s higher education policy over the past three decades. With this project, SRDC is undertaking data collection and analysis to help answer critical questions about the impacts of postsecondary access policies. The study provides answers to the question "When students at the margin of participating in postsecondary education actually go, what happens to them?". This study uses data on 5,400 students from SRDC’s Future to Discover Project and links these to tax records.
Start-end date: January 2016 - May 2018
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
Essential Adult Skills Initiative (EASI)
The Essential Adult Skills Initiative (EASI) is a pilot project using the OECD’s newest version of the PIAAC assessment instrument, Education and Skills Online. The pilot is designed (a) to explore the practical challenges of administering the test to substantial numbers of PSE students and (b) to establish the utility of Education and Skills Online to assess PSE student skills. SRDC is advising the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario on planned survey design and analysis including sample size estimation.
Start-end date: January 2016 - December 2016
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
Assistive Equipment and Technology for Students with Disabilities
There is a commitment to support students with disabilities in the post-secondary environment by federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions, as well as post-secondary institutions. The advent of assistive technology over the last few decades has drastically altered the ways in which curriculum is delivered in education and has also resulted in making education much more accessible to students with disabilities. In partnership with the Neil Squire Society, SRDC is conducting a literature and information source review; developing an inventory of assistive technology for barriers to post-secondary education; reviewing new and emerging technologies and the assessment processes used to identify suitable technologies; as well as the application of assistive technology as part of the universal design in curriculum delivery. The findings from this study will inform decision making for all jurisdictions and post-secondary institutions experiencing challenges related to the accommodation of increasing numbers of students with identified disabilities, the rapidly evolving state of assistive technology and the effective provision of the most appropriate and applicable assistive technology to address disability related barriers to education.
Start-end date: December 2015 - March 2017
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education
Measuring Resilience as an Education Outcome
SRDC is investigating the most appropriate means for Ontario postsecondary institutions to assess the impacts of their programs on student resilience. In addition to an extensive literature review, the study assesses how well one of the most promising existing measures of resilience (the Brief Resilience Scale) predicts student coping behaviours over a three-year period post-measurement. The project report includes the combined results and recommendations for next steps based on lessons learned from the literature and from implementing resilience measures in the field.
Start-end date: May 2015 - April 2016
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
Demonstrating an enriched Kocihta eMentoring Program Model – A Design/Development Phase
The first phase of a project to tackle one of Canada’s major policy problems: too few Indigenous youth achieving successful transition into the labour market. SRDC is working with Kocihta - a national Indigenous charity founded in 2013 by the Aboriginal Human Resource Council - to develop and test an innovative program model. The model bridges career education to eMentoring with the intent to encourage Indigenous youths to identify and pursue their desired career paths, thereby enhancing their educational investments and improving their labour market outcomes. This phase of the project involves designing an enriched eMentoring program model and developing a comprehensive, detailed implementation and evaluation plan for Phase 2. The main ‘developmental’ activities include: continuing discussions with potential collaborators; developing the intervention/delivery model; finalizing the conceptual evaluation framework; developing the evaluation plan, feasibility and market research for low-cost delivery of eMentoring; and identifying potential funders for a subsequent demonstration project.
Start-end date: April 2015 - May 2016
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor
PSE Mobility of French Immersion Secondary School Students in Central Southwestern Ontario
The study surveys high school students in grades 11 and 12 enrolled in English high schools offering a French immersion program to establish the viability of offering PSE programs in French immersion in the central and southwestern regions of Ontario. A stratified sample frame is used to select 12 school boards and 22 high schools offering French immersion and Extended French programs. Secondary school students complete an online survey on their language preference for university and/or college studies (i.e., French, English, or both) and factors they are considering when selecting a postsecondary program and a location.
Start-end date: April 2015 - January 2016
Sponsor: University of Ottawa
How youth develop career decisions
Making use of existing literature from Canada and abroad, this study examines when, where and how youth use labour market information to make postsecondary education and career-related decisions, including recommendations for the development and refinement of labour market information tools and initiatives. The report includes design considerations, critical features and strategies including those to adopt and those to avoid.
Start-end date: February 2015 - March 2015
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Long-term impacts of the Life After High School program in BC
This project extends analysis from SRDC’s previous study of the Impact of Lowering Non-financial Barriers on Access to Post-secondary Education (Life After High School) in British Columbia. The intervention tested a sequence of three workshops delivered to high schools’ Grade 12 students intended to encourage the students to apply for post-secondary education and related student financial aid. A total of 50 BC high schools with low rates of students entering post-secondary education are involved. Impacts on students’ enrolment and persistence in post-secondary education, use of student financial aid and program choices are investigated across key subgroups defined by Aboriginal status, gender and high school achievement.
Start-end date: January 2015 - January 2016
Sponsor: Max Bell Foundation
Essential Skills in Douglas College
The Essential Skills in Douglas College (ES in DC) program is offering up to 20 hours of in-class Essential Skills training to students in selected programs. By targeting the training to learner needs, and utilizing occupationally-relevant materials, the program aims to increase students’ literacy and essential skills, and their academic success. The study includes a research framework, designing pre- and post-training student surveys, and analysing administrative data from school records and literacy scores in addition to the survey data. Using historical program data from the school records, SRDC conducts a comparative analysis to estimate program impacts in addition to measuring the outcomes of interest.
Start-end date: August 2014 - August 2015
Sponsor: Douglas College
Market Study and Feasibility Study related to the offer of trades and applied technology programs in the Greater Toronto Area
The goal of the market and feasibility studies is to increase access to trades and applied technology programs for the Francophone population of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The market study focuses on various potential sources of labour force supply and demand based on labour market trends and economic forecasts in the GTA. Analyses address trades and apprenticeship training needs as dictated by the local economy, with an emphasis on the Francophone population. As for the feasibility study, it presents a partnership-based action plan to identify program and service delivery models in the GTA.
Start-end date: July 2014 - September 2014
Sponsor: Collège Boréal d’arts appliqués et de technologie +
Collège d’arts appliqués et de technologie La Cité
Ontario Labour Market Focused Credential Options
SRDC conducted an evidence-based analysis of Ontario’s current mix of labour market credentials to determine whether Ontario has the appropriate mix of credential options in its publicly-funded post-secondary education system to ensure successful student labour market outcomes. The analysis informs the development of detailed recommendations for enhancing the provincial credential framework. Options take into account evidence from eight other jurisdictions and an analysis of potential costs and benefits of the recommended changes.
Start-end date: April 2014 - January 2015
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Skills Bridge essential skills pilot project in BC
Skills Bridge offers Essential Skills training with the aim of ensuring that participants in academic, trades training, and apprenticeship programs emerge fully ready for employment. The pilot project is an outcome evaluation of a system of Essential Skills coaching at three sites – Douglas College, North Island College, and SkillPlan. The performance measures include Essential Skills learning gains, student engagement, and grades. The study develops an evaluation framework and survey instruments, and includes a cost-effectiveness analysis. Implementation of Skills Bridge at the three pilot sites informs a larger consortium of educational institutions implementing Essential Skills training for their students. SRDC is a research partner in the pilot project funded by the participating colleges and industry training institutions.
Start-end date: September 2013 - April 2014
Sponsor: DataAngel Policy Research Inc.
Further Analysis on the Impacts of Needs Assessment Simplification
This project extends work seeking to identify options to simplify student financial aid (SFA) applications in Canada by assessing the scope for limiting or modifying the data elements currently collected to determine SFA offers. The analysis involves data from actual applications and awards. SRDC simulates aid offers to assess the role played by each data element in determining the level and composition of actual aid offers made and runs sensitivity tests for different student sub-groups to assess their vulnerability to the removal or modification of each element. The simulations and sensitivity tests are undertaken at both a national and a provincial level. The main deliverable is a range of simplification options along with the pros and cons of each, including a range of possible effects on program costs.
Start-end date: July 2013 - December 2013
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Life After High School Ontario – Phase II
A pilot project to develop and test streamlined options for delivery of the Life After High School program in Ontario. The program options provide Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. Students are guided through online tools and video in the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program, and applying for financial aid. In the initial stage of the project, SRDC provided consulting services and a set of recommended models for test, including consideration of a variant model for Crown Wards. Following the selection of preferred models, the second stage commenced delivery of the options during the 2013-14 school year. Delivery models vary in order to assess the impact of paying the application fee of either the Ontario College Application Service (OCAS) or the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) and different forms of facilitation. This research project seeks to learn which models are most effective in supporting all Grade 12 students at a school to make applications for post-secondary studies and financial aid, and in increasing enrolment in further education.
Start-end date: April 2013 - March 2016
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Transfert de la recherche ontarienne et des connaissances (TROC)
The TROC initiative (or the Ontario knowledge and research transfer) concerns the development of a portal to facilitate knowledge mobilization research and evaluation findings related to the 2011 Politique d’aménagement linguistique (PAL) policy framework in post-secondary educational institutions and apprenticeship programs. The need for such a portal was first identified during a 2011 symposium introducing the PAL policy framework. Participants at the time noted a gap in their capacity to access research which, in turn, hindered their ability to systematically investigate issues related to post-secondary education and training in a Francophone minority setting. As a preliminary step towards establishing a research agenda, the collective will was to initially invest in the design of a portal for the long term which would: (1) include a centralized directory of key stakeholders; (2) house a clearinghouse of scientific publications and grey literature; (3) focus on known best practices; and (4) provide a forum open to all key stakeholders for exchanging publications and knowledge.
Start-end date: April 2013 - February 2014
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Extension of Future to Discover data collection and analysis
The evaluation of a demonstration project involving 4,400 high-school students in New Brunswick that is testing, through a randomized trial, an alternative form of financial support and enhanced career education as ways to increase youth participation in post-secondary education, especially youth from low-income families. This extension permits the study to collect data for the analysis of outcomes through to the completion of post-secondary education and early labour market experience.
Start-end date: March 2013 - December 2017
Sponsor: New Brunswick Education and Early Childhood Development
Manageable Student Debt Threshold Research
This project assesses current understanding on levels of manageable student debt. It begins with a review of existing theoretical and empirical evidence, both national and international, and an environmental scan of the existing practices in defining and measuring manageable student debt. Current private and public sector practices on definition, calculations, and measurements of manageable debt are gathered through key informant interviews with private sector loan providers, credit agencies, and debt counselling representatives. Data analysis of individual level microdata from Statistics Canada is used to estimate various manageable student debt thresholds, corresponding to those identified in the initial review.
Start-end date: January 2013 - March 2013
Sponsor: Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education
Study of the gaps between French-language and English-language postsecondary education and training systems
SRDC reviews the French-language postsecondary education and training system in Ontario through comparative analyses of the French and English systems. Of particular interest is a review of the gaps between the two systems in terms of access, retention, and participation, as well as the quality of services offered by the French-language postsecondary education and training system in Ontario. In close collaboration with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Ministry of Education, SRDC developed a tool to assist postsecondary and training institutions self-assess the quality of the services they provide to Francophones. The results of this review provide information to both ministries on the strengths of the French-language system and aspects that would benefit from greater attention in order to better serve the student population wishing to pursue studies in French and increase the number of individuals studying in French in Ontario.
Start-end date: December 2012 - March 2013
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Predicting Student Loan Delinquency and Default
This project develops a model to predict student loan delinquency and default based on borrower characteristics using administrative data. The goal is to improve the targeting of at-risk borrowers and improve the efficiency of program resources devoted to reducing student loan default. The work involves documenting the theoretical and empirical evidence to date, a thorough data assessment to identify key variables, statistical modelling of loan delinquency and default, calculating probabilities for different borrower characteristics, and comparing again to the literature to identify discrepancies and new findings.
Start-end date: October 2012 - March 2013
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
School engagement in middle and secondary schools – Phase II
Pilot project for testing educational practices that encourage school engagement among middle and secondary school students. This second phase of the study focuses primarily on creating the measures required for evaluating implementation of the educational practices tested during Phase I of the project. The tools were developed in close collaboration with stakeholders from four schools in the Ottawa region, in particular school board and teaching staff members, as well as students. The third phase of the project aims to evaluate the effect of educational practices on student school engagement. To achieve this, student engagement is examined based on the degree of implementation of educational practices.
Start-end date: October 2012 - April 2013
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario
Needs Assessment Simplification
This project seeks to identify options to simplify student financial aid (SFA) applications in Canada. It does this by assessing the scope for limiting or modifying the data elements currently collected to determine SFA offers. The main analysis involves data on actual applications and awards. SRDC simulates revised aid offers to assess the role played by each data element in determining the level and composition of actual aid offers made and runs sensitivity tests for different student sub-groups to assess their vulnerability to the removal or modification of each element. The simulations and sensitivity tests are undertaken at both a national and a provincial level. Based on these findings and a review of the literature, a range of simplification options are presented along with the pros and cons of each, including a range of possible effects on program costs.
Start-end date: September 2012 - March 2013
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Focus Groups for the Expert Panel on French-language Post-secondary Education
To conduct focus groups with high-school and post-secondary students, learners, and parents from Francophone communities in the Centre and South-West regions of the province, with a view to inform the work of the Expert Panel on the most efficient models to adopt in order to increase the capacity to offer post-secondary education in French in those regions.
Start-end date: February 2012 - May 2012
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Education
School Engagement in Middle School
A pilot project aiming to develop, apply, and test teaching strategies that enhance school engagement in middle school students. The existing strategies are identified based on document and literature reviews. In addition, new strategies are developed using a motivational framework extensively applied to the school setting. The strategies are then tested in two classrooms in a school located in the Ottawa area.
Start-end date: September 2011 - January 2012
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario
Life After High School in Ontario
A pilot project to test an innovative program called Life After High School in Ontario. Starting in October 2011, the program provides Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. In three on-line facilitated workshops at 43 schools, students are guided through the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program, and applying for financial aid. The application fee of either the Ontario College Application Service (OCAS) or the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) is covered by the program. This research project seeks to learn whether supporting all Grade 12 students at a school in making real applications for post-secondary studies and financial aid increases enrolment in further education.
Start-end date: May 2011 - March 2015
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
First-generation Post-secondary Education Households: Scoping Paper
The purpose of this project is to describe existing data sources and pertinent variables contained therein that relate to first-generation PSE households (FGH) in Canada. First-generation PSE households consist of households where neither parent has completed PSE, namely a university, college, or apprenticeship program. A list of data sets with the pros and cons of each, along with the available information contained therein, are to be produced.
Start-end date: November 2010 - February 2011
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Relationship Between Funding, Learning Objectives, and Choice of Instructional Programs and Courses for Adult Learning
Making use of the micro-data from the 2008 Access to Supports and Education Training Survey and the Adult Education and Training Surveys, this study documents existing theoretical evidence and conducts descriptive and multivariate analysis on the sources of funding for Canadian adult learners, with a focus on the relationships with learning objectives and instructional programs and courses chosen.
Start-end date: November 2010 - March 2011
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology
Providing expert advice on accessibility of post-secondary education in Canada.
Start-end date: June 2010 - June 2010
Sponsor: Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology
Impact of Lowering Non-financial Barriers on Access to Post-secondary Education (Life After High School)
The project aims to develop, implement, and test an intervention to find new ways to lower non-financial barriers on access to post-secondary education. The intervention targets British Columbia high schools with low rates of students entering post-secondary education. A sequence of three workshops delivered to the schools’ Grade 12 students have the intent of encouraging the students to apply for post-secondary education and related student financial aid.
Start-end date: March 2010 - March 2013
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada + Carthy Foundation
Programs for PSE Access and Retention of Under-represented Groups
University and college partners are assessed in terms of their data-readiness for evaluating their programs, supporting achievement of goals, development, or implementation of new programs to increase participation in PSE of first-generation scholars, Aboriginal students, and those from lower-SES backgrounds.
Start-end date: May 2009 - November 2009
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Labour Market Information to Help High-School Students Access Post-secondary Education: The “Life After High School Experiment”
Concept paper to assess whether the process of providing information to high-school students about labour markets, their post-secondary options, potential post-secondary program acceptance, and eligibility for financial aid can improve knowledge acquisition and human capital acquisition.
Start-end date: March 2009 - May 2009
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (Policy Research)
Feasibility Study for Evaluating Debt Management Measures
A study exploring the feasibility of using random assignment designs to test various debt management measures administered by Canada Student Loans, including the Repayment Assistance Program (RAP) in the fall of 2009.
Start-end date: October 2008 - December 2008
Sponsor: Human Resources and Social Development Canada
Willingness to Pay for Post-secondary Education Among Under-represented Groups
A study to evaluate high-school students’ debt aversion or willingness to incur debt to access post-secondary education. The study focuses in particular on the decision-making process of youth from low SES families, Aboriginal families, and rural sectors, and on first generation students. Participants are tested for numeracy, risk, and time preferences. A sample of 1,400 students in 14 schools across 4 provinces took part in this project.
Start-end date: May 2007 - December 2009
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
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Keeping in Touch with Project Participants: A Mailing Experiment
A randomized experiment to test the effect of between-wave mailing contact on survey response among Future to Discover project participants.
Start-end date: January 2006 - March 2007
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Research Support for Dissemination: Early Analyses of Future to Discover Baseline Data
In advance of planned publication, the Future to Discover evaluation team undertook early analysis of Future to Discover’s two recruited cohorts from New Brunswick and one cohort from Manitoba, prepared tables for three conferences and presented at the conferences.
Start-end date: December 2005 - April 2006
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Making Education Work
Provides advice on the random assignment evaluation for a project concerned with increasing educational attainment among Manitoba Aboriginal students.
Start-end date: August 2005 - December 2009
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Future to Discover Pilot Project (FTD)
The evaluation of a demonstration project involving 5,400 high-school students in New Brunswick and Manitoba that is testing, through a randomized trial, an alternative form of financial support and enhanced career education as ways to increase youth participation in post-secondary education, especially youth from low-income families. To date, SRDC has published the Future to Discover Pilot Project: Early Implementation Report (2007), Future to Discover: Interim Impacts Report (2009), Future to Discover: Post-secondary Impacts Report (2012), Future to Discover: Fourth Year Post-secondary Impacts Report (2014), Future to Discover: Fifth Year Post-secondary Impacts Report (2016), Future to Discover: Sixth Year Post-secondary Impacts Report (2016), and Future to Discover: Seventh Year Post-secondary Impacts Report (2019).
Start-end date: August 2003 - December 2013
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
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Design Options for Demonstration Projects to Improve Participation in Post-secondary Education
Start-end date: May 2002 - June 2002
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Student Financial Assistance Programs
Report for HRDC’s Lessons Learned Series.
Start-end date: October 1997 - October 1997
Sponsor: Human Resources Development Canada
