Publications

Established and emerging Kessler Scholars Programs at 16 colleges and universities are embedded in and supported by the Kessler Scholars Collaborative, a nationwide network that guides program development and implementation, facilitates practice sharing across institutions, and provides students with opportunities to connect with other first-generation scholars across the country. Ithaka S+R’s multi-year mixed-methods evaluation aims to assess the long-term relationship between program participation and students’ college experiences and psychosocial and academic outcomes, in order to support program improvement and maximize…

Ithaka S+R has served as the external evaluation partner for the Kessler Scholars Collaborative since 2022 when the network expanded to 16 institutions. The evaluation is a five-year, mixed-methods, formative assessment, which aims to support implementation and maximize impact across the entire network and at each of the 16 participating institutions. This Ithaka S+R evaluation builds on an evaluation of the program's initial years gathered by the Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER) at the University of Michigan.