RDP CONSULTING
INFORM • INFLUENCE • INCITE
PROJECTS & REPORTS
Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion (DE4EC) is a multi-year collaborative initiative among the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, College Futures Foundation, and Tipping Point Community, carried out with research support from RDP Consulting. DE4EC helps California community colleges and their high school partners build dual enrollment programs centered on strengthening equitable access and completion outcomes for students underrepresented in higher education, particularly African American/Black, Latina/o/x, and students experiencing economic disadvantage.
The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group)
Supported and led research and evaluation projects, prepared reports on findings and results, and provided professional development and technical assistance supporting community college administrators to use what is learned to ensure equitable and positive academic and career outcomes for students.
The Ethic of Love: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of How Umoja Supports Its Students’ Academic and Life Success: Report highlighting key themes and findings from quantitative and qualitative research designed to explore the impact of Umoja programs on students.
Grounding Onboarding in the Student Experience: Guide for examining and redesigning how students experience onboarding based on the Support (Re)defined six success factor framework.
Dual Enrollment Toolkit: Guide developed in partnership with the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and the San Joaquin Delta
Community College District to assist and inform secondary and postsecondary partners who are considering launching or expanding dual enrollment programs for students who are historically underrepresented on college campuses.
Student Support (Re)defined Research and Design Methodology: Overview of methodology guiding an examination of six factors associated with college students' academic success.
Blue Shield of California Foundation
Managed a large scale grantmaking and capacity initiative from launch to conclusion for a cohort of grantee partners. Work included developing tools to spur partners’ self-reflection, hosting cohort convenings and regional workshops to build capacity and promote a culture of networking, sharing and learning, and providing one-on-one technical assistance to a cohort subgroup. RDP coordinated and supported activities of other BSAV-funded consultants (e.g., the external evaluation team, SPRA, also working on the initiative). The initial literature review that informed this work can be accessed here along with an executive summary in English and Spanish.
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
As a consultant to the RP Group and in partnership with the Chancellor’s Office, I coauthored Ensuring Equitable Access and Success, a guide highlighting why and how administrators, faculty and staff should and can examine disproportionate impact in the context of matriculation services. Disproportionate impact is a condition where some students’ access to key resources and supports and ultimately their academic success may be hampered by inequitable practices, policies and approaches to student support. Using the guide as an outline, participants will learn about (1) strategies that colleges have implemented in an effort to mitigate disproportionate impact, and (2) how to access and analyze data based on specific disproportionate impact criteria to facilitate action-focused discussions of research results. The guide is in line with the Student Success Act (SB 1456), which is designed to refocus on effective practices and ensure that more students have access to matriculation services.
The East Bay Community Foundation
Co-lead the learning and evaluation of the East Bay Community Foundation's Accelerating and Stabilizing Communities through Equitable Nonprofit Development (ASCEND): Black-led Organizations (BLO) initiative which seeks to:
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Enhance the growth, sustainability, impact and sense of community among Black-led anchor institutions in the Bay Area in order to ensure the long-term vitality of those organizations and the communities of color they serve.
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Apply a fresh, dynamic and replicable approach to collaborative capacity building that further develops the nonprofit sector with a lens towards race and equity.
The purpose of the learning and evaluation work is to provide insight into the progress of the ASCEND: BLO Initiative-designed to be a replicable model for race-based capacity building- its success, challenges, and recommendations for its future development.
Download the Year One Evaluation here.
Download the Year Two Evaluation here.
Just Equations
Partnered to investigate California community college (CCC) and state university (CSU) students equitable access to and information about available math pathways; conducted and summarized focus groups and interviews with administrators and students at colleges to gather their perspectives and experiences with early math reform; facilitated conversations with other researchers and key stakeholders to discuss, design, and conduct future research studies.
Solving for Equity in Practice: New Insights on Advancing College Math Opportunity and Success investigates how college and university professionals analyze and address the equity implications of redesigned math pathways to ensure that all students can access rigorous and relevant college-level math courses.
Crossing Signals: What College Websites Tell Students About Taking Mathematics
examines how college websites support or detract from students’ abilities to make appropriate choices about their math courses and pathways. In particular, the report focused on how that guidance supports equitable outcomes.
Go Figure: Exploring Equity in Students' Postsecondary Math Pathway Choices explores the impact of new math reforms on students—particularly students of color—attending California community colleges and state universities.
Marcus Foster Education Institute
Evaluated College Bound Brotherhood, a regional initiative funded by the Kapor Center and managed by the Marcus Foster Education Institute, which provides academic and personal guidance and support, college and career planning and preparation, and scholarships to improve post-secondary achievement and life outcomes for African American males in the Bay Area. The initiative was developed to increase Black male students college- going rates, and the evaluation provided an opportunity to speak to young Black men about their experiences as part of the College Bound Brotherhood. Additional interviews with staff, philanthropic and community partners provided insight about the initiative's development, design, and progress. An examination of students' academic and behavioral indicators highlighted key successes.
Neighborhood Funders Group
Conducted an evaluation of two of NFG’s funder cohort learning programs: Funders for a Just Economy and Project Phoenix.