College Completion Movement Helps Spur Academic Intervention Program Innovations: ...While Coppin State has offered summer bridge programs for years as an optional tool for students seeking a leg up, this year was the first time the administration mandated attendance for remedial students. Coppin State’s new initiative, an effort to improve its 20 percent graduation rate, contributes to a growing national trend among colleges to boost their retention and graduation efforts. They are acting on research that shows students have a greater likelihood of staying in school and graduating if deficiencies—academic and financial—are addressed early and vigorously. The efforts are at various schools but especially at those with low graduation rates and those that have traditionally focused on low-income, first-time college students with academic achievement deficiencies dating to high school or earlier.
