UW–Madison’s Taylor Odle, an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies (EPS), and Sky Duke, a doctoral candidate in EPS, recently published a paper identifying colleges and universities with strong outcomes for Pell-eligible students.

Odle and Duke wrote the paper, “High Performing Pell Institutions: Identifying and Exploring Colleges and Universities with High Low-Income Student Success,” in collaboration with Elizabeth Dunens, and it was published by AERA Open. The paper identifies institutions across multiple measures of success, including those that enroll a high share of Pell recipients, reduce or eliminate completion gaps between Pell and non-Pell students, and provide strong labor market earnings for graduates.

Acknowledging persistent socioeconomic inequalities in college enrollment and completion for students from low-income backgrounds, the authors explore common features of institutions where low-income students are more successful. They argue that policy and practice conversations must move beyond access to also consider equitable completion and economic outcomes for these students.

The authors conclude with a list of 149 “High Performing Pell Institutions” nationwide they identify as worth examining for future research.

Read the full paper in AERA Open.