Evaluation of the Virginia College Advising Corps

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students walking

The Center for Survey Research (CSR) conducted a multi-phase, mixed-mode evaluation of the Virginia College Advising Corps (VCAC) to support the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) in planning and developing future directions for post-secondary advising in Virginia. VCAC is a “near peer” mentoring model that places recent college graduates into secondary schools to provide postsecondary advising to high school students. 

To identify the key strengths and opportunities for improvement of the VCAC program, CSR conducted a series of interviews, focus groups, and surveys across five stakeholder groups: high school counselors, high school principals, staff of higher education institutions, VCAC advisers, and graduated high school students. The findings from this evaluation are being used to help support and improve postsecondary advising to increase both college access and workforce readiness of students graduating high school across the Commonwealth of Virginia.