An
8-page policy brief calls for a better way to spend federal dollars on preparing disadvantaged students for college. According to the report, the TRIO programs (which includes Upward Bound, Talent Search, Upward Bound Math-Science, Student Support Services, and a few smaller programs) and the GEAR UP program show no research-based evidence of success and it calls for consolidation of these programs into a single competitive block grant program with a 2% set aside for research and demonstration projects around funded successes.
I am doubtful this goes anywhere, even if, as the author notes, it is consistent with other Obama administration efforts to move to research-based programs and competitive grants over formula. These programs have pretty strong constituencies in DC. They are perennially held up for elimination, and yet they are still around.