Study Overview

In 2025, CTData Collaborative was hired by Greater Hartford Gives Foundation to work with Hartford Promise to conduct an evaluation of the Hartford Promise program and the Greater Futures scholarship. The Greater Futures Scholarship provides up to $20,000 in additional financial aid per year for Hartford Promise scholars who enrolled in college in the fall of 2025 or later. The evaluation will last for six years and track outcomes for Hartford Promise scholars through college graduation and their early career.

What is being evaluated?

An evaluation is a type of study used by organizations to understand how a program they administer is working and quantify participants’ progress toward program goals. In this study, we want to better understand Hartford Promise and the Greater Futures scholarships’ unique effects on college enrollment, persistence, graduation, debt, and early career employment. Through this study, we will examine how parts of the program contribute to these outcomes. As we learn, we will share insights that Hartford Promise can use to increase student success. This study should ultimately benefit Hartford students and the Hartford Public Schools community.

How do I fit into this study?

We are working with Hartford Promise and Hartford Public Schools (HPS) to analyze scholar demographic and school performance data they collect as part of their daily operations (administrative data). All current and former Hartford Promise scholars are part of this study. We will interview a small group of Hartford Promise scholars each year to hear about their experience and how Hartford Promise shaped their college and early career outcomes. Participation in a one-hour study interview is voluntary and is not a requirement of the Hartford Promise program.

How does the study benefit me?

The yearly findings we report to Hartford Promise and Greater Hartford Gives can be used to improve the program for current scholars. Study findings will guide our understanding of how the program is working for students and potentially identify new supports that can further improve students’ progress towards graduation and career. Scholars who participate in an interview will receive a $25 gift card.

Are there any risks?

There is minimal risk to participants. We have entered into data use agreements with HPS and Hartford Promise that require data is only used for this study and must be kept confidential and stored in a secure environment. Interview responses will also remain confidential and be combined for analysis. Combined de-identified findings will be shared with the Hartford Promise community in a report. We may include anonymous quotes in the report but we will remove any information that could identify participants. We will destroy the data at the end of the study.

How is my data being used?

Real scholar data is being used to understand the impact of the Hartford Promise program and Greater Futures scholarship on Hartford students. Data includes de-identified Hartford Public Schools (HPS) administrative data and data students have provided to Hartford Promise to track progress toward graduation and post-grad employment. Use of student data for program improvement is described in HPS’s data privacy policy and in Hartford Promise’s “Authorization to Release Student Records” consent form. Student data used for the study is de-identified and combined for statistical analyses. Findings from this analysis will be provided to Hartford Promise and Greater Hartford Gives in a report to share with their communities. Only aggregated data including groups of students large enough to avoid identification will be visible to the Hartford Promise community in report tables or data visualizations.

When can I see the results?

We will share results with Hartford Promise and Greater Hartford Gives each fall. They may share some of these results with the community. The public will be able to learn about our full findings at the end of the study in Spring/Summer 2031.