Measuring the impact of high-intensity college access activities—a pivot from program-level impact analyses

Abstract Information: This presentation will describe how a team evaluating Hawai'i GEAR UP, a statewide college access program, adapted their impact study design to overcome a variety of logistical challenges in constructing a counterfactual. Instead of evaluating the program as a whole, the team focused on evaluating selected high-intensity activities that required a higher time commitment from students (e.g., summer programs). The counterfactual was composed of students from the same schools who did not participate in these activities. The team will share how they identified the activities (considering factors such as participant sample size as well as theoretical connection between the activity type and the outcome), created the matched comparison groups, and analyzed impact. The benefits and limitations of this approach will be discussed.