Meeting Students Where They Are: Evaluating the Impact of the Increasing College Access Network

• In Event: Improving Student Success in Online Dual Enrollment Courses through the Increasing College Access Network

Abstract

Objectives
The goals of the impact study of the Increasing College Access Network (ICAN) were to evaluate the effects of ICAN on students’ academic and social-emotional learning (SEL) outcomes, and to examine whether ICAN influenced students’ perceptions of their learning environments. The impact evaluation was guided by the following research questions:
1. What is the impact of ICAN on students’ dual enrollment (DE) course grades and unweighted grade point averages (GPA)?
2. What is the impact of ICAN on students’ self-efficacy, self-regulation, academic self-esteem, and future orientation?
3. What is the impact of ICAN on students’ perceptions of instructor support?
Perspectives
ICAN builds on the CASEL framework (CASEL, 2012, 2015) which posits that (a) there are multiple ways to “teach” students SEL skills, including the incorporation of teaching practices that support students’ application of SEL skills, and (b) SEL skills are beneficial to students in school, at work, and as community members.
Methods
The impact evaluation of ICAN was a student-level randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which students enrolled in selected math and English courses with participating instructors were randomly assigned to the treatment and business-as-usual (BAU) control conditions. Randomization was conducted within instructors such that we randomly assigned approximately half of enrolled students each semester into the ICAN section (where instructors implemented instructional practices with SEL strategies) and half into the BAU section. To address the research questions, we conducted intent-to-treat analyses to estimate the impact of being randomly assigned to course sections implementing ICAN’s SEL strategies on student outcomes. Findings presented here include four semesters of implementation between fall 2023 and spring 2025, and the study sample includes 208 students in the RCT sample (105 treatment students, 103 BAU students).
Data Sources
Students’ perceptions of instructor support and SEL outcomes were measured at the end of each semester through an online survey. We calculated scale scores for SEL outcomes and measures of instructor support by averaging responses to relevant survey items. Course grades and end-of-year GPA are still being collected through administrative data from partnering colleges and high schools.
Results
Impact findings for students’ academic outcomes will be ready before the 2026 AERA annual meeting. Preliminary analyses of student survey data did not find a significant impact of ICAN on students’ SEL skills (see Exhibit 5). However, ICAN students were significantly more likely than students in the BAU condition to report that their instructors provided supportive training and that their teacher cared about them, with effect sizes exceeding 0.3 standard deviations.
Scholarly Significance
Few studies have demonstrated the ability of online classroom environments to improve student outcomes. This study fills a critical gap in the research literature by addressing two of our most urgent educational problems: (a) the deep inequities in access to and engagement and success in high-quality DE and (b) the lack of SEL supports that amplify authentic learning.

Authors

• Uttara Balakrishnan, American Institutes for Research

• Kristina L. Zeiser, American Institutes for Research