To address well-documented achievement gaps in factors critical to college success, the Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County to implement the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) college preparation program and the Teens of Promise (TOPS) program in a unique blended model known as AVID/TOPS. AVID is a national school-wide educational reform program designed to increase academic achievement and postsecondary education degree attainment for under-represented students in the academic middle. The core elements of the AVID program are untracking students through enrollment in college-prep courses and providing extensive academic support, study-skill training and college preparation. The core elements of the TOPS programs, developed by the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, are out-of-school activities like tutoring, mentoring, summer internships, and college visits.

This paper uses propensity score matching to examine the impact of AVID/TOPS in its fourth year of implementation in the four high schools comprising the Madison Metropolitan School district. We conduct both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the impact on academic, behavioral, and attendance outcomes and explore variation in impacts associated with student demographics and the length of time students participate in the program.

The analysis indicates that the matching algorithm effectively established baseline equivalence on key covariates according to What Works Clearinghouse standards. All participants and comparison students share the same high school and racial/ethnic background, and are further matched on gender, eligibility for free or reduced price lunch, English Language Learner status, Exceptional Education Needs status, and middle school records (grades, behavior referrals and attendance rates). Estimated program impacts include: (1) positive impacts on high school cumulative and core grade point averages, especially for low-income students and low-income students of color; (2) increased enrollment rates in Advanced Placement/honors courses; (3) a reduction in behavioral referrals and an increase in class attendance and (4) higher high school graduation rates. AVID/TOP appears to have a greater impact for students who spend more two or more years in the program, and incurs larger impacts for low-income students and students of color. Implications for future research, policy, and practice are discussed.