Over the past decade, high school graduation and college enrollment rates in the United States have increased slightly, yet approximately 30 percent of students are still not graduating high school and, among those that do graduate, only 70 percent are enrolling in higher education. Additionally, recent research has demonstrated that, even when students earn a high school diploma, a large proportion have not developed the skills necessary to succeed academically in college. Higher educational attainment is associated with better employment prospects, increased lifetime earnings, greater job satisfaction, better health habits, lower participation in public assistance programs, and greater civic engagement. The demand for individuals with postsecondary education is growing, as technological change increases the share of highly skilled jobs. The individual and societal benefits of higher education warrant the interest of federal and state policy makers in increasing higher educational attainment in the state. Increasing college access is often seen as the necessary first step in achieving this policy goal. For decades, college access programs in the United States have aimed to improve preparation for and rates of enrollment in college, particularly for underrepresented populations. Beginning with the TRIO programs in the 1960s, the federal government has sponsored many of these policies and, in recent years, it has considerably expanded its role. Efforts at the federal level have been supplemented by numerous programs run by state and local governments, districts, foundations, universities, and private businesses. Despite the long history and multiplicity of college access programs in the nation, the effectiveness of these interventions is not well understood. This panel examines the range of programs that have and have not been rigorously evaluated and synthesizes the findings on effectiveness of those programs with credible evidence and it showcases recent evaluations of innovative strategies that have been tested at scale in multiple settings. The set of presentations will provide a rich platform for discussion of opportunities and approaches for advancing policy and practice through more strategic use of evidence in the development, enactment, and assessment of federal, state, and institutional policy. The panel comprises three papers: (1) an up-to-date synthesis of evidence on the effectiveness of college access initiatives (Kata Orosz, University of Pennsylvania); (2) a paper detailing the methods, findings, and policy implications of the mixed methods evaluation of an intervention that blends the AVID and TOPS program for high school students (Sara Goldrick-Rab, University of Wisconsin); and (3) a randomized controlled trial of the school-level multi-modal College Ambition Program (Barbara Schneider, Michigan State University). The panel will be chaired by Dr. Thomas Brock,Institute of Education Sciences, who will lay the policy context for college access initiatives. The discussant will be Rebecca Maynard, University of Pennsylvania, who in addition to commenting on the papers will offer reflections on the changing context for college access interventions and research.