How Do We Know If Learning Assistance Programs Work?

Many colleges provide students with learning assistance services, such as tutoring and supplemental instruction, to help them succeed. However, assessing the effectiveness of each of these services often proves difficult due to limited availability of data, small sample sizes and lack of service documentation. Because of these limitations, researchers often rely on basic statistical techniques, such as chi‐square, or qualitative methods to measure the impact of these interventions. These techniques, while helpful for preliminary analysis, do not take into account treatment intensity or the contributions of external factors to student success. Multivariate models attempt to control for these external variables and may provide insight into the unique contributions of learning assistance programs to student success. This session will demonstrate how a multivariate logistic regression model can be used to measure the effectiveness of a learning assistance program and how this data can be presented to leaders to inform program planning and decision making.