What the research says about portfolio management models

Posted by Alison Murawski on May 7, 2012 in Blog

The School District of Philadelphia recently announced its intention to dramatically reform its school governance model in an effort to improve public school performance. The District’s plan calls for major elements of a portfolio management model to be put in place, including:

• a reduced central management structure that delegates most operational control to the school-level; and
• increased accountability and school choice by closing poor performing schools and assembling diverse groupings of public and charter schools into “achievement networks.”

As the School District of Philadelphia examines this management approach and the public debates its strengths and weaknesses, RFA has produced a brief that draws on rigorous, reputable research. It provides a summary of what is known and what is not known, and poses a set of basic questions for Philadelphia policymakers, school officials, parents, students and members of the education community to consider.

RFA at AERA

Posted by Alison Murawski on Apr 11, 2012 in Blog

RFA will have a strong showing at the American Education Research Association (AERA) conference in Vancouver, B.C. this week. The conference is the largest annual gathering of educational researchers and provides a high-profile audience with whom RFA can share our work. Two projects – our study of teacher tools aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and our evaluation of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Schools Initiative – will be featured in symposia at AERA.

Symposium: From the Common Core State Standards to Rigorous Instructional Practice: Creating Knowledge Around the Development and Use of Formative Assessment Tools

Date: Friday, April 13
Time: 12:00-1:30
Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, Second Level – East Room 17
Chair: Kate Shaw, RFA’s Executive Director

RFA’s portion of this discussion, entitled Generating Useful Knowledge through Formative Evaluation: The CCSS Tools Initiative, focuses on RFA’s effort to generate useful, actionable knowledge for a wide range of stakeholders during the pilot phase of this initiative. Learn more about this project.

Symposium: An Educational Renaissance? School Transformation, Turnaround, and Restart in Chicago and Philadelphia

Date: Monday, April 16
Time: 10:35-12:05
Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, Second Level – West Room 204

This session will consider the processes and outcomes of school transformation, turnaround, and restart initiatives in Chicago and Philadelphia. RFA presentations will focus on teachers’ experiences in the first year of the turnaround (Renaissance Schools) initiative, year one student outcomes, and in-depth case study research in Year 2. The case studies  include examination of parent and community engagement – a unique component of Philadelphia’s turnaround model. Learn more about this project.

TODAY! RFA’s Public Forum on Renaissance Schools Initiative

Posted by Alison Murawski on Apr 10, 2012 in Blog

Join us today at 4:00 pm for a public forum on our evaluation of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Schools Initiative! You’ll have the opportunity to hear from the RFA researchers who conducted the study, as well as Feather Houstoun of the SRC and other guest panelists. Space is limited, reserve your seat immediately. The event will take place at International House, 3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

Save the Date: RFA Renaissance Schools Forum

Posted by Alison Murawski on Mar 28, 2012 in Blog

Save the date: April 10

Join us for a forum on RFA’s evaluation of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Schools Initiative

Philadelphia’s Renaissance Schools Initiative has been the source of much discussion and debate since it was implemented in 2009 with the goal of dramatically improving chronically low-performing schools in a short period of time. Last month, RFA’s evaluation of the Renaissance Schools found that the first year saw impressive gains in student achievement, which generated further discussion about the reform effort, its effectiveness and its sustainability.

We want to hear your questions and comments, too. You are invited to a public forum to discuss RFA’s Renaissance Schools report on Tuesday, April 10 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. The forum is an opportunity to hear from the researchers who conducted the study, as well as education officials and community leaders.

Space is limited. RSVP to info@researchforaction.org.

Details

RFA’s Renaissance Schools Forum
Tuesday, April 10
4:00 – 5:30 pm
International House, South American Room (2nd floor)
3701 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Background

RFA’s research on the Renaissance Schools represents the most exhaustive study of school turnarounds – a key element in federal and state education reforms – in the commonwealth and region to date. The study focused on determining whether the first group of 13 schools – both District-run Promise Academies and Charter-managed schools – made early progress toward the longer-term goal of dramatically improving student outcomes. Overall, both district- and charter-managed models of Renaissance Schools made notable progress in Year One of the Initiative, improving significantly on all other student outcomes measured. However, these schools remain among the lowest performing in the District. It is also too early in the life of the Initiative to determine whether these preliminary results will be sustained over time.

To download:

• The full report, click here.
• The executive summary, click here.

And, be sure to check this page on our website to follow emerging national and local news coverage on this report.

Statement on the Institute of Education Sciences/What Works Clearinghouse Rating of Renaissance Schools Initiative: 18 Month Interim Report

Posted by Alison Murawski on Mar 16, 2012 in Blog

March 16, 2012 – The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) yesterday released a rating of Research for Action’s most recent evaluation of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Schools Initiative. The rating – does not meet WWC’s evidence standards – was assigned with the explanation that “the Renaissance schools and comparison schools did not have similar achievement levels in the year before the Renaissance Schools Initiative began. Therefore, any changes in student achievement or attendance cannot be attributed solely to the implementation of the Renaissance Schools Initiative.”

However, further explanation is required to clarify the WWC’s rating. It was not possible to create a comparison school group with equivalent achievement levels prior to the Renaissance Initiative because the District selected the lowest performing schools in the District to participate in the reform effort, thereby removing the possibility of identifying a fully equivalent comparison school group. In identifying schools to participate in the Initiative, the School District of Philadelphia included all of the lowest-performing schools in the District, based on the District’s School Performance Index (SPI). As a result, researchers identified a set of comparison schools that most clearly mirrored the Renaissance Schools.

RFA utilized two sets of controls to rule out alternative explanations of the performance of the Renaissance Schools. First, the Renaissance Schools were compared to 72 schools in the District that were as similar as possible to the Renaissance Schools: They had very low School Performance Indices, and very similar demographic characteristics. Second, RFA utilized an interrupted time series design that compared the performance of both the Renaissance Schools and the comparison schools five years prior to the Renaissance Schools Initiative, and then one year after, to determine whether school performance differed prior to the Initiative. RFA’s analyses revealed that the rate of student growth in the five years prior to the start of the Renaissance Initiative was statistically equivalent to the comparison group of schools. Given the implementation of the Initiative, this research design provides the most rigorous examination possible of its impact. As such, RFA’s study provides strong evidence of an early, positive effect of the Renaissance Schools reform model.

Kate Shaw, RFA’s executive director, said in response to the WWC’s rating: “The District’s goal with the Renaissance Schools Initiative was to significantly improve student performance in the lowest performing schools in the district—not to conduct a scientific experimental study by randomly assigning schools to the Initiative. RFA constructed the most rigorous study available given the lack of random assignment. Our analyses detected initial, encouraging gains in student achievement and attendance in all K-8 Renaissance schools, and it is highly likely that these gains are due to participation in the Renaissance Schools Initiative. However, we continue to feel strongly that more research is needed to determine whether these gains will be sustained over time. RFA remains committed to its goal of contributing the rigorous research needed to make responsible decisions to the field of education, and we stand behind the integrity and accuracy of our evaluation on the Renaissance Schools.”