Uneven Playing Field: Demographic Differences and High School 'Choice' in Philadelphia Mar 2010 Deborah Good, Eva Gold, Shani Adia Evans, Clarisse Haxton, Holly Plastaras Maluk, Cecily A. Mitchell, Elaine Simon

Every fall, eighth graders participate in the School District of Philadelphia's high school application and admissions process, vying for spots in a tiered system of public high schools across the ...

Transition to High School: School 'Choice' and Freshman Year in Philadelphia Feb 2010 Eva Gold, Shani Adia Evans, Clarisse Haxton, Holly Plastaras Maluk, Cecily A. Mitchell, Elaine Simon, Deborah Good

The School District of Philadelphia's tiered system of selective, nonselective, and charter high schools, and the process for high school choice, has created real variation in the degree to which h...

Challenges to Freshman Year Interventions in Philadelphia Feb 2010 Eva Gold, Shani Adia Evans, Clarisse Haxton, Holly Plastaras Maluk, Cecily A. Mitchell, Elaine Simon, Deborah Good

Philadelphia made early investments in reforms designed to address the challenges of large neighborhood high schools, including supports for the critical ninth grade transition year. Well over a d...

Annual Report - 2009 2010 Research for Action

Annual Report for fiscal year 2008-2009; focus on RFA research on teacher quality and high school reform

Context, Conditions, and Consequences: Freshman Year Transition in Philadelphia Jan 2010 Eva Gold, Shani Adia Evans, Clarisse Haxton, Holly Plastaras Maluk, Cecily A. Mitchell, Elaine Simon, Deborah Good

This policy brief focuses on the School District of Philadelphia's high school selection process and the ways in which it reinforces and compounds inequities that already exist among the District's...

Complicated Choices: Struggling to Meet NCLB Requirements AND Remain Faithful to a School's Educational Vision and Practice Dec 2009 Eva Travers

In an era of high-stakes accountability, school leaders often face contradictory pressures as they strive to improve student performance. They must meet the federal mandate of NCLB for student achi...

Philadelphia's Teacher Appraisal System: Needs Improvement Oct 2009 Camika Royal, Matthew Tossman

Philadelphia's Teacher Appraisal System lays out a number of features of the current appraisal system used by the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) that keep it from effectively supporting high...

Going Small: Progress and Challenges of Philadelphia's Small High Schools Jul 2009 Tracey A. Hartmann, Rebecca J. Reumann-Moore, Shani Adia Evans, Clarisse Haxton, Holly Plastaras Maluk, Ruth Curran Neild

Between 2003 and 2007, and without significant outside funding, the School District of Philadelphia created 25 new small high schools. This study, begun by Research for Action in 2006, follows the...

Going Small: Progress and Challenges of Philadelphia's Small High Schools Executive Summary Jul 2009 Tracey A. Hartmann, Rebecca J. Reumann-Moore, Shani Adia Evans, Clarisse Haxton, Holly Plastaras Maluk, Ruth Curran Neild

Executive Summary: Between 2003 and 2007, and without significant outside funding, the School District of Philadelphia created 25 new small high schools. This study, begun by Research for Action i...

Making the Most of Interim Assessment Data: Lessons from Philadelphia - Executive Summary Jun 2009 Jolley Bruce Christman, Ruth Curran Neild, Katrina E. Bulkley, Roseann Liu, Cecily A. Mitchell, Eva Travers, Suzanne Blanc

This is the executive summary of RFA's report, Making the Most of Interim Assessment Data: Lessons from Philadelphia. Under No Child Left Behind, urban school districts have increasingly turned to...

Making the Most of Interim Assessment Data: Lessons from Philadelphia Jun 2009 Jolley Bruce Christman, Ruth Curran Neild, Katrina E. Bulkley, Roseann Liu, Cecily A. Mitchell, Eva Travers, Suzanne Blanc

Under No Child Left Behind, urban school districts have increasingly turned to interim assessments, administered at regular intervals, to help gauge student progress in advance of annual state exam...

Effective Organizational Practices for Middle and High School Grades: A Qualitative Study of What's Helping Philadelphia Students Succeed in Grades 6-12 Apr 2009 Jolley Bruce Christman, Diane C. Brown, Sarah Burgess, Joseph Kay, Holly Plastaras Maluk, Cecily A. Mitchell

At the request of the Accountability Review Council, Research for Action identified effective organizational practices used by better performing schools serving substantial numbers of low income mi...

Links to Learning and Sustainability: Year Three Report of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative Feb 2009 Diane C. Brown, Rebecca J. Reumann-Moore, Jolley Bruce Christman, Morgan Riffer, Roseann Liu

Research for Action's third and final report completes a three-year evaluation study of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative (PAHSCI). This report presents lessons from the PAHSCI model...

Links to Learning and Sustainability: Year Three Report of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative - Executive Summary Feb 2009 Diane C. Brown, Rebecca J. Reumann-Moore, Jolley Bruce Christman, Morgan Riffer, Roseann Liu

The Executive Summary to Research for Action's third and final report, completing a three-year evaluation study of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative (PAHSCI). This report presents le...

Faith-Based Partnerships from the Perspective of the Schools: An exploratory study of partnership benefits and challenges in Philadelphia District Schools - Executive Summary Jul 2008 Holly Plastaras Maluk, Tracey A. Hartmann, Sara Getz, Cecily A. Mitchell, Leah Parnes, Roseann Liu

In the spring of 2008, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) asked Research for Action to conduct an exploratory study of partnerships between faith-based organizations and schools. The goal of...

Annual Report - 2008 2008 Research for Action

Annual Report for fiscal year 2007-2008

Informing High School Choices: The Progress & Challenges of Small High Schools in Philadelphia Jan 2008 Tracey A. Hartmann, Holly Plastaras Maluk, Rebecca J. Reumann-Moore

In the School District of Philadelphia in 2007-08, almost one third of high school students attend one of the district's 32 small high schools. Of these, 26 have been newly created or significantl...

Literature Review: Portfolio of Schools 2008 Holly Plastaras Maluk, Shani Adia Evans

A review of the literature on the portfolio of schools model for district-wide high school reform

Philadelphia Story: Building Civic Capacity for School Reform in a Privatizing System Dec 2007 Eva Gold, Elaine Simon, Maia Cucchiara, Cecily A. Mitchell, Morgan Riffer

Following the 2001 state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia, a new governance structure was established and an ambitious set of reforms went into effect, generating renewed public conf...

Philadelphia Story: Building Civic Capacity for School Reform in a Privatizing System - Executive Summary Dec 2007 Eva Gold, Elaine Simon, Maia Cucchiara, Cecily A. Mitchell, Morgan Riffer

Following the 2001 state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia, a new governance structure was established and an ambitious set of reforms went into effect, generating renewed public conf...