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At a Glance

Funder:

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance

Project Time Frame:

2010-2014

 

Evaluating Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants

Reforming the way our nation's schools prepare students for careers and college is at the top of the policy agenda. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) contained substantial funding for systemic education reform. In 2010, eleven states and the District of Columbia received $4.35 billion in Race to the Top (RTT) grants based both on their education reform plans and their past success in creating conditions for reform. States also received $3 billion in additional ARRA funding for School Improvement Grants (SIG), which support implementation of school turnaround models in the lowest-performing schools.

Mathematica is:

  • Studying the implementation of RTT and SIG
  • Analyzing the impact of SIG-funded school turnaround models on student outcomes
  • Investigating the relationship between receipt of RTT funds and student outcomes
  • Investigating the relationship between school turnaround models (and strategies within those models) and student outcomes in low-performing schools

Interviews with state and district administrators and web surveys of schools will inform the implementation analysis and assist with the interpretation of the results from the impact analysis. Data collection for the impact analysis focuses on gathering existing state and student-level data. Up to 650 schools within up to 100 districts will be included in the school surveys and analysis of the impacts of school turnaround models. All 50 states and the District of Columbia are included in the state interviews and analysis of the effects of RTT.

Subcontractors are the American Institutes for Research and Social Policy Research Associates.