This report shows that Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) middle schools have significant and substantial positive impacts on student achievement in four core academic subjects: reading, math, science, and social studies. One of the report’s analyses confirms the positive impacts using a rigorous randomized experimental analysis that relies on the schools’ admissions lotteries to identify comparison students, thereby accounting for students’ prior achievement, as well as factors such as student and parent motivation. The latest findings from Mathematica’s multiyear study of KIPP middle schools, the report is the most rigorous large-scale evaluation of KIPP charter schools to date, covering 43 KIPP middle schools in 13 states and the District of Columbia. Student outcomes examined included state test results in reading and math, test scores in science and social studies, results on a nationally normed assessment that includes measures of higher-order thinking, and behaviors reported by students and parents.

Using data on elementary and middle school math and reading outcomes for Pennsylvania students, this working paper found that school value-added provides little useful information for comparing the general leadership skills of different principals when these comparisons include some principals who are in their first three years at their current positions.

As part of No Child Left Behind, parents of low-income students in low-performing schools are offered Supplemental Educational Services (SES) for their children. These academic supports, such as extra tutoring or group sessions, take place outside the regular school day. A report and executive summary for the Institute of Education Sciences examine potential achievement benefits. In the six study districts located in Connecticut, Florida, and Ohio, the program was directed to the lowest-achieving students due to oversubscription. However, not all students who were offered access to the program participated. The study found no evidence of impacts from offering SES to students near the cutoff of acceptance into the program. Furthermore, there were no impacts from participating in SES on student achievement in reading or math. Providers offered an average of 21 hours of SES per student for the school year, either one-on-one or in group sessions conducted by local teachers. No observed provider characteristics and practices, including intensity of services, were significantly associated with stronger impacts. The six districts were not nationally representative.

Previous charter school research has shown mixed results for student achievement, which could be the consequence of different policy environments or methodological approaches with differing assumptions across studies. This analysis discusses these approaches and assumptions and estimates effects using a consistent methodology across seven locations.

This report describes the development of value-added models for estimating the contributions of Pennsylvania teachers and principals toward the achievement growth of their students. Estimates were obtained during the first phase of a multiyear pilot to develop new evaluation systems for teachers and principals. The report also examines whether teachers with higher classroom observation scores on specific professional practices among those who participated in the first phase tended to have greater impacts on student achievement, as measured by value-added models.

A new Mathematica study, conducted with the Center on Reinventing Public Education, highlights approaches five successful charter school management organizations (CMOs) use to help improve student achievement. This report expands on a previous report showing that CMOs with the greatest positive impact on student achievement were most likely to establish consistent schoolwide behavior expectations for students, as well as use an intense approach to monitoring and coaching teachers. The latest report offers guidance for schools and districts looking to replicate these promising practices.

This report describes the value-added models (VAMs) created for the Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers. Pittsburgh's VAMs use not only state assessments but also course-specific assessments, student attendance, and course completion rates, aiming to produce estimates of the contributions of teachers and schools that are fair, valid, reliable, and robust.

A new analysis from the National Study of Charter Management (CMO) Effectiveness provides the first systematic evidence available on the effects of CMOs on the critical long-term outcomes of high school graduation and college entry. The study shows that some—but not all—CMOs substantially boost students' chances of graduating from high school and enrolling in postsecondary education. The study also shows that each CMO's impact on test scores is typically consistent across schools, suggesting that CMOs are having some success in promoting uniformity (whether in a positive or negative direction). Further, some CMOs have implemented policies, programs, and procedures that enable them to outperform other CMOs.

This article analyzes the relationship between charter high school attendance and educational attainment in Florida and Chicago. Students who attended a charter middle school and went on to attend a charter high school were 7 to 15 percentage points more likely to earn a standard diploma than students who transitioned to a traditional public high school and 8 to 10 percentage points more likely to attend college.

This paper examines the charter school authorizing process using student-level data from Ohio, a state with a range of public and private authorizers. The study found charters authorized by nonprofits are less effective in promoting student achievement than other charter schools (though there are likely to be more differences among individual authorizers than across authorizer types).

This report evaluates the impacts of Philadelphia’s accelerated schools—alternative high schools serving students at high risk of dropping out—on enrollees’ graduation rates and on rates of credit accumulation for recent enrollees.

This report summarizes research findings and implementation practices for teacher and principal value-added models (VAM) as a first step in the Team Pennsylvania Foundation’s pilot project to inform the development of a full, statewide model evaluation system. The report selected 21 empirical studies that describe key issues and findings in the literature and examined varying degrees of value-added implementation in seven school districts or states. It presents information aimed at VAM development: typical data elements, important modeling considerations, features specific to teachers or principals, and broad implementation features.

This report presents descriptive analyses of the enrollment patterns, background characteristics, test scores, and graduation rates of students enrolled in three types of public high schools in Philadelphia: alternative disciplinary schools; alternative accelerated schools for students who struggled academically in regular public high schools; and regular, neighborhood-zoned high schools.

This report presents the results of exploratory quasi-experimental analyses that use a regression discontinuity design to examine the relationships between certain features of No Child Left Behind accountability and subsequent student achievement in Title I schools in two states and three school districts. Specifically, the report examines the effects of not making annual yearly progress (AYP) or of being identified for the first year of school improvement status (after missing AYP for two consecutive years). The study found some positive achievement impacts for schools that missed AYP, but not for schools that were identified for the first year of school improvement. Further, effects were not consistent across years and outcomes. Findings from two states and three cities cannot be generalized to produce a national estimate of program effects on student achievement.

Although charter schools are growing in number, debate continues about whether they provide a better education than traditional public schools. The report examines charter schools in Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, San Diego, and the states of Florida, Ohio, and Texas, using longitudinal student-level data to examine issues across multiple communities and varied charter laws. Overall, there is little evidence that charter schools, on average, are producing test-score impacts that are substantially better or worse than those of conventional public schools, but favorable high school graduation and college-entry results suggest the possibility of long-term benefits. The authors also note that much more is yet to be learned, particularly about the performance of charter elementary schools.

This report presents trends on the implementation of Title I parental choice options from the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind and the Study of State Implementation of Accountability and Teacher Quality Under No Child Left Behind. In 2006-2007, 6.9 million students were eligible for Title I public school choice, a fourfold increase since 2002-2003, and more than 3.3 million were eligible for Title I supplemental educational services, a nearly sixfold increase. However, participation rates remained low at 1 percent for the Title I public school choice option and 17 percent for supplemental educational services. Public school choice was constrained at the middle and high school levels because large numbers of school districts have only one middle school and one high school.