How Reform Works: An Evaluative Study of NSF's Urban Systemic Initiative

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The proposed study will 1) determine the impact of the USI program on student achievement and the learning infrastructure in urban school districts and 2) develop an inferential causal model that related the NSF drivers and other key elements to the outcomes observed. Systemic model analyses will be conducted from five perspectives:1. Across 20 USI sites - reviewing and comparing systemic reform progress across the 20 USI sites, identifying successful USI models based on student outcomes, and further exploring the key success factors using a statistical inference/causal model.2. By USI cohort - measuring the systemic impact by duration and intensity of involvement in systemic reform efforts among the existing three cohorts.3. Longitudinal per site - analyzing longitudinal data to measure system effectiveness before and after the implementation of urban systemic initiatives.4. USI vs. Non-SI - conducting research on the differential impact of USI and allowing attribution of impact by comparing USI to non SI sites.5. National context - reviewing the literature and survey data from other major reform efforts to identify additional significant cross-cutting variables (in addition to the drivers) that can inform development of an inferential model.A range of dissemination activities have been proposed, including CD-ROM USI Fact Book, yearly evaluative research report, periodic newsletters, materials for the NSF website, and monographs.