Achievement Network i3 Program Evaluation
Achievement Network i3 Program Evaluation
Funded by the federal government through the Investing in Innovation (i3) Program and headed by HGSE's Martin West, this project led a rigorous evaluation of The Achievement Network’s (ANet) impact on school outcomes. ANet provided interim assessments and data-driven strategies to schools to identify and close gaps in student learning and attempted to embed those strategies into schools’ everyday routines.
Background
ANet was founded in 2005 within the Boston charter school sector and had expanded to serve over 500 schools in nine geographic networks across the United States by 2010, when it received a development grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) Program to both expand the program and undergo an external evaluation of the expansion, for which ANet partnered with CEPR.
The program was rooted in the belief that 1) if teachers are provided with timely data on student performance from interim assessments tied to state standards, 2) if school leaders provide support and create structures that help them use that data to identify student weaknesses, and 3) if teachers have knowledge of how to improve the performance of students who are falling behind, then they will become more effective at identifying and addressing gaps in student learning. This would, in turn, improve student performance, particularly for high-need students.
This study used a school-level random assignment design to estimate the impact of ANet. Study sites included districts in Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Illinois.
Findings and Implications
The research found no overall impact of ANet on student achievement in math or reading. However, results varied by school, a result consistent with the idea that intensive data use is an effective strategy for schools but only when the right structures and flexibilities are in place to support teachers and where leadership is ready to prioritize the work.