Evaluation of Investing in Innovation (i3)

Contractor: Abt Associates, Inc.

Background/Research Questions

The Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund provides $650 million to support entities with a record of improving student achievement (local educational agencies (LEAs) and nonprofits in partnership with LEAs or a consortium of schools) in order to expand the implementation of, and investment in, evidence-based practices, strategies, and programs to significantly improve student achievement or student growth, as well as to help close achievement gaps, decrease dropout rates, increase high school graduation rates, and increase college enrollment and completion rates.

The i3 program will support three types of grants that are differentiated by level of prior evidence for practices, strategies, or programs, the scope of the proposed scale up, and the level of funding to be provided. Scale-up and Validation grants require prior evidence of effectiveness, while Development grants support innovative strategies.

Grantees receiving funds under this program are required to conduct an independent evaluation of their project and must agree, along with its independent evaluator, to cooperate with evaluation technical assistance provided by the Department and its contractor. The purpose of this technical assistance is to ensure that the evaluations are of high quality and to encourage commonality in evaluation approaches and outcomes measures across funded projects where feasible.

The key questions that the contract will address are:

• To what extent are the i3 independent local evaluations well-designed and well-implemented?
• What are the results for different categories of key i3-funded practices, strategies, and programs?

Design:

The contractor plans to deliver two levels of technical assistance: Level 1 technical assistance is characterized by regular, proactive technical assistance facilitated by a one-on-one relationship with a technical assistance provider and Level 2 technical assistance will include on-demand access to the technical assistance team for help with evaluator identified issues. Evaluations designed so that they have the potential to meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards, with or without reservations, will be assigned to receive Level 1 technical assistance, while evaluations that are not designed so that they have this potential will be assigned to receive Level 2 technical assistance.

In addition to providing technical assistance, the contractor will characterize whether or not the evaluations meet the standards for a well-designed and well-implemented study. The contractor will also summarize the results of the i3 evaluations, including the use of meta-analysis within key areas of practices, strategies, and programs where feasible.

Cost/Duration: $9,502,202 over 5 years (September 2010–September 2015)

Current Status

The contract was awarded in September 2010. The contractor has reviewed the winning i3 applications, is participating in the program office's post-award calls, and is working on a draft technical assistance and analysis plan.