| Title: | WWC Review of the Report "School Turnarounds: Evidence From the 2009 Stimulus" |
| Description: | The 2012 study, School Turnarounds: Evidence From the 2009 Stimulus, examined the effects of being eligible for and receiving School Improvement Grants (SIGs) on schoolwide achievement of students in 2,892 low-performing California public schools. SIGs are federally funded and offered to schools that are identified as persistently lowest achieving. The study used a regression discontinuity design in which average test score levels and changes on California's Academic Performance Index (API) defined which schools were eligible to receive a SIG. Because the study schools were not shown to be equivalent on all variables related to school level achievement, the research meets WWC regression discontinuity design standards with reservations. Changes in API may have been influenced by improved student learning, the movement of students from one school to another, or a combination of these factors. Additionally, the study analyzed school-level effects, and the magnitude of these effects cannot be directly compared to the magnitude of an effect from an intervention that uses student-level data for the analysis. Finally, as a result of the design used for the study, the reported impacts are only valid at the thresholds that define the eligibility criteria, and do not generalize to all SIG-eligible schools. |
| Online Availability: |
 Need Help Viewing PDF files? |
| Cover Date: | November 2013 |
| Web Release: | November 19, 2013 |
| Print Release: | November 19, 2013 |
| Publication #: | WWC SSR10022 General Ordering Information |
| Center/Program: | WWC |
| Associated Centers: | NCEE |
| Authors: | WWC |
| Type of Product: | Single Study Review |
| Keywords: |
Schools
|
| Questions: |
For questions about the content of this Single Study Review, please contact: NCES WebMaster. |