Findings from the Institute for Student Achievement Outcome Evaluation: Final report.
Fancsali, C., & Bat-Chava, Y. (2010). New York: Academy for Educational Development.
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examining3,157Students, grades9-12
Grant Competition
Review Details
Reviewed: February 2016
- Grant Competition (findings for Institute for Student Achievement (ISA))
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
4-year graduation rate |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
79.00 |
63.00 |
No |
-- | |
|
Graduate with local diploma |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
36.00 |
22.00 |
No |
-- | |
|
Graduate with Regents diploma |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
39.00 |
27.00 |
No |
-- | |
|
Passed Regents exam: Local level |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
45.00 |
32.00 |
No |
-- | |
|
Passed Regents exam: Regents level |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
48.00 |
60.00 |
No |
-- | |
|
Graduate with advanced diploma |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
4.00 |
14.00 |
Yes |
|
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total credits earned at end of year 4 |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
42.40 |
32.10 |
No |
-- | |
|
Course credits failed |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
5.80 |
6.90 |
No |
-- |
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Still enrolled after four years |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
14.00 |
23.00 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Dropped out of high school (%) |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Full sample;
|
7.20 |
14.30 |
Yes |
|
||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Average daily attendance |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Grade: 10;
|
90.00 |
85.00 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Average daily attendance |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Grade: 11;
|
89.00 |
85.00 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Average daily attendance |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Grade: 9;
|
92.00 |
89.00 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Average daily attendance |
Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) vs. Business as usual |
6 Years |
Grade: 12;
|
84.00 |
80.00 |
Yes |
|
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Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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New York
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in New York City.
Study sample
The sample includes high school students with risk factors for dropping out of school including high rates of students eligible for free and reduced-price-lunch and high rates of students being a member of a racial or ethnic minority.
Intervention Group
The intervention is a replicable, school-wide program that includes college preparatory instruction, counseling, progress monitoring, extended day/year learning opportunities, parent outreach, and teacher professional development.
Comparison Group
For the high school outcomes, groups were formed using propensity score matching. The matching procedure included eighth grade math and English/language arts test scores, race/ethnicity, free-lunch status, median income in zip-code, English language learner status, special education status, and over-age for grade status. All comparison students that were well-matched to an ISA student in the 2003 and 2004 ninth grade cohorts respectively are included in the sample.
Support for implementation
School staff receive coaching and participate in biannual institutes, workshops, conferences, networking and other professional development activities.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).