Impacts of Uncommon Schools in a Turnaround Setting
Burnett, Alyson; McCullough, Moira; Williams, Breyon (2021). Mathematica. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED616798
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examining814Students, grades4-7
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: December 2024
- Single Study Review (findings for Uncommon Schools)
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a cluster quasi-experimental design that provides evidence of effects on individuals by satisfying the baseline equivalence requirement for the individuals in the analytic intervention and comparison groups.
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 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
State standardized tests: English language arts (ELA) |
Uncommon Schools vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.46 |
-0.24 |
Yes |
|
|
|
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
State standardized tests: English language arts (ELA) |
Uncommon Schools vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Full sample;
|
0.49 |
-0.33 |
Yes |
|
||
|
State standardized tests: English language arts (ELA) |
Uncommon Schools vs. Business as usual |
2 Years |
Full sample;
|
0.56 |
-0.15 |
Yes |
|
||
|
State standardized tests: English language arts (ELA) |
Uncommon Schools vs. Business as usual |
3 Years |
Full sample;
|
0.39 |
-0.13 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
State standardized tests - Math |
Uncommon Schools vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.62 |
-0.36 |
Yes |
|
|
|
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
State standardized tests - Math |
Uncommon Schools vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Full sample;
|
0.70 |
-0.27 |
Yes |
|
||
|
State standardized tests - Math |
Uncommon Schools vs. Business as usual |
3 Years |
Full sample;
|
0.77 |
-0.18 |
Yes |
|
||
|
State standardized tests - Math |
Uncommon Schools vs. Business as usual |
2 Years |
Full sample;
|
0.57 |
-0.16 |
Yes |
|
||
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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4% English language learners -
Female: 40%
Other or unknown: 60% -
Urban
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New Jersey
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Race Black 80% Other or unknown 20% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 20% Other or unknown 80% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 98% Other or unknown 2%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in two elementary schools and one middle school in two urban cities in New Jersey.
Study sample
The sample included 814 students, with 90 in the intervention group and 724 in the comparison group. The sample included 40 percent females. The majority (80%) were Black, with 20 percent reporting their ethnicity as Hispanic. About four percent were English language learners, 14 percent were receiving special education services, and 98 percent were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Intervention Group
Uncommon Schools is a charter school approach, developed by a nonprofit charter management organization of the same name. The key components of the Uncommon Schools model include: (1) a college preparatory mission; (2) a rigorous curriculum and focus on student achievement; (3) a highly structured learning environment; (4) a longer school day and a longer school year than for typical schools; (5) a focus on accountability and data-driven instruction; and (6) frequent opportunities for teachers and leaders to receive training, observations, and feedback to ensure they are committed, talented, and well-trained. The Uncommon Schools organization partnered with two public school districts in New Jersey: Camden City School District and Newark Public Schools, to turn around persistently low-performing schools located in urban areas to improve school quality, student attendance, and student achievement in the short term, and increase high school graduation, postsecondary attainment, and earnings, as well as reduce criminality in the long term. In this study, the TurnNJ project continued Uncommon Schools' existing partnerships with the two school districts to scale Uncommon Schools' initial implementation to additional grade levels and additional schools.
Comparison Group
The comparison schools operated as business as usual and were not managed by Uncommon TurnNJ schools.
Support for implementation
Teachers and school leaders were provided training, observations, and feedback.
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).