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The Effects of Success in Sight as a School Improvement InterventionThe Effects of Success in Sight as a School Improvement Intervention

Study design

The impact of Success in Sight is being evaluated through an experimental study in which schools are randomly assigned to either the treatment or control condition. Random assignment at the school level was required because the intervention is a whole-school approach to school improvement.

Fifty-two elementary schools were recruited for the study. The researchers matched these schools on key characteristics to create matched pairs (through a matched-pair block design in which the pair is the blocking factor). Schools were then randomly assigned within the matched pair, with one school assigned to the treatment group and one to the control group. The 52 schools were recruited from eight districts in Minnesota and Missouri and represent a diverse sample of schools—rural, suburban, and urban and small and large. The sample includes 26 treatment and 26 control schools, nearly split between the two states (24 schools in one state and 28 in the other). The sample of 52 schools will provide the statistical power (›.80) to detect an impact of around .20 standard deviation on student achievement and .30 standard deviation on scales denoting engagement in school-level reform practices.

The two-year intervention for this study began in summer 2008, with the first two-day professional development session led by the Success in Sight McREL intervention team. Participants were introduced to the Success in Sight approach to comprehensive school improvement and began planning their first fractal experience (small change initiative). Following the four- to six-week fractal experience, the assigned Success in Sight facilitators began meeting with the school leadership team onsite. Each year, schools participate in 3 two-day professional development sessions and five onsite mentoring sessions with their Success in Sight change facilitators. Schools must participate for two years in Success in Sight to produce the hypothesized effects on student learning.

Schools in the control group participate in their regular school improvement activities and continue with business as usual. Control schools do not receive any of the added support provided by Success in Sight.

Because the intervention being investigated was developed by McREL, assessing its effectiveness poses a potential conflict of interest for Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central. To mitigate this, REL Central staff are implementing the intervention and have hired an external research organization, ASPEN Associates, to conduct the study. REL Central has built a "firewall" between the researchers conducting the study and the program staff delivering the intervention, using policies, structures, and procedures that function like a network system firewall. To provide unbiased answers to the research questions, the firewall limits communication between the researchers and the change facilitators, as well as access to data to maintain security of the information collected.

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