Acknowledgments

This report is the second of a series of annual reports, as mandated by Congress. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of a significant number of individuals in its preparation and production.

Staff from the U.S. Department of Education and the Mayor's Office provided ongoing support throughout the process. Special recognition and thanks go to Marsha Silverberg at the Institute of Education Sciences' (IES) National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE), the Contracting Officer's Representative for this project, for her contributions and her encouragement. Guidance and comments were also received from Ricky Takai, Associate Commissioner of NCEE and director of its evaluation division, and Phoebe Cottingham, Commissioner of NCEE.

Staff from the Washington Scholarship Fund and the District of Columbia Public Schools provided critical data and were always there to answer our many questions.

We are also fortunate to have the advice of an Expert Advisory Panel. Members include: Julian Betts, University of California, San Diego; Thomas Cook, Northwestern University; Jeffrey Henig, Columbia University; William Howell, Harvard University; Guido Imbens, University of California; Rebecca Maynard, University of Pennsylvania; and Larry Orr, Abt Associates.

The challenging task of assembling the participant data files was capably undertaken by Yong Lee, Quinn Yang, and Yu Cao at Westat. The school-level information in the report was assembled, analyzed, and displayed by Daniel Hoople of Georgetown University. The management and conduct of the data collection was performed by Juanita Lucas-McLean and Kevin Jay of Westat. Expert editorial and production assistance was provided by Evarilla Cover and Saunders Freeland of Westat. Administrative support for the Georgetown University project activities was provided ably by Stephen Cornman.