Acknowledgments

This report is the third 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 District of Columbia Mayor's Office provided ongoing support throughout the process. Guidance and comments were received from Ricky Takai, Associate Commissioner of the Institute of Education Sciences' (IES) National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) and director of its evaluation division, and Phoebe Cottingham, Commissioner of NCEE. Michelle Armstrong, John Fiegel, and Margo Anderson of the Office of Innovation and Improvement served as important liaisons with the Washington Scholarship Fund.

Staff from the Washington Scholarship Fund provided helpful information and have always been available to answer our 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, University of Chicago; Guido Imbens, Harvard University; Rebecca Maynard, University of Pennsylvania; and Larry Orr, Abt Associates.

The challenging task of assembling the analysis files was capably undertaken by Yong Lee, Quinn Yang, and Yu Cao at Westat. Additional superb analysis support was provided by Brian Kisida at the University of Arkansas and Peter Schilling at Westat. The management and conduct of the data collection was performed by Juanita Lucas-McLean, Kevin Jay, and Sabria Hardy 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.