WWC review of this study

Project RISE final report

Gnedko-Berry, N., Houghton, S., Park, S.J., Feng, L., & Borman, T. (2018). Washington, D.C.: American Institutes for Research. https://www.internationalsnetwork.org/projectrise/.

  • Quasi-Experimental Design
     examining 
    636
     Students
    , grades
    9-12

Reviewed: December 2021

No statistically significant positive
findings
Meets WWC standards with reservations
Completing school outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

High school graduation

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 2+ years treatment;
180 students

86.00

85.00

No

--
Show Supplemental Findings

High school graduation

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 1 year treatment;
91 students

44.00

46.00

No

--
English language proficiency outcomes—Substantively important positive effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

English proficiency test for ELLs

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 2+ years of treatment;
140 students

0.25

-0.04

No

--
Show Supplemental Findings

English proficiency test for ELLs

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 1 year treatment;
246 students

0.05

0.25

No

--
General Mathematics Achievement outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

Achievement in mathematics

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 2+ years treatment;
260 students

0.14

0.26

No

--
Show Supplemental Findings

Achievement in mathematics

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 1 year treatment;
434 students

0.47

0.42

No

--
Progressing in secondary school or adult education outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

High school credit accumulation

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 2+ years intervention;
510 students

150.02

138.00

No

--
Secondary school attendance outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

Attendance

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 2+ years treatment;
523 students

0.91

0.88

No

--
Show Supplemental Findings

Attendance

Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (Project RISE) vs. Business as usual

0 Weeks

Full sample with 1 year treatment;
636 students

0.85

0.85

No

--


Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.


  • 100% English language learners

  • Female: 37%
    Male: 63%

  • Urban
    • B
    • A
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • I
    • H
    • J
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    • P
    • M
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    • Q
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    • V
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    • W
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    • Z
    • Y
    • a
    • h
    • i
    • b
    • d
    • e
    • f
    • c
    • g
    • j
    • k
    • l
    • m
    • n
    • o
    • p
    • q
    • r
    • s
    • t
    • u
    • x
    • w
    • y

    California, New York
  • Race
    Asian
    31%
    Black
    3%
    Other or unknown
    44%
    White
    23%
  • Ethnicity
    Hispanic    
    44%
    Not Hispanic or Latino    
    56%

Setting

The Project RISE study involves 11 high schools (2 intervention schools and 9 comparison schools) from two large urban school districts. The two intervention high schools are comprehensive high schools identified by the districts as persistently low performing.

Study sample

All students in the analytic sample are English learners. The analytic sample for the intervention group included 36.8% female students. The students identified as Hispanic (43.6%), Asian (30.8%), White (22.6%), and Black (2.6%). Sixty-nine percent of students qualified for free/reduced priced lunch (FRPL). The analytic sample for the comparison group had between 66 and 486 students, and percent of students qualified for FRPL ranged from 69% to 93%.

Intervention Group

Project Realizing Instructional Supports for English Language Learners (RISE) provides professional development and ongoing instructional support to teachers and school leaders. The aim of Project RISE is to improve the educational outcomes of English learners (ELs) in Grades 9–12 by changing teachers’ instructional practices and key structures in which students and teachers are organized. This is achieved by establishing: (1) collaborative interdisciplinary teaching teams responsible for (2) shared heterogeneous groups of ELs that foster instructional practices which (3) integrate instruction of language and content using (4) collaborative experiential projects across the curriculum. Professional development consisted of a summer institute, and ongoing support was provided by an instructional coach at each site who was hired and trained for this intervention. Project RISE was implemented during school years 2013–14 through 2016–17.

Comparison Group

The comparison schools implemented their standard EL instruction that was not Project RISE. Teachers likely taught as they had in the past.

Support for implementation

Project RISE staff consulted with the school principal and instructional leadership coach throughout the program period to monitor, support, and adjust program implementation. As part of the intervention, teachers in the intervention group also received professional development in the summer and ongoing instructional support through coaching and the creation of interdisciplinary teaching teams.

 

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