Project Activities
Research question
- Did the i3 evaluations meet the Department's standards for high quality evidence of effectiveness (those developed by the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC))?
- Did the evaluations find that i3 grantees implemented their educational approaches as intended (i.e., with adequate fidelity)?
- Did the i3 evaluations find that the approaches improved student academic outcomes?
Structured Abstract
Design
The contractor provided comprehensive, customized technical assistance to the local evaluators of each of the i3 grants through the end of the grant program in 2021.
A separate and independent team assessed the quality of the evidence produced by the i3 evaluations, using the WWC evidence standards.
Key findings
The final report found that:
- The most common strategies grantees implemented involved professional development for educators to improve instruction or reform schools.
- Grantees largely met the i3 goal of producing rigorous evidence about their educational strategy. Specifically, seventy-six percent of the i3 evaluations met the Department's What Works Clearinghouse standards for study quality.
- However, few of the educational strategies were found to improve student outcomes in grantee sites. Only 26 percent of i3 evaluations found at least one statistically significant positive effect and no negative effects on student academic outcomes.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
The final report, titled Federal Efforts Towards Investing in Innovation in Education Through the i3 Fund: A Summary of Grantmaking and Evidence-Building, was released in February 2024.
Data files containing publicly-available information on the findings from the i3 grants whose evaluations are included in the 2024 report are available for the purposes of secondary analysis.
An earlier report summarizing the first 67 i3 evaluations to be completed, titled The Investing in Innovation Fund: Summary of 67 Evaluations, was released in June 2018.
Data files containing publicly-available information on the impact and implementation findings from the i3 grants whose evaluations are included in the 2018 report are available for the purposes of secondary analysis.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
