A Study of the Effectiveness of a School Improvement Intervention (Success in Sight). Final Report. NCEE 2012-4014

Success in Sight focuses on the interrelated parts of an education system. This systemic school improvement intervention is designed to address schools' specific needs while building their capacities to plan, implement, and evaluate school improvement practices. It is intended to help schools, leadership teams, and teachers systemically engage in continuous school improvement practices to advance the learning of all students (Cicchinelli et al. 2006). Schools have used Success in Sight over the past 11 years to facilitate school improvement efforts. However, there have been no cluster randomized trials to provide causal evidence regarding its effectiveness in improving student and teacher outcomes. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to provide unbiased estimates of the impact of Success in Sight on student academic achievement in reading or mathematics. The achievement outcome areas of reading and mathematics were chosen for this study based on the NCLB mandate that all students should be proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014. Additionally, all states assess reading and mathematics achievement in grades 3-5, which are the focus of this study. The study also sought to provide an unbiased estimate of the effects of Success in Sight on teacher capacity for school improvement practices related to data-based decisionmaking, purposeful community, and shared leadership. This study's target population was low- to moderate-performing elementary schools located in states served by McREL under its Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) contract from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and Comprehensive Center grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. This study was the first cluster randomized trial to examine the effectiveness of Success in Sight on primary outcomes--student achievement in reading and mathematics--and intermediate teacher outcomes--city for school improvement practices in data-based decisionmaking, purposeful community, and shared leadership. The results of the benchmark analyses revealed that Success in Sight did not have a statistically significant impact on student achievement in reading or mathematics or on teacher capacity for school improvement practices in data-based decisionmaking, purposeful community, or shared leadership. Although this study used rigorous methodology, readers should consider findings in the context of its limitations.