Evaluation of the Comprehensive School Reform Program Implementation and Outcomes. Fifth-Year Report

This "Fifth-Year Report" from the Evaluation of the Comprehensive School Reform Program Implementation and Outcomes (ECSRIO) is the final report on the outcomes of the federally funded Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program. It presents findings about the relationship between participation in the U.S. Department of Education's Comprehensive School Reform program in 2002 and subsequent student achievement five years later. This report follows the study's "Third-Year Report" (ED504179) which presented findings as of 2005 and was published in 2008. The "Fifth-Year Report" examines the CSR program throughout the country and its relationship with gains in student achievement as of 2007. The CSR program was established as a demonstration program in 1998 and authorized as a full program in 2002 as part of the "No Child Left Behind Act" ("NCLB"). It is one approach to help low-performing K-12 public schools meet state performance standards. The CSR program emphasizes two major concepts. First, the approach mandates that school reform should be comprehensive in nature, strengthening all aspects of school operations--curriculum, instruction, professional development, parental involvement and school organization. Second, the CSR approach should involve the use of "scientifically based research models"--that is, models with evidence of effectiveness in multiple settings. In 2001, the U.S. Department of Education contracted with WestEd and COSMOS Corporation to conduct a five-year study of the CSR program; ECSRIO, which involved a survey of 500 CSR schools and 500 comparison schools; case studies of 30 sites; and analyses of student achievement in all schools receiving CSR funding in 2002. This report presents the fifth-year findings of this study.