NCJ Number
237191
Date Published
December 2010
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the methodology and findings of the evaluation of the Promise Academy Charter Middle School in Harlem Children's Zone (New York City), and it indicates the rating of the evaluation under the Top Tier Initiative.
Abstract
The Top Tier Initiative's Expert Panel rated this intervention as "Near Top Tier" evidence standard. This rating is applied to "interventions shown to meet all elements of the Top Tier standard (i.e., well-conducted randomized controlled trials ... showing sizable, sustained effects) in a single site, and which only need one additional step to qualify as Top Tier - a replication trial establishing that these effects generalize to other sites. The evaluation found that by the end of the eighth grade, students' math achievement increased by 0.53 standard deviations (about 1 1/2 grade levels, and English language arts achievement by 0.20 standard deviations (about 3/4 of a grade level). The school serves predominantly low-income, minority students from grades six through eight. The school opened in 2004 as one of the Harlem Children's Zone programs for improving communities and schools in a 97-block area of Harlem. The school provides an extended school day and year, and it coordinates after-school tutoring and additional Saturday classes for children having difficulties in math or English language arts. The school emphasizes recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers, who are evaluated based on their success in raising students' test scores. Students are rewarded for achievement, such as money and trips. The school also provides students with free medical, dental, and mental health services; and t provides their parents with meals, bus fare, and other benefits. The school spent $19,272 per pupil during the 2008-2009 school year, compared to an average of $17,173 per pupil in New York State public schools during the 2007-2008 school year. 5 references