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The vision for the Leadership Richland One MSAP project was that all students will have the opportunity to succeed academically through a high-quality education in an environment characterized by diverse social, economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. To improve student achievement, major project goals and objectives focus on four areas: desegregation, academic success, magnet themes, and professional development. The purpose of the Evidence of Promise Study is to determine how the magnet school program impacted student achievement and reduced minority group isolation. The Leadership Richland One Evidence of Promise Study was designed to answer the following research questions: (1) What effect does the MSAP project have on student academic achievement performance in ELA and math? (Study 1). (2) What effect does the MSAP project have on minority group isolation? (Study 2). For study 1, treatment and comparison groups were assessed for differences in outcomes in math and ELA academic achievement disaggregated by minority and non-minority status. Results for analyses across three different grade level configurations showed significant differences between minority and non-minority students in achievement across both subject areas. Students in the magnet program at Sanders Middle had higher math achievement scores than comparison students after controlling for the impact of minority group status. The significant impact of magnet program participation on achievement cut across both minority/non-minority student status. There was also a significant interaction between minority status and magnet program participation; non-minority students who were in the magnet program had the highest math achievement test scores. Students with the lowest math achievement test scores were minorities who were not in the magnet program. The difference in achievement test scores between minorities and non-minorities was lower when students were in the magnet program, thus reducing the achievement gap in math. For study 2, we assessed whether Richland One School District's minority group isolation (MGI) goal to reduce MGI of black or African American students in the magnet schools was achieved. Reduction of MGI was achieved as each magnet school experienced a decrease in the percent of total school population that was black/African American from the first year of the grant to the sixth year of the grant, as well as a greater percent reduction of black/African American students compared to other schools in the district.

EMPOWER was an Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant awarded to Cabarrus County Schools by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. EMPOWER provided social-emotional, academic, and non-cognitive supports in magnet school settings to students from low-income families. Family engagement and teacher professional learning on cultural responsiveness were key pillars of the EMPOWER program. A dual-language immersion plus rigor model was implemented at treatment elementary schools while a STEM or IB model was implemented at treatment secondary schools. Literacy skills were assessed for the elementary study using the DIBELS standardized assessment. Math achievement was assessed for the secondary study using standardized statewide math test scores. The impact evaluation used a longitudinal quasi-experimental design (QED) to examine the effect of EMPOWER on literacy skills and math achievement. Hierarchical linear modeling was run to analyze outcomes for EMPOWER students compared to a matched sample of comparison students with similar baseline scores who participated in business-as-usual, traditional academic instruction. Results showed no statistically significant impact on literacy skills or math achievement. [The report was submitted to the Cabarrus County (NC) Schools.]

"G[superscript 2]ROW STEM" is an Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant funded by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. "G[superscript 2]ROW STEM" targets high-need middle school students, particularly females and minorities, that tend to be underrepresented in STEM careers. "G[superscript 2]ROW STEM" focuses on providing students with engaging, hands-on, project-based, extended-learning experiences to inspire interest in STEM and improve achievement. The impact evaluation used a quasi-experimental design (QED) to examine the effect of "G[superscript 2]ROW STEM" on academic achievement in science and math. "G[superscript 2]ROW STEM" student enrollment began during the 2016-17 school year and students were followed for three years, through the 2018-19 school year. Academic achievement outcomes for "G[superscript 2]ROW STEM" students were compared to a matched sample of students within the same grade in the same schools who participated in business-as-usual, traditional academic instruction with no extended learning experiences. Academic achievement for comparison students was also tracked over a three-year period. Results showed statistically significant differences between treatment and comparison groups in achievement test scores across both math and science. Overall, treatment students gained seven NCE score points more than the comparison group students did after up to three years in the "G[superscript 2]ROW STEM" program. This is roughly equivalent to one-third of a standard deviation. Significant differences were also noted for student subgroups with non-minority students realizing slightly higher gains in NCE scores than minority students by the end of the program (over all analyses a difference of 2.25 NCE points).

NExT LEVEL is a National Professional Development grant funded by the Office of English Language Acquisition, U.S. Department of Education. The grant partnered with three school districts and provided introductory training in working with English Learners (ELs) for select mainstream classroom teachers and teacher candidates; continued coursework for teachers to obtain add-on ESL certification; support for parents and families of ELs; and professional development for university teacher educators. The impact evaluation used a quasi-experimental design to determine the impact of the program on EL students' academic achievement in ELA and math. EL students who had a NExT LEVEL teacher for at least one class during the study period were compared to well-matched students in the same districts who did not have a NExT LEVEL teacher at any time during the study period. The two groups were assessed for differences in achievement outcomes on measures of standardized math and ELA after one year and after three years. In terms of ELA outcomes, there was a significant effect of NExT LEVEL after one year; however, the effect was in the opposite direction from what was expected. Comparison students had significantly higher one-year ELA achievement than the NExT LEVEL students. At three years, there was no significant effect of the treatment on three-year ELA outcomes. The one-year effect on mathematics was statistically significant, but with comparison students outperforming their NExT LEVEL counterparts. There was no significant impact on three-year mathematics performance. Several limitations of this study are discussed, including the mediating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of data on teacher implementation of NExT LEVEL instructional strategies.

"UNISON" was an Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant funded by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education to Take Stock in Children (TSIC), a state-wide, 501(c)(3) non-profit, private-public partnership in Florida. UNISON provided a whole school mentoring approach and focused on developing students' non-cognitive skills with a focus on improving academic success and attainment thereby impacting graduation rates in low-performing schools. Intervention strategies included a whole-school culture program with clubs and activities focused on sustaining the culture of kindness and compassion, BARR teacher training, block meetings, and implementation of the I-Time curricula, TSIC 1:1 mentoring, group mentoring, summer Leadership Institute, and parent engagement. The grant funded a collective impact coordinator for each county and a college success coach in each school. "UNISON" targeted three treatment schools in northeast Florida, and the impact study included 15 comparison schools using a comparative short interrupted time series (CSITS) to measure the effect on graduation rates after three years of intervention strategies. Using the publicly available graduation rate data from the Florida Department of Education website, baseline equivalence was established based on rural/urban county designations and baseline graduation rates from 2014-15 prior to the intervention. The study found a statistically significant positive difference in the one urban and two rural treatment schools compared to the six urban and nine rural "business-as-usual" comparison schools. The treatment schools gained almost 20 percentage points in their graduation rate during the three-year intervention from 72.43% to 91.73%, while comparison schools moved from 72.98% to 83.40%. [The report was written for Take Stock in Children.]