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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.

The Comprehensive School Reform (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. CSR emphasizes two major concepts: mandating that school reform should be comprehensive in nature, strengthening all aspects of school operations (curriculum, instruction, professional development, parental involvement, and school organization); and use of scientifically based research models (models with evidence of effectiveness in multiple settings.) This report presents the third-year findings of a five-year study and focuses on the relationship between CSR award receipt and growth in student achievement and whether aspects of program implementation are associated with higher CSR achievement outcomes. Overall, findings indicate that schools receiving CSR awards did no better in mathematics and reading achievement than comparable schools not receiving CSR funding, and that schools receiving CSR awards were no more likely than non-CSR schools to implement legislatively-specified components of CSR. Three appendices include: (1) CSRQ Center Quality review Tool; (2) Standard Error Tables for Analyses; and (3) Data Collection Instruments. Document and Appendices are referenced separately. (Contains 32 footnotes and 50 exhibits.) [For First-Year Report, see ED485480. The Second-Year Report was an internal document.]