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In 2009, the City of New Haven and New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) announced a sweeping K-12 educational reform, New Haven School Change. The district had three primary goals for School Change: (1) close the gap between the performance of NHPS students' and Connecticut students' averages on state tests, (2) cut the high school dropout rate in half, and (3) ensure that every graduating student has the academic ability and the financial resources to attend and succeed in college. Concurrent with School Change, in 2010 the City of New Haven partnered with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, NHPS, and Yale University to create New Haven Promise, a scholarship program that aims to improve the college-going culture in the city and postsecondary enrollment and graduation rates of NHPS graduates as a way to enhance the economic development of the city, attract more residents to New Haven, reduce crime and incarceration, and improve residents' quality of life. The 2010-2011 school year marked the first year of a staged implementation for both efforts. In June 2013, the New Haven Promise Board of Directors asked the RAND Corporation to conduct a study to document and describe baseline conditions and early progress of these programs. Researchers worked with state and district data and conducted interviews with Promise Scholars and parents to document early trends and possible areas for improvement. This volume contains the study's supporting appendixes: (1) School Learning Environment Survey Data and Methodology Description; (2) Comparing New Haven Public Schools with Similar Districts in Connecticut: Synthetic Control Group Approach; (3) Analysis of NHPS Student Educational Outcomes Over Time; (4) Focus Group Analytic Approach and Protocols; and (5) Analysis of New Haven City's Community Well-Being. [The Board of the New Haven Promise program sponsored this project. For the full report, "Transforming an Urban School System: Progress of New Haven School Change and New Haven Promise Education Reforms (2010-2013). Research Report," see ED561147; for the brief, "Transforming an Urban Public School District: Tracking the Progress of New Haven Public Schools' Educational Reforms and the New Haven Promise Scholarship Program. Brief," see ED561142.]

In 2009, the City of New Haven and New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) announced a sweeping K-12 educational reform, New Haven School Change. The district had three primary goals for School Change: (1) close the gap between the performance of NHPS students' and Connecticut students' averages on state tests, (2) cut the high school dropout rate in half, and (3) ensure that every graduating student has the academic ability and the financial resources to attend and succeed in college. Concurrent with School Change, the City of New Haven partnered with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, NHPS, and Yale University in 2010 to create New Haven Promise, a scholarship program that aims to improve the college-going culture in the city and postsecondary enrollment and graduation rates of NHPS graduates as a way to enhance the economic development of the city, attract more residents to New Haven, reduce crime and incarceration, and improve residents' quality of life. The 2010-2011 school year marked the first year of a staged implementation for both efforts. In June 2013, the New Haven Promise Board of Directors asked the RAND Corporation to conduct a study to document and describe baseline conditions and early progress of these programs. Researchers worked with state and district data and conducted interviews with Promise Scholars and parents to document early trends and possible areas for improvement. This report and its companion volume document the resulting study. [The Board of the New Haven Promise program sponsored this project. For the companion report, "Transforming an Urban School System: Progress of New Haven School Change and New Haven Promise Education Reforms (2010-2013). Technical Appendixes," see ED561149. For the brief, "Transforming an Urban Public School District: Tracking the Progress of New Haven Public Schools' Educational Reforms and the New Haven Promise Scholarship Program. Brief," see ED561142.]

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) is an urban school district in Connecticut serving approximately 21,000 students in 46 schools, with nine high schools. Concerned that only about one-half of its students were meeting state proficiency standards in reading and math tests or graduating within four years of starting high school, NHPS and the City of New Haven set out to design and implement new measures to improve the school system with the hope of producing skilled, critical thinkers ready for careers and strengthening New Haven's economic development and sense of community. The School Change Initiative (School Change), announced in 2009 by the City of New Haven and NHPS, set out to eliminate the achievement gap, cut the high school dropout rate, and ensure that students are prepared for and financially able to attend and succeed in college. School Change's efforts are being implemented incrementally over five years, with the goal of having a fully established education reform in the 2015-2016 school year. This report takes a look at the progress so far in the education reform. Although it is too early in the programs' implementation to fully assess the impact, the preliminary analysis suggests that students are making progress on key indicators, while critical challenges remain. [For the full report, see ED561147; for the technical appendices, see ED561149.]

In New Haven, stakeholders looking to enhance the city's economic development, attract more residents, reduce crime and incarceration, and improve residents' quality of life embarked on a new scholarship program that seeks to build a college-going culture for local students and the community as an avenue to achieve these goals. Recognizing that many capable students might need financial or social support to enter and graduate from college, the City of New Haven, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS), and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven announced New Haven Promise in 2010 with financial support from Yale University. New Haven Promise complements NHPS' comprehensive K-12 school reform initiative--School Change--which also launched in 2010. In June 2013, the Board of Directors of New Haven Promise asked RAND to assess the progress School Change and Promise have made toward their goals. Because the programs had been in operation for only a short time and had been designed to be strategically implemented over time (2010-2015 for School Change and 2010-2014 for Promise), RAND focused this initial research effort on short-term progress. This brief highlights the study findings specific to Promise: college preparation, access, and enrollment. Findings are based on college enrollment data and focus groups with Promise Scholars and parents of Promise Scholars. [For the full report, see ED561147; for the technical appendices, see ED561149; for a related brief, see ED561142.]