Successful Schools: How School-Level Factors Influence Success with Urban Advantage. Working Paper #01-14

Informal science education institutions have been identified as critical participants in helping students succeed in science by working in collaboration with school systems across the country. The results of one such collaboration, the Urban Advantage (UA) program found that participation in UA improved student achievement, on average, by 0.6 standard deviations on the 8th grade New York State Intermediate Level Science exam. However, while some UA schools performed exceedingly well, others performed well below expectations. In the current study, we explore the heterogeneity in the results and look deeper into what may be the cause of this variation, focusing closely on the school-level factors that may help or hinder success. After identifying a set of high and low-performing UA schools, we use qualitative research methods to uncover the ways in which successful schools are implementing UA, as well as other school-level factors that may influence the degree to which the school is able to benefit from the UA program. Identifying these best practices across different school contexts may help UA program staff develop strategies to support UA schools having more limited success. Additionally, findings from this study may aid UA staff in the school selection process, for example choosing schools they previously may not have based on their school-level characteristics. The following is appended: Teacher Interview Protocol.