School Choice

Florida Voluntary Public School Choice Evaluation ($711,000)

This project will utilize the expertise of the Alliance for Applied Research in Education and Anthropology (AAREA) to evaluate the Florida Voluntary Public School Choice (VPSC) program. VPSC addresses: 1) wide variety of public school choices; 2) substantial impact on students in low-performing schools; and 3) inter-district partnerships. This collaborative effort comprises partnerships with universities, collaboration among Florida school districts, and involvement by local communities and neighborhoods. School choice options referred to here are for public school choice programs only and participation is voluntary. The main aim of the project is to provide parents with increased options for acquiring high-quality education for their children, particularly those parents whose children currently attend schools in need of improvement as defined by No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

AAREA will ensure the project performance objectives are measurable and that the evaluation methods, as well as the deliverables, are valid. The objective performance measures are clearly related to the intended outcomes of the project and will produce both quantitative and qualitative data. This evaluation requires that the foundation of the measures include four very necessary components: What will change? How much will change? Who will achieve the change? and when does the change occur? This evaluation will require annual target and actual performance data established for meeting each performance measure. The purposes of the evaluation will be to determine if: (1) the proposed process objectives are met as guaranteed by the applicant and (2) the project objectives are met by the specific project strategies set out by the applicant. The evaluation will assist in analyzing and interpreting program data to allow for data driven decision-making—including decisions about strategies, budgets and staffing, community action plans, or program structure.

Understanding the importance of using process evaluation to provide consistent and constant input into implementation, the AAREA will work with program staff and partners to assess the need for and implement mid-course adjustments. Each participant involved in meeting the project objectives will receive information concerning the process objectives and data types to be generated in order to collect necessary data. Evaluation methods will include procedures for evaluating both quantitative data and qualitative data produced by the participating partners of the project. Benchmarks to monitor progress towards specific and also outcome measures will be reported to determine if progress is being made towards specific and outcome objectives as designed in this application. A timeline of grant activities corresponding with process objectives are developed with benchmarks to give staff an idea of what to work towards.

It is important that the information collected through the evaluation be used to monitor progress of the funded project and to provide accountability information both about success at the initial site and effective strategies for replication in other settings. AAREA will use the information collected through the evaluation to monitor progress of the funded project by developing a formal report and writing scholarly articles for the Journal of School Choice, through the Florida Public School Research Center. In particular, this report and article will reveal to what extent student achievement increases from transferring to the higher-performing schools (in comparison to a control group of students that did not exercise school choice). Three major Research papers are envisioned by AAREA. In collaboration with NSU, AAREA will create a database that will collect pre- and post-intervention test data for students exercising school choice by transferring from low-performing to higher-performing schools in the participating districts. This data will be compiled into a report, and research findings that include effective strategies for replication will be publicized through the Florida Department of Education portal. This report will be transformed into easy to follow strategies for replication in other settings and usable for all audiences.