Articles & Book Chapters
Paying for A's: An Early Exploration of Student Reward and Incentive Programs in Charter Schools
CREDO's Report "Not Condemed to Fail"
United States Department of Education Survey of States Evaluation Capacity
Performance of California Charter Schools
The Future of California's Academic Performance Index
Teach for America - Teacher Quality Evaluation
CREDO
Paying for A's: An Early Exploration of Student Reward and Incentive Programs in Charter Schools -- download the Report 
The use of student reward and incentive programs in K-12 education has been met with support, skepticism and indignation. Until now, the characteristics of these programs and the degree to which they improve student academic achievement had not been examined. This study examines a non-random sample of charter schools and their decisions to use or forego an incentive program in their school to see if the systems enhance academic achievement gains.
CREDO
Not Condemed to Fail -- download the Report
California adopted in 1998 an accountability plan designed to stimulate improvement in public schools across the state. School ratings are ranked into deciles, with Decile 1 containing the worst schools in the state. This study examines the subsequent performance of nearly 1100 schools that have received a Decile 1 designation since the Academic Performance Index was implemented in 1998. The findings show a surprising responsiveness in improvement for the majority of schools, suggesting that accountability policies are a viable way to achieve broad scale gains in achievement for students.
United States Department of Education
Survey of States Evaluation Capacity -- download the Evaluation
At a time when the United States Department of Education has put a mandate on research-based policies in public education, CREDO, along with the Outcomes Research Institute of Stanford, stepped in to give the USDE a vital tool in assessing states' capacity to hold their education programs accountable. CREDO and ORI surveyed the fifty states to gauge how effectively they currently evaluate the elementary and secondary programs they oversee. Forty-nine states responded to the survey, which was administered during 2001 and 2002. The findings revealed a shocking lack of rigorous evaluation of school programs taking place, with much of the evaluation that is occurring being subpar. Only one-third of state education departments were found to be evaluating their programs extensively, with the other two thirds either evaluating one or two programs a year or none at all. Reliable evaluation studies were also found to be in short supply, with only 21 percent of studies containing controls that isolate true program effects from irrelevant factors - leaving most studies as poor decision-making tools for policy makers. Institutional procedures ensuring consistent program evaluation were likewise found to be sparse, with most states relying on ad-hoc policies; likewise, protocols ensuring evaluation findings were used in future decisions were rarely seen. The CREDO/ORI report, delivered to the USDE in July, revealed an opportunity for strong leadership by the department in bringing states in line with its empirical mandate.
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Performance of California Charter Schools -- download the study
With more than 400 charter schools currently operating in California, they have become a force to reckon with. Yet while charter schools were first undertaken to spur innovation and competition in public education there has, until now, been no look at how their students perform compared with students in traditional public schools. CREDO changed that with the completion of a study in June that was the first to compare charter outcomes to those in traditional schools, providing a meaningful context within which to study state performance data on charters for the first time. The study compared state Academic Performance Index scores from 316 elementary, middle and high school charter schools to those of their non-charter peers. The analysis brought the first empirical backing to the hope these fledgling schools hold for some education leaders. Among other things, it showed that charter schools are improving the scores of low-achieving high school students significantly faster than their traditional counterparts. The study also found that the lower overall scores of charter schools are likely due to the type of students enrolling in them, rather than poor teaching. With many charter schools still in their infancy and likely to improve with age, CREDO's study suggests the state should continue supporting these fledgling schools.
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Teach for America
Teacher Quality Evaluation -- download the analysis
 The nationally acclaimed Teach for America program recruits talented and accomplished new graduates from top colleges and universities to teach for two-year stints in some of America's most challenging schools. Armed with an intensive orientation to teaching, TFA teachers take their place in inner city and rural schools. The program has been hailed as both innovative and naive, but until now, has never been evaluated. CREDO designed an evaluation that compares TFA teachers to other new teachers in Houston. CREDO brokered the evaluation between TFA, an independent evaluator, funders, and the Texas Education Agency, and is providing independent review of the evaluation results. The analysis was complete at the end of April 2001.The final report was delivered to TFA in August 2001.
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