Challenges to Finding Evidence for the Every Student Succeeds Act: A Case Study of Southern Urban District

• In Event: The Challenges and Impacts of Research Use

Abstract

We investigated the feasibility of finding evidence to support the educational activities, strategies and interventions in which Title I funds are invested in a large, southern district. Title I investment information from 2016-2019 for the central office and four schools was analyzed to determine whether the funds are invested in evidence-based activities. We attempted to associate educational activities with each expenditure and to identify evidence on whether the item leads to improved student outcomes. We encountered several challenges: assessing relevance of evidence to local context; activities are sometimes too broadly defined; student achievement is not a direct outcome of some activities; some activities consist of multiple components; it is hard to accurately assign evidence to investments that support multiple activities.

Authors

• Yuan Chang, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Fiona M. Hollands, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Venita R. Holmes, Houston Independent School District

• Robert Shand, American University

• Pamela Evans, Houston Independent School District

• Ryan Blodgett, Houston Independent School District

• Yixin Wang, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Laura Head, Self-employed