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Determining the Impact of CIS Programs: Student-Level Randomized Controlled Trials
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| Presenter(s):
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| Clawson Heather,
ICF International,
hclawson@icfi.com
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| Allan Porowski,
ICF International,
aporowski@icfi.com
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| Felix Fernandez,
ICF International,
ffernandez@icfi.com
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| Christine Leicht,
ICF International,
cleicht@icfi.com
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| Abstract:
Communities In Schools, Inc. (CIS) is a nationwide initiative to connect community resources with schools to help at-risk students successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life. CIS is currently in the midst of a comprehensive, rigorous three-year national evaluation, culminating in a two-year multi-site randomized controlled trial (RCT) to ascertain program effectiveness. In this presentation, we will draw from our experience working with Austin, TX and Jacksonville, FL public schools, present our overall study design, and the process involved in conducting a student-level RCT. Preliminary results from Year One will also be discussed.
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The Communities in Schools Inc (CIS) National Evaluation: Conducting Case Studies of Large, Diverse Community-Based Organizations
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| Presenter(s):
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| Sarah Decker,
ICF International,
sdecker@icfi.com
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| Kelle Basta,
ICF International,
kbasta@icfi.com
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| Susan Siegel,
Communities In Schools Inc,
ssiegel@cisnet.org
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| Abstract:
Communities In Schools, Inc. (CIS) is a nationwide initiative to connect community resources with schools to help students in need. As part of the national student- and school-level evaluation, we have conducted eight case studies in an effort to gain an in-depth understanding of the processes that contribute to successful CIS affiliate- and site-level outcomes. This presentation will provide a two-fold description of case study implementation within diverse, community-based organizations. First, we will examine the methodology behind our case study of CIS sites. We will include a discussion of challenges encountered while conducting the studies in elementary, middle, and high schools located in rural, suburban, and urban areas around the country, and the solutions we developed to circumvent these issues. Second, we will use this presentation as an opportunity to present our findings from the case studies, and will discuss their value-added to the overall national evaluation framework.
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Findings from the Communities In Schools (CIS) School-Level Quasi-Experimental Study
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| Presenter(s):
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| Allan Porowski,
ICF International,
aporowski@icfi.com
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| Julie Gdula,
ICF International,
jgdula@icfi.com
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| Susan Siegel,
Communities In Schools Inc,
ssiegel@cisnet.org
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| Abstract:
Communities in Schools, Inc. (CIS) is a nationwide initiative to connect community resources with schools to help at-risk students successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life. As part of a five-year comprehensive national evaluation of CIS, a school-level quasi-experimental study was conducted to determine whether CIS sites effected school-level change on a range of outcomes, including dropout rates, graduation rates, attendance, and academic performance. A brief description of our matching procedures, which included a technique called propensity score matching, will be included, along with a general overview of how this component fits into our comprehensive national evaluation plan. The final results from this study will also be presented, which covers a sample of 604 CIS sites and 604 matched comparison sites. The presentation will conclude with lessons learned about the effectiveness of community-based integrated student supports (CBISS) in general, and the CIS program in particular.
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Typology Results from the National Evaluation of Communities In Schools Inc (CIS)
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| Presenter(s):
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| Jing Sun,
ICF International,
jsun@icfi.com
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| Katerina Passa,
ICF International,
kpassa@icfi.com
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| Allan Porowski,
ICF International,
aporowski@icfi.com
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| Susan Siegel,
Communities In Schools Inc,
ssiegel@cisnet.org
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| Abstract:
Communities In Schools, Inc. (CIS) is a nationwide initiative to connect community resources with schools to help at-risk students successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life. To capture the diversity of the CIS network as part of our multi-component, national evaluation of the program, threshold analysis was employed to develop a typology, which identifies “high implementers” and “partial implementers” according to an ideal implementation model from the CIS Total Quality System (TQS). By comparing program outcomes (including dropout indicators and academic achievements) across typologies, we found that CIS “high implementers” outperformed their similar non-CIS comparison schools in most outcomes, while “low implementers” did not. We used this methodology to gain a deep understanding of how and why specific program models work. In this presentation, we will describe our methodology and results, as well as the processes that can be linked to positive outcomes. Implications for CIS will also be discussed.
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