Evaluation of the Texas High School Project: Third Comprehensive Annual Report

Abstract

This report is the third and culminating report of the four-year longitudinal evaluation of the Texas High School Project (THSP). The evaluation examined reform implementation and effects on student performance for THSP-funded schools that began reforms in the 200607 school year through the 200910 school year. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, this report provides updated results for the 200910 school year and builds on prior findings (see Young et al., 2010a, 2010b). It is the first and only year for which twelfth-grade outcomes are available under the THSP evaluation, albeit for a small minority of schools funded under THSP.

This final report addresses the following research questions:

  • To what extent did THSP-supported schools implement key reform elements as designed or described by the THSP grant programs?
  • What factors facilitated implementation, and what factors hindered it?
  • How did reform model networks support schools in implementation?
  • What effects did THSP and its individual grant programs have on selected ninth-, tenth-, eleventh-, and twelfth-grade student outcomes?
  • Did these effects differ for different types of students?
  • To what extent did variation in implementation relate to intermediate teacher and student outcomes such as teaching practices and attitudes and to student achievement and achievement-related outcomes?

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