The UCF Center for Community Schools partnered with the American Institutes for Research (AIR®) to conduct an independent evaluation of the Community Partnership Schools™ model to better understand implementation efforts and to guide future program and policy decisions.
In June 2022, AIR® published a report summarizing findings from an effectiveness evaluation designed to assess the impact of the CPS model on a series of student outcomes during early implementation of the model, which spanned the 2015–16 to 2018–19 school years.
As part of their initial work, the evaluation team conducted a series of comparative interrupted time series (CITS) analyses in June 2023 to examine initiative impact based on student race and gender. Results from this analysis demonstrated significant positive effects associated with being enrolled in a Community Partnership School (CPS) in relation to improved school-day attendance and fewer discipline-related outcomes during the first year of CPS implementation. AIR’s evaluation also found positive academic outcomes for Black students in mathematics performance and for white students in English language arts (ELA) assessment performance during the first year of CPS implementation relative to students enrolled in the comparison schools.
Promising Strategies
The descriptive review of school-level data sets assembled for the effectiveness analysis identified three schools that demonstrated notable improvement on disciplinary incidents, performance on state assessments in reading and mathematics, and cumulative grade point average (GPA). To build on these findings, AIR was asked to conduct additional qualitative research to better understand what implementation looked like in these three schools and what promising practices might be capitalized on for other schools in the initiative. In reviewing these data sources, AIR sought to draw out elements of CPS model implementation that may be connected to improvement in student outcomes.
- Developing strong, engaged, and committed partnerships
- Fostering a good school climate with trust and respect
- Strongly integrating CPS director into the school environment
- Promoting community engagement
- Providing robust academic programming
- Investment in academic programming with tutoring and mentoring
- Focus on the whole child and providing referrals for services, resources, and programs
Learn
Key Performance Indicators for CPSs
AIR Presentation
About AIR
AIR is among the largest behavioral and social science research and evaluation organizations in the world. The Washington, D.C.-based organization aims to use the best science available and works with strict independence, objectivity and non-partisanship. AIR has 14 other domestic offices and three international offices.