No School Improvement Models Get Top Rating From AIR

Only 10 of the 18 most widely used school improvement programs for middle and high schools have “moderate” or “limited” evidence to show they work, and none deserves a top rating, a review by a Washington think tank concludes.

The review, released last week at a national conference in Houston, is the third in a series of consumer-style reports produced by the Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center at the American Institutes for Research. The federally financed reviews evaluate the research base for popular, prepackaged schoolwide-improvement designs and assign ratings based on their effectiveness and other characteristics.

This time around, none of the models had a research track record robust enough to earn one of the nonprofit group’s two highest ratings—“very strong” or “strong.” Nonetheless, Steve Fleischman, the AIR vice president who oversees the project, characterized the results for...