An Evaluation of the i3 Validation Grant: Scaling the New Orleans Charter Restart Model

In 2010, New Schools for New Orleans and the Louisiana Recovery School District received a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) Validation grant to test and transport the New Orleans Charter Restart Model (CRM). Over the course of the next 7 years, NSNO and RSD led an initiative to validate the CRM in New Orleans, and to scale the model to Memphis and Nashville. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University completed the federally mandated third-party evaluation of the Charter Restart Model using a mixed methods design to test the CRM's Theory of Action and its impact on students in 21 schools across Louisiana and Tennessee from 2010-2016. CREDO conducted three discrete but related investigations: a systems-level examination of Organizational Capacity; an Implementation Study of the schools implementing the CRM; and a Student Impact study of how the CRM affected the academic progress of students touched by the CRM. Ultimately, CREDO aimed to test whether the CRM was well designed, was implemented with fidelity to that design, and had positive impact on student growth and achievement. This website presents the integrated findings.