Evaluation of the School District of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Initiative and Turnaround Network

This effort, aimed to dramatically improve student achievement by shifting school management to either external charter providers, called Renaissance Charters, or designating schools as Turnaround Network schools, is named the Renaissance Initiative. The District has invested time and resources in reforms to bring about change; a mixed-methods evaluation will enable the District to better understand how reforms were implemented and the effectiveness of those reforms on student outcomes. Mathematica will complete this work in partnership with Research for Action (RFA) and Concentric LLC. The evaluation documents how seven selected schools implement the Renaissance Initiative, describe lessons learned during the process, evaluation the Initiative’s effectiveness, and explore whether there is a cost benefit to the Initiative.