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Responding to a Congressional mandate in the No Child Left Behind Act, the effectiveness of nine reading instructional software applications was investigated using an experimental design and a large sample of American schools, teachers, and students. The software packages were selected based on evidence of effectiveness from previous research. Five software applications were for first‐grade students and four were for fourth‐grade students. Standardized tests were administered in the fall and spring of the 2004–2005 school year, classrooms were observed, and school records data were collected. The findings indicated that instructional activities were altered by the presence of software, but test scores were not statistically significantly higher in classrooms in which the software applications were used. For a subset of teachers and schools, an additional year of follow‐up was conducted to examine whether effectiveness was moderated by a year of teacher experience. The results were mixed, with measured eff...

Funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation and implemented by El Salvador’s Millennium Challenge Account (FOMILENIO in Spanish) from 2008 to 2012, the Productive Development Project (PDP) aimed to assist in the development of profitable and sustainable business ventures for poor individuals in El Salvador’s Northern Zone. A rigorous impact evaluation of the Production and Business Services (PBS) assistance, one component of the PDP program, found two promising findings. PBS had a statistically significant and positive impact on employment generation for the handicrafts value chain, and PBS assistance to dairy producers significantly raised these individuals’ productive income.

Mathematica's evaluation looked at early childhood developing programming, policy development, and investments; (2) efforts to enhance infrastructure to expand and sustain investments in service quality and support parent choice and decision making; and (3) efforts to integrate programs and policies into national and regional agendas.

Mathematica's evaluation looked at early childhood developing programming, policy development, and investments; (2) efforts to enhance infrastructure to expand and sustain investments in service quality and support parent choice and decision making; and (3) efforts to integrate programs and policies into national and regional agendas.

Mathematica's evaluation looked at early childhood developing programming, policy development, and investments; (2) efforts to enhance infrastructure to expand and sustain investments in service quality and support parent choice and decision making; and (3) efforts to integrate programs and policies into national and regional agendas.

Mathematica's evaluation looked at early childhood developing programming, policy development, and investments; (2) efforts to enhance infrastructure to expand and sustain investments in service quality and support parent choice and decision making; and (3) efforts to integrate programs and policies into national and regional agendas.

Mathematica's evaluation looked at early childhood developing programming, policy development, and investments; (2) efforts to enhance infrastructure to expand and sustain investments in service quality and support parent choice and decision making; and (3) efforts to integrate programs and policies into national and regional agendas.

This journal article identifies how impact evaluations are encouraged and resisted in Latin America and the Caribbean. Drawing on case studies from work in El Salvador, Jamaica, and Mexico, the authors outline best practices for successfully designing and implementing a high quality impact evaluation.

This final report from Mathematica’s congressionally mandated study of educational technology presents effects for the 2005-2006 school year for 10 computer-based reading and math products. Teacher experience using the software was not systematically related to changes in effects between the first and second year. In addition, only one product had statistically significant positive effects.

Identifies how impact evaluations are encouraged and resisted in Latin America and the Caribbean. Drawing on case studies from work in El Salvador, Jamaica, and Mexico, the authors outline best practices for successfully designing and implementing a high quality impact evaluation.

Congress posed questions about the effectiveness of educational technology and how effectiveness is related to conditions and practices. The study identified reading and mathematics software products based on prior evidence of effectiveness and other criteria and recruited districts, schools, and teachers to implement the products. On average, after one year, products did not increase or decrease test scores by amounts that were statistically different from zero. For first and fourth grade reading products, the study found several school and classroom characteristics that were correlated with effectiveness, including student-teacher ratios (for first grade) and the amount of time products were used (for fourth grade). The study did not find characteristics related to effectiveness for sixth grade math or algebra. The study also found that products caused teachers to be less likely to lecture and more likely to facilitate, while students using reading or mathematics software products were more likely to be working on their own. The results reported here are based on schools and teachers who were not using the products in the previous school year. Whether products are more effective when teachers have more experience using them is being examined with a second year of data. The study will involve teachers who were in the first data collection (those who are teaching in the same school and at the same grade level or subject area) and a new group of students. The second-year study will also report results separately for the various products.

This paper presents the results of an impact evaluation of the effects of Habitat on basic infrastructure during the first two years of implementation using Census data.