Schwartz, Amy Ellen, Leanna Stiefel, and Dae Yeop Kim. 2004. "The Impact of School Reform on Student Performance: Evidence from the New York Network for School Renewal Project." Journal of Human Resources 39(2): 500-522.

This paper evaluates the impact of the New York Networks for School Renewal Project, a whole school reform initiated by the Annenberg Foundation as part of a nationwide reform strategy. It uses data on students in randomly chosen control schools to estimate impacts on student achievement, using an intent-to-treat design. After controlling for student demographic, mobility, and school characteristics, the authors find positive impacts for students attending reform schools in the fourth Grade, mixed evidence for fifth Grade, and slight to no evidence for sixth Grade. On average, there is a small positive impact. The paper illustrates how relatively inexpensive administrative data can be used to evaluate education reforms.

Amy Ellen Schwartz is a professor of public policy, Leanna Stiefel is a professor of economics, and Dae Yeop Kim is a doctoral candidate at the Wagner Graduate School, New York University. The authors thank Norm Fruchter, Patrice Iatarola, Dana Lockwood, and Dorothy Siegel for their comments and insight and the Institute for Education and Social Policy at New York University for support and assistance. The comments of two reviewers were valuable in revising the paper. All responsibility for errors remains with the authors. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning October 2004 through September 2007 from the authors. Email either amy.schwartz@nyu.edu or leanna.stiefel@nyu.edu.