Evaluation of TNTP’s Turnaround Leadership Teams Strategy, 2018–2022

Evaluation of TNTP’s Turnaround Leadership Teams Strategy, 2018–2022

Final Report
Published: Aug 30, 2023
Publisher: Mathematica
Key Findings
  • After two years of implementation, TLTS had positive effects on student achievement in ELA and math, the two subject areas of focus for TLTS program supports. After two years of TLTS implementation, students in TLTS schools, on average, performed 0.05 standard deviations higher in ELA than students in comparison schools (p-value = 0.019) and in math, on average, 0.09 standard deviations higher than students in comparison schools (p-value < .001).
  • TLTS did not show positive effects on student achievement in other classroom subjects that were not a specific focus of TLTS supports. After two years, TLTS had no detectable effect on student achievement in science (0.03 standard deviations, p-value = 0.266). On the social studies assessment—administered only to students in grade 8—students in TLTS schools performed, on average, 0.12 standard deviations lower (p-value = 0.030) than students in comparison schools.
  • Across schools that began TLTS in 2019–2020 (Cohort 2) and in 2020–2021 (Cohort 3), TNTP achieved fidelity for the program model’s two key program components: (1) diagnosing school needs and (2) developing and supporting SLTs. 
  • Per-pupil costs for the TLTS program averaged $242 per year. These costs reflect expenditures directly related to program provision.

In 2017, TNTP (formerly called The New Teacher Project) received an $8 million mid-phase Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Education to implement the Turnaround Leadership Teams Strategy (TLTS) in two school districts in the southeastern United States. TLTS aimed to support professional growth for school leaders and teacher leaders; improve instructional practices, school culture, and family engagement in school activities; and, ultimately, increase student achievement. TNTP contracted Mathematica to conduct an evaluation of the TLTS program that included impact and implementation components. The impact study used a randomized controlled trial design to examine program impacts on one- and two-year student achievement outcomes. The implementation study included an assessment of program and scale-up fidelity during the grant and a cost analysis.

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