District Letter

Revised 2/5/21 DRAFT Contract No. ED-01-CO-0129 – Task 17

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DATE

suffix firstname lastname

Title

Department

Address #1

Address #2

City, state zip

Dear suffix lastname:

We are writing to request your participation in a national study of “turnaround” schools as part of the Longitudinal Assessment of Comprehensive School Reform Implementation and Outcomes (LACIO). This study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, responds to the changing policy environment and fills the need for information about how high-poverty, low achieving schools improve and sustain student achievement. Specifically, we are investigating how low-performing schools initially improve their results dramatically and quickly, and continue to improve those results in succeeding years.

Based on state assessment data, we identified a small set of schools that appear to be “turnaround” schools. In some instances, we also wish to visit another school in your district chosen to serve as a comparison school. The participating school(s) in your district is/are:

SCHOOL Name

Evaluators will conduct a field visit to the school(s) in your district listed above. During the visit, evaluators will interview school administrators, teachers, and parents about the school’s practices in such areas as staff development, instructional leadership, school site management, and parental involvement.

Evaluators will follow procedures to conceal the names of the schools, districts, and individuals involved in this research effort. They will produce a cross-site report that does not include any identifying information, as well as a select number of individual case study reports, for which pseudonyms will be used to represent school and respondent names or titles.

We recognize participation in this study demands time from educators in your district. We are making every effort to minimize the burden associated with data collection, while informing Congress and other education stakeholders about school improvement. Your support will help ensure the study’s success.

The Department contracted with WestEd to carry out the LACIO study. WestEd is an independent research organization that specializes in studying education and youth. Lauren Davis Sosenko, the project coordinator at WestEd, will contact you shortly to describe the study in more detail and make arrangements for data collection. Your support of this project and encouragement to the selected school(s) would be appreciated. If you have any comments or questions regarding the study, please contact Ms. Davis Sosenko at 562.799.5476 or ldavis@wested.org.

Thank you for your assistance with this study. We look forward to working with you in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Alan L. Ginsburg

Director

Policy and Program Studies Service

District Letter 1: Site Visit / District Interviews / School Surveys