This evaluation report focuses on the School District of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Initiative, the District’s school turnaround model. This report, conducted by Research for Action and commissioned by the Accountability Review Council, presents Year One (2010-11) school-level achievement and attendance outcomes and case study findings from Fall 2011 that focused on school leadership and instruction. Thirteen schools were included in the first year of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Schools Initiative (2010-11).

Important findings include:

• Student achievement in K-8 Renaissance Schools improved to a significantly greater degree than in similar schools not included in the Initiative.
• Student attendance at Renaissance Schools increased significantly more than at comparison Schools.
• Descriptive analysis of student achievement and attendance reveal no observable changes at Renaissance High Schools in Year One of the Renaissance Schools Initiative, while the comparison high schools have continued to improve slightly over the six-year study period.
• There was no statistically significant difference in either student achievement or attendance between the K-8 Promise Academies and the charter-managed Renaissance Schools. Both sets of schools significantly out-performed the comparison schools.
• Descriptive comparisons of Renaissance Schools reveal roughly equivalent performance along student achievement and attendance measures across all operators.

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