Assessing the Impact of School Reforms on Student Outcomes
Do Reforms Move the Needle?
Denver Public Schools has been a national proving ground for portfolio-style reform: a model that can transform how entire school systems work. Yet, impacts are scarcely immediate and often hard to see. Our job is to ensure that reforms produced real, sustained gains for the students who lived through them. Basis’ multi-year policy evaluation takes on that question directly, testing whether the reforms were truly the catalyst for better achievement and growth in Colorado’s largest district. When policies are bold and complex, only equally rigorous evaluations can tell us if they deliver on their promise.
Measuring Impact
Across multiple reforms, areas, and measurements of success, our researchers accounted for every data point. Therefore, to ensure we were capturing every success and failure, our researchers
- analyzed DPS's reforms and outcomes over time.
- led data collection and management across multiple years and school types.
- designed and implemented rigorous analytic methods, including propensity score matching and difference-in-differences analyses.
- produced data descriptions, output tables, and graphics that make complex findings usable.
- developed accessible result summaries, technical guidance, and data visualizations.