District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Interim Report on Commonwealth Pilot Schools

In March 2007, the Board gave four urban schools that would otherwise have been designated chronically underperforming the opportunity to convert to Commonwealth Pilot Schools. Under the Commonwealth Pilot School structure, the schools accepted increased autonomy along with increased accountability for improving school performance. The participating schools-Academy Middle School in Fitchburg, John J. Duggan Middle School in Springfield, Roger L. Putnam Vocational School in Springfield, and The English High School in Boston-opened for business under the new Commonwealth Pilot School structure in fall 2007 and are now coming to the close of their first year in the new program.

As part of the conversion process, the Department contracted with the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts to conduct an evaluation of program implementation in these schools. Their initial report covers program implementation through January 2008 and includes baseline data on each school's structure and enrollment to allow comparisons over time. The executive summary and table of contents of the report follows this memo. The full report is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/research/reports/eval.html.

Future work expected from the Donahue Institute includes recommendations to the Department for what data should be collected on schools converting to Commonwealth Pilot Schools and a look at program implementation over the first full year.

Enclosure:
   Interim Report: Baseline School Characteristics and Changes