Project Summary

The International Charter School (ICS) of Pawtucket, RI contracted with The Education Alliance to help the school's governors determine the feasibility of offering middle school instruction and to answer some questions related to the existing program.

First, the evaluation assessed the organizational capacity of the ICS, including answering the following questions: How well is ICS currently meeting its articulated goals?; How well is it teaching English Language Arts?; How well is it teaching students in another language (either Spanish or Portuguese)?; and, What are current assessment practices? Methodology included a document review, key staff interviews, individual interviews and focus groups with teachers, on-site observations and parent surveys. Then the evaluation looked at the feasibility of expanding the ICS to include middle school. Specifically, the feasibility of expansion was measured along five dimensions: start-up/expansion logistics and requirements, regulatory issues, assessment and accountability, governance and management, and community relations.