ANet Gets Results!

As our CEO Michelle Odemwingie has said many times, “There are no silver bullets. All schools are different and need a tailored approach. Knowing that, I want to continue to make sure our organization listens deeply and studies carefully.”

Our work with partners across the country is multi-layered, integrated, and cohesive, promoting scalable impact throughout districts or systems. For the past five years, ANet engaged five schools across the country in a multi-year, multi-level study called the Breakthrough Results Study, supported by the Ballmer Group and evaluated by a research team at the University of Southern California (USC). The long-term study demonstrates what’s possible for sustained school and system improvement in a partnership over time between ANet and diverse districts across the United States focused on integrating curriculum, assessments, and instructional leadership.

Our Breakthrough Results Study members experienced transformational results for students, including:

• Students in ANet schools who met their yearly instructional leadership goals were on average 8% more likely to achieve proficiency in math and 5% more likely to achieve proficiency in ELA than schools who did not meet their goals.
• After curriculum selection, adoption, and implementation of a new, highly-aligned curriculum: More teachers used the the materials, providing grade-level instruction to more students; more teachers believed their new materials were high-quality and standards-aligned; and teachers reported using district-provided materials more frequently than in past years.
• ANet’s instructionally relevant assessments can accelerate student learning. In both ELA and math, partners saw a statistically significant, positive relationship with student performance when teachers reported frequent use of ANet interim assessments and data-driven decisions.

As Michelle said, there are no silver bullets: these results are because of many decisions, shifts, and improvements that add up to changes in adult approaches that lead to better student outcomes.

The data from our Breakthrough Results Study echoes results we saw in our rigorous internal evaluation of 21–22 summatives. As we continue to carefully study our work, we see clear evidence that ANet supports work in improving student learning.

• ANet partners are outperforming their peers.
  In a rigorous comparison of like schools based on demographics and historical performance data, ANet students outperformed their peer group in both ELA and math on the 21–22 state summative assessments.
• Rising scores in ELA and math.
  In a time when we are seeing historic lows in student math and ELA scores across the country, the majority of ANet partners made positive gains.
• Longer partnership leads to better results.
  Those who partner for at least 3 or 4 years see positive impact.

Our multi-year, multi-level partnerships pinpoint the places where the greatest changes have been made. Our new website featuring our progress with the Breakthrough Results Study participants shares stories about passionate leadership, shared vision, teacher empowerment, and, especially, a student-centered mindset.

Our organization continues to work strategically across systems, to help our partners seed equity throughout. By understanding the overarching, interconnected conditions and structures that drive instructional equity at each level, we see success with our partners. Discover our insights for yourself at ANetGetsResults.org.