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A Theory-of-Change Approach to Evaluating Investments in Public Education

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Measuring the Impact of the Nonprofit Sector

Part of the book series: Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies ((NCSS))

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Abstract

Over the past ten years, corporate and private foundation resources have been energizing urban educational reform initiatives at an increasing rate. But what has resulted? The Institute for Research and Reform in Education (IRRE) concluded that “after nearly 10 years of intensive local, state, and national educational reform efforts, very little meaningful change has occurred in the everyday lives of most urban public school students” (IRRE, 1996). At a time when many students’ life chances are threatened by “business as usual” in their schools, the substantial investments made in educational reform should, at a minimum, have provided credible and usable information to guide future reform efforts. Yet, they have not.

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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Connell, J.P., Klem, A.M. (2002). A Theory-of-Change Approach to Evaluating Investments in Public Education. In: Flynn, P., Hodgkinson, V.A. (eds) Measuring the Impact of the Nonprofit Sector. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0533-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0533-4_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-46548-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0533-4

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