Lessons from New American Schools Development Corporation's Demonstration Phase

NASDC, a private non-profit organization, was established in 1991 to fund the development of organizations that would create designs for "break-the-mold" schools and help schools implement those designs. A national competition by NASDC led to the choice of 11 teams, which were given one year, called Phase 1, to build their teams and develop the designs described in their proposals. In Phase 2, the teams had two years to further develop their designs and to demonstrate them. NASDC asked RAND to assess the Phase 2 experience of the nine teams remaining in the demonstration. This report provides the assessment and points to some lessons from Phase 2 that might be usefully applied to Phase 3. The assessment reviews the characteristics of designs and teams; how these characteristics affected progress toward goals in Phase 2; whether teams met NASDC goals; whether the teams experienced institutional, cultural, or systemic barriers to reform; and what has been the overall contribution of NASDC to reform to date.