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The studies and reports highlighted below are produced by independent research organizations and researchers. Collectively, they cover a wide range of impact and implementation of ��ɫ��Ƶ’s holistic services, demonstrate evidence of ��ɫ��Ƶ’s impact in areas like supporting improvements on state tests, improving students’ social-emotional skills and reducing early warning indicators, such as chronic absenteeism, and shed light on how to accelerate student success in systemically under-resourced schools.

Key findings:

• Deloitte’s analysis found that City Year is breaking constraints on four dimensions of performance: consistency, customization, continuity and cost, allowing ��ɫ��Ƶ to be highly effective in a wide range of settings.

Key findings:

• Schools that partner with ��ɫ��Ƶ were two times more likely to improve proficiency rates in English Language Arts and up to three times more likely to improve proficiency rates in math than schools that did not partner with ��ɫ��Ƶ.
• Schools that partnered with ��ɫ��Ƶ gained the equivalent of approximately one month of additional math and English Language Arts learning compared with non-��ɫ��Ƶ schools.

Download the study overview

In 2010, Diplomas Now received a $30 million Investing in Innovation grant from the U.S. Department of Education to implement the program in schools across the country. The grant also supports one of the largest randomized control studies ever conducted of a secondary school model—schools from 11 large urban districts—led by MDRC. The PepsiCo Foundation, Diplomas Now’s founding private sector investor, provided $11 million to support the study.

The first two reports from the evaluation, published in 2014 and 2015, focus on the implementation of the Diplomas Now model. MDRC’s third and most recent report, “Addressing Early Warning Indicators,” explores the early impacts of the Diplomas Now model on student and school outcomes.

Key findings:

• Schools with Diplomas Now partners achieved a positive, statistically significant impact on the percentage of sixth and ninth graders exhibiting no early warning indicators as compared to similar schools without Diplomas Now.
• The study also found statistically significant impact on reducing chronic absenteeism—defined as missing more than 10 percent of school days in a single academic year—in middle schools.
• Students at Diplomas Now schools reported participating in more academically focused afterschool activities, and more reported having a positive relationship with an adult at school who is not a teacher, than their peers in the comparison schools.
• Other contrasts include differentiated use of evidence-based practices in schools implementing the model. For teachers, increased frequency of: using data to drive instruction and target struggling students, teacher collaboration, support from instructional coaches. For students, increased frequency of: coordinated academic and non-academic services, Math/English academic help and in-class behavioral support.

Download the study overview
Download the analysis and implications report
Download the executive summary

Key findings:

• ��ɫ��Ƶ alumni excelled on every measure of civic engagement, had greater social capital and were more likely to develop lasting relationships with people from different backgrounds, as compared to similar service-minded peers.
• ��ɫ��Ƶ alumni are 45% more likely to be civically engaged or belong to a community organization.

Research in progress

Our current research projects, including one funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, are yielding valuable lessons about the role of student success coaches, developmental relationships, integrated approaches to student learning that harness students’ social-emotional and academic strengths and a commitment to supporting learning environments that foster belonging and engagement in efforts to accelerate student success.