Recognizing that evaluation was crucial to the development and refinement of the Project GRAD model and that independently reported results were essential to assessing GRAD’s potential impact, Project GRAD instituted what is, to date, one of the most extensive evaluation processes of any school reform program. GRAD began this evaluation very soon after it was launched as a fully developed model. Project GRAD does not use objective data merely to prove its performance; it uses the data to improve its performance. This focus on results has ensured and enhanced Project GRAD’s success and brought it to the forefront of education reform.

Funded by a grant from the University of Houston, evaluation began in Houston in the 1994–1995 school year. In that year, the first feeder system of nine schools was studied. As GRAD expanded in Houston to include five feeder systems the evaluation was expanded to include them all. Their conclusion is highlighted adjacently.

By the year 2000, Project GRAD had expanded from Houston to Atlanta, Columbus, Los Angeles and Newark. MDRC, a leading research firm with a 25–year history of evaluating promising social policy interventions began an independent five-year evaluation of each of these five expansion sites.

Researchers & Foundations

"... there is at least one example of a K-12 reform model designed to get more disadvantaged kids to college that seems to be succeeding in multiple communities around the nation. It's called Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), and it seeks to change the culture of schools serving low-income populations from passive acceptance of failure to an expectation that every student can succeed with the right preparation."—Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2005

"Project GRAD, a comprehensive kindergarten to 12 reform program, demonstrated some promise in improving test scores and graduation rates."—GAO Report to Congressional Requesters, September 2005

"Project GRAD is one of the most promising urban education reform efforts we have seen." —The Ford Foundation

"Longitudinal data from the same study for the first Project GRAD high school indicate that the rate of college enrollment increased from 12 percent of graduating seniors in 1989, when scholarships were first offered to graduates, to an annual rate of 50 percent in 1998."—Building Engineering & Science Talent, April 2004

"GRAD’s successes have validated the fact that the challenges confronting our public schools can be overcome with appropriate resources, strategies, and collaborations."—Center for Research on School Reform, 2003

"Project GRAD is committed to having students graduate and make the transition from high school into postsecondary education and has in place many supports to accomplish this important mission. We are enthusiastic about the prospects of expanding this successful model on a larger scale in order to help even more students succeed."—Lumina Foundation for Education, Fall 2005