Idaho's Communities of Excellence Charter School Grant Year 5 Evaluation 2023

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Education awarded Idaho’s Communities of Excellence (COE) consortium, led by the Boise-based nonprofit, Bluum, a $17.1 million Charter Schools Program (CSP) grant. The amount of the award increased to $22.5 million in 2019. Grant funds were distributed over five years with the intent to achieve Idaho’s COE objectives.

The following questions drive Idaho Policy Institute’s (IPI) evaluation of Idaho’s COE:

How are subgrantee schools using funds for school-site implementation?How do students and parents perceive the quality of schools vis-a-vis their prior school experience?What are school and staff perceptions of the successes, improvements, and challenges at subgrantee schools?

These questions were addressed using:

Demographic data received from the Idaho State Board of Education.Financial data received from Bluum (the non-profit organization serving the fiscal agent for the grant).Standardized test data from the Idaho State Board of Education.Parent, student, and teacher survey data from the Idaho State Board of Education.

Key findings include:

At the end of the grant period a little over half of subgrantee schools served similar rates of non-white, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students compared to the statewide average while almost all subgrantee schools served similar rates of special education students compared to the statewide average.Of the $20.4 million subgrants awarded across the seven cohorts, staffing was the most common expenditure overall (29.0%). The next most popular categories are technology (22.0%) and furniture and fixtures (22.0%).When looking at English Language Arts proficiency rates for all COE subgrantee schools, 28.6% had proficiency rates similar to the statewide average, 23.8% had lower rates, and 47.6% had higher rates of proficiency.When looking at math proficiency rates for all COE subgrantee schools, 38.1% had proficiency rates similar to the statewide average, 23.8% had lower rates, and 38.1% had higher rates of proficiency.