The Impact of the GE Foundation Developing Futures in Education Program on Mathematics Performance Trends in Four Districts

Beginning in 2005, the GE Foundation initiated a commitment of expertise and financial resources to a set of urban school districts to improve public education and enhance student achievement in mathematics and science. With strong emphasis on stakeholder engagement, the GE Foundation’s Developing FuturesTM in Education program pursued a strategy of: (1) facilitating school board, union, and district leaders to work together to articulate system goals and priorities; (2) helping district leaders to build systemic change processes and develop internal-management capacity; and (3) supporting district science and mathematics initiatives through materials alignment, coaching, professional development, and other capacity-building measures. This report analyzes the impacts of the GE Foundation commitment to the partner districts by examining trends in student performance in mathematics over time in four districts. We hypothesized that the GE Foundation’s collaborative efforts with the district educators would produce detectable and significant improvements in student outcomes.