From Theory to Practice: Logic Models for Evaluating Portfolio School Districts

Senate Bill (SB) 1882 partnerships, codified into Texas state law in 2017, are the latest iteration of portfolio management models (PMMs) in elementary and secondary education. PMMs aim to overhaul the current governance structure of public education, granting autonomy over critical areas of school operations to school operators, while using the power of the school district to keep operators accountable for achieving results. To date, evaluations of PMMs are rare and limited. Focusing on SB 1882 partnerships, this paper proposes a general logic model for education policy that can be used to evaluate SB 1882 partnerships in a diversity of Texas school districts and customized for other PMMs within and outside the state. Using such a logic model offers researchers, evaluators, and practitioners the opportunity to explicitly identify and test the assumptions and theory of change underlying PMMs and link them to the planned work, intended results, and outcomes attained.