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A New Approach for Multiway Stratification: School Sampling in Charting the Progress of Education Reform: An Evaluation of the Recovery Act's Role
Lou Rizzo
Westat
Jane Li
Westat
Yong Lee
Westat
Babette Gutmann
Westat
Patty Troppe
Westat
Charting the Progress of Education Reform: An Evaluation of the Recovery Act’s Role is
sponsored by the Institute for Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. The evaluation assesses how states, districts, and schools are working to implement education reforms. We required a nationally representative sample of school districts and schools to examine the role that Recovery Act programs may have played in such efforts. The school sample was nested within the district sample (a two-stage design), and we required at least two sampled schools within each district for analysis purposes. In addition, we required stratification control for grade span and school performance. This required then a multiway (three-way) stratification structure. To carry this out, we utilized the new balanced sampling theory as developed by Deville and Tillé (e.g., Deville and Tillé (2004)). This paper describes our new methodology for executing this theoretical approach, given the large sample sizes, and also presents evidence that the methodology was successful in meeting the desired criteria (respecting the desired probabilities of selection, meeting the three sets of stratification criteria, and being a randomized rather than a controlled sampling approach).