Written for WestEd with funding from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement, this 2006 report examines the effectiveness of the federal dissemination grant program portion of the Charter Schools Program (CSP). While the majority of CSP funds go toward start-up and development grants for new charter schools, state grantees are allowed to set aside up to 10 percent of their funds to award as dissemination subgrants to established charter schools. These funds are designed to help successful charter schools disseminate promising practices to other charter and non-charter schools, but this analysis indicates that there is little evidence to suggest that these funds are having the desired level of impact on student performance. The report offers three separate recommendations for improvement: 1) the program should be revamped to provide more incentive for successful schools to participate; 2) the program should be redesigned so that funds are directed toward the replication of successful schools; or 3) Office of Innovation and Improvement should create a separate grant program for dissemination and allow a range of organizations to apply for funds through a national RFP process.

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