EVALUATIONS.

SEC. 309. EVALUATIONS.(a) In General.—(1) Duties of the secretary and the mayor.—The Secretary and the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall jointly select an independent entity to evaluate annually the performance of students who received scholarships under the 5-year program under this title, and shall make the evaluations public in accordance with subsection (c).(2) Duties of the secretary.—The Secretary, through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, shall—(A) ensure that the evaluation is conducted using the strongest possible research design for determining the effectiveness of the programs funded under this title that addresses the issues described in paragraph (4); and(B) disseminate information on the impact of the programs in increasing the student academic achievement of participating students, and on the impact of the programs on students and schools in the District of Columbia.(3) Duties of the independent entity.—The independent entity shall—(A) measure the academic achievement of all participating eligible students;(B) use the same grade appropriate measurement every school year to assess participating eligible students as the measurement used by the District of Columbia Public Schools to assess District of Columbia Public School students in the first year of the program; and(C) work with the eligible entities to ensure that the parents of each student who applies for a scholarship under this title (regardless of whether the student receives the scholarship) and the parents of each student participating in the scholarship program under this title, agree that the student will participate in the measurements given annually by the independent entity for the period for which the student applied for or received the scholarship, respectively.(4) Issues to be evaluated.—The issues to be evaluated include the following:118 STAT. 132(A) A comparison of the academic achievement of participating eligible students in the measurements described in this section to the achievement of—(i) students in the same grades in the District of Columbia public schools; and(ii) the eligible students in the same grades in the District of Columbia public schools who sought to participate in the scholarship program but were not selected.(B) The success of the programs in expanding choice options for parents.(C) The reasons parents choose for their children to participate in the programs.(D) A comparison of the retention rates, dropout rates, and (if appropriate) graduation and college admission rates, of students who participate in the programs funded under this title with the retention rates, dropout rates, and (if appropriate) graduation and college admission rates of students of similar backgrounds who do not participate in such programs.(E) The impact of the program on students, and public elementary schools and secondary schools, in the District of Columbia.(F) A comparison of the safety of the schools attended by students who participate in the programs and the schools attended by students who do not participate in the programs.(G) Such other issues as the Secretary considers appropriate for inclusion in the evaluation.(5) Prohibition.—Personally identifiable information regarding the results of the measurements used for the evaluations may not be disclosed, except to the parents of the student to whom the information relates.(b) Reports.—The Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations, Education and the Workforce, and Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Appropriations, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Governmental Affairs of the Senate—(1) annual interim reports, not later than December 1 of each year for which a grant is made under this title, on the progress and preliminary results of the evaluation of the programs funded under this title; and(2) a final report, not later than 1 year after the final year for which a grant is made under this title, on the results of the evaluation of the programs funded under this title.(c) Public Availability.—All reports and underlying data gathered pursuant to this section shall be made available to the public upon request, in a timely manner following submission of the applicable report under subsection (b), except that personally identifiable information shall not be disclosed or made available to the public.(d) Limit on Amount Expended.—The amount expended by the Secretary to carry out this section for any fiscal year may not exceed 3 percent of the total amount appropriated to carry out this title for the fiscal year.118 STAT. 133