In their paper, “Crowdfunding the Front Lines: An Empirical Study of Teacher-Driven School Improvement,” Professors Samantha Keppler, Jun Li, and Andrew Wu conducted the first large-scale empirical test of the frontline improvement theory in K-12 schools. The theory, originating in automotive manufacturing, states that empowering front-line employees to identify organizational and process problems and implement solutions improves organizational performance and customer satisfaction. In this case, the team of Michigan Ross professors was interested in how teacher-identified problems in the classroom and crowd-funded solutions improved learning outcomes for K-12 students.
The team analyzed data on thousands of K-12 teacher projects on the largest teacher crowdfunding site, DonorsChoose. They found that one funded project (about $400 in value), on average, achieves a significant increase in the percentage of students scoring basic and above on all tested subjects in high school, as well as science and language arts in primary and middle schools. This effect translates to two-nine additional students moving up to at least a basic level of proficiency in the correlating subject. The effect of these projects is greatest in low-income schools, where funded projects, on average, move four-10 additional students to at least a basic level of proficiency in tested subjects.
From the textual analyses of the teacher's written statements about the impact of the projects in their schools, Keppler, Li, and Wu additionally learned that student academic performance is significantly better when teachers use crowd-funded money to improve knowledge retention, as a repeated learning tool, and to differentiate or personalize learning.
Due to the demonstrated impact of teacher-driven crowdfunded projects, DonorsChoose has partnered with eight states to spend COVID-19 education relief funding on teacher crowdfunding projects. To date, these partnerships have funded over $100 million of teacher projects from over 100,000 teachers, impacting over 10 million students.