This panel will discuss the methodological challenges and practical considerations of designing and implementing a comparative research design in rapidly changing school contexts. The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), in partnership with the Department of Education (ED), launched the School Turnaround AmeriCorps program in 2013; the program supports placement of AmeriCorps members in low-performing K-12 schools. After CNCS commissioned an independent evaluation of the program, changing school contexts led to a shift from a quasi-experimental design to a comparative case study design midway through the evaluation's first year. In this panel presentation, CNCS and ED staff, selected grantees, and the evaluator will describe the study purpose, implementation experiences, and the initial and subsequent study designs, and the discussant will moderate a discussion about the trade-offs between study design and feasibility in fluid school/district contexts. Target audiences include evaluators, policy makers, education agencies, and school reform practitioners.#2016Conference #Eval16