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Nclb: Local Implementation And Impact In Southwest Washington State, Linda Mabry, Jason Margolis
Nclb: Local Implementation And Impact In Southwest Washington State, Linda Mabry, Jason Margolis
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
The research reported here is from the first two years of an ongoing and largely qualitative study to examine the impact of the No Child Left Behind federal education policy on educational practice and climate in elementary schools in two districts in southwest Washington. Based on systematic drop-in observations in classrooms and interviews with teachers and school and district administrators, data indicated that the policy had partially yielded the intended standards-based reforms but at considerable local cost. While most participating administrators described efforts to use NCLB to leverage needed change, most teachers described struggles to sustain best practice and to …
The Impact Of Language And High-Stakes Testing Policies On Elementary School English Language Learners In Arizona, Wayne E. Wright, Daniel Choi
The Impact Of Language And High-Stakes Testing Policies On Elementary School English Language Learners In Arizona, Wayne E. Wright, Daniel Choi
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
This article reports the results of a survey of third-grade teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) in Arizona regarding school language and accountability policies—Proposition 203, which restricts bilingual education and mandates sheltered English Immersion; the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB); and Arizona LEARNS, the state’s high-stakes testing and accountability program. The instrument, consisting of 126 survey questions plus open-ended interview question, was designed to obtain teacher’s views, to ascertain the impact of these polices, and to explore their effectiveness in improving the education of ELL students. The survey was administered via telephone to 40 teacher participants …
The Legends Of The Large Mcas Gains Of 2000-2001, Gregory Camilli, Sadako Vargas
The Legends Of The Large Mcas Gains Of 2000-2001, Gregory Camilli, Sadako Vargas
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
Issues related to student, teacher, and school accountability have been at the forefront of current educational policy initiatives. Recently, the state of Massachusetts has become a focal point in debate regarding the efficacy of high-stakes accountability models based on an ostensibly large gain at 10th grade. This paper uses an IRT method for evaluating the validity of 10th grade performance gains from 2000 to 2001 on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. We conclude that a moderate gain was obtained in ELA and a small gain in mathematics.
Successive Student Cohorts And Longitudinal Growth Models: An Investigation Of Elementary School Mathematics Performance, Keith Zvoch, Joseph J. Stevens
Successive Student Cohorts And Longitudinal Growth Models: An Investigation Of Elementary School Mathematics Performance, Keith Zvoch, Joseph J. Stevens
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
Mathematics achievement data from three longitudinally matched student cohorts were analyzed with multilevel growth models to investigate the viability of using status and growth-based indices of student achievement to examine the multi-year performance of schools. Elementary schools in a large southwestern school district were evaluated in terms of the mean achievement status and growth of students across cohorts as well as changes in the achievement status and growth of students between student cohorts. Results indicated that the cross and between-cohort performance of schools differed depending on whether the mean achievement status or growth of students was considered. Results also indicated …
Corrective Action In Low Performing Schools: Lessons For Nclb Implementation From First-Generation Accountability Systems, Heinrich Mintrop, Tina Trujillo
Corrective Action In Low Performing Schools: Lessons For Nclb Implementation From First-Generation Accountability Systems, Heinrich Mintrop, Tina Trujillo
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
This paper explores what lessons we can learn from the experiences of states that instituted NCLB-like accountability systems prior to 2001 (here called first-generation accountability systems). We looked at the experiences of three smaller states (Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina), four larger ones (California, Florida, New York, Texas), and two large districts (Chicago and Philadelphia). We analyzed evaluative reports and policy documents as well as interviews with state officials and researchers. We condensed the material into eight lessons ...
Limiting The Unintended Consequences Of High-Stakes Testing, Stuart S. Yeh
Limiting The Unintended Consequences Of High-Stakes Testing, Stuart S. Yeh
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
Interviews with 61 teachers and administrators in 4 Minnesota school districts suggest that, in their judgment, Minnesota’s state-mandated tests were well-aligned with curricular priorities and teachers’ instructional goals, emphasizing critical thinking as well as competencies needed to pass the Basic Standards exit exam, and avoiding the type of recall item that would require drill and memorization. This result, in combination with a survey showing that 85 percent of Minnesota teachers support the exit exam, suggests that Minnesota has been unusually successful in designing a high stakes testing system that has garnered teacher support. ...
On School Choice And Test-Based Accountability, Damian W. Betebenner, Kenneth R. Howe, Samara S. Foster
On School Choice And Test-Based Accountability, Damian W. Betebenner, Kenneth R. Howe, Samara S. Foster
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
Among the two most prominent school reform measures currently being implemented in The United States are school choice and test-based accountability. Until recently, the two policy initiatives remained relatively distinct from one another. With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), a mutualism between choice and accountability emerged whereby school choice complements test-based accountability. In the first portion of this study we present a conceptual overview of school choice and test-based accountability and explicate connections between the two that are explicit in reform implementations like NCLB or implicit within the market-based reform literature in which …
A Forced March For Failing Schools: Lessons From The New York City Chancellor's District, Deinya Phenix, Dorothy Siegel, Ariel Zaltsman, Norm Fruchter
A Forced March For Failing Schools: Lessons From The New York City Chancellor's District, Deinya Phenix, Dorothy Siegel, Ariel Zaltsman, Norm Fruchter
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
In the mid-nineties, the New York City Schools Chancellor created a citywide improvement zone to take over a significant proportion of the city’s lowest performing schools whose local community school districts had failed to improve them. This “Chancellor’s District” defined centralized management, rather than local control, as the critical variable necessary to initiate, enforce and ensure the implementation of school improvement. This large-scale intervention involved both a governance change and a set of capacity-building interventions presumably unavailable under local sub-district control. Our study retrospectively examined the origins, structure and components of the Chancellor’s District, and analyzed the characteristics and outcomes …
Conflicting Demands Of No Child Left Behind And State Systems: Mixed Messages About School Performance, Robert L. Linn
Conflicting Demands Of No Child Left Behind And State Systems: Mixed Messages About School Performance, Robert L. Linn
Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
An ever-increasing reliance on student performance on tests holds schools and educators accountable both to state accountability systems and also to the accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. While each state has constructed its own definition of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements within the confines of NCLB, substantial differences between the accountability requirements of many state systems and NCLB still have resulted in mixed messages regarding the performance of schools. ...