Education Commons^™

Rural Research Brief: Rural Schools Under Scrutiny, Teresa S. Jordan, K. Forbis Jordan

The Rural Educator

Historically, rural schools have been geographically and politically isolated to the extent that some might say that they have been the victims of, or beneficiaries from, an unstated government policy of benign neglect. Recently, conditions and relationships have changed with the enactment of state and federal accountability legislation and legal challenges to the constitutionality of state funding systems for schools. Federal concerns about the quality of teachers and the progress of students are accompanied by state standards, proficiency tests for high school graduation, and school report cards. Most of these requirements are unfunded or under-funded mandates. However, rural schools likely …

Accountability In A Postdesegregation Era: The Continuing Significance Of Racial Segregation, Kathryn M. Borman, Tamela Eitle, Deanna Michael, David J. Eitle, Reginald Lee, Larry Johnson, Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, Sherman Dorn, Barbara Shircliffe

Educational and Psychological Studies Faculty Publications

In the wake of both the end of court-ordered school desegregation and the growing popularity of accountability as a mechanism to maximize student achievement, the authors explore the association between racial segregation and the percentage of students passing high-stakes tests in Florida's schools. Results suggest that segregation matters in predicting school-level performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test after control for other known andpurportedpredictors of standardized testperformance. Also, these results suggest that neither recent efforts by the state of Florida to equalize the funding of education nor current efforts involving high-stakes testing will close the Black-White achievement gap without consideration …

Defining The Effective Teacher: Current Arguments In Education, Tim Markley

Essays in Education

The high-pressure educational world of today demands accountability of its practitioners. Legislators are reluctant to increase educational funding without exacting a corresponding increase in accountability. This increase in accountability means that educational leaders must be able to assess and identify quality teachers. To assist in this, educators need to review the current state of evaluation practices. This article provides a review of the history of teacher evaluation and a discussion of emerging trends in teacher evaluation

Identifying The Potential Advantages And Disadvantages Of Creating A Separate Foundation For Development At The University Of Kentucky, David Shellhorse

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Statement of Issue

The question of whether or not the University of Kentucky should create a legally independent, institutionally related foundation to receive, hold, invest, and administer the private gift support of the University has been an ongoing debate between UK administrators for many years. This study seeks to identify the potential advantages and disadvantages of creating such a foundation by: (1) conducting a qualitative analysis consisting of personal interviews with officials from the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Western Kentucky University, and Murray State University; and (2) conducting a quantitative regression analysis to determine whether or not …

Accountability And Single-Sex Schooling: A Collision Of Reform Agendas, Kathryn Herr, Emily Arms

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This ethnographic study documents how accountability measures skewed the implementation of gender equity reform at one California public middle school serving low-income students of color. In creating single-sex classes throughout the school, the Single Sex Academy (SSA) became the largest public experiment with single-sex schooling in the country, but pressure to raise its standardized test scores diverted the school away from the exploration and implementation of the gender reform. The chronicle of SSA is particularly relevant in light of (a) a recent call to relax Title IX standards and increase the numbers of public single-sex classes and schools, and (b) …

Accountability In A Postdesegregation Era: The Continuing Significance Of Racial Segregation, Kathryn M. Borman, Tamela Eitle, Deanna Michael, David J. Eitle, Reginald Lee, Larry Johnson, Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, Sherman Dorn, Barbara Shircliffe

Deirdre Cobb-Roberts

In the wake of both the end of court-ordered school desegregation and the growing popularity of accountability as a mechanism to maximize student achievement, the authors explore the association between racial segregation and the percentage of students passing high-stakes tests in Florida's schools. Results suggest that segregation matters in predicting school-level performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test after control for other known andpurportedpredictors of standardized testperformance. Also, these results suggest that neither recent efforts by the state of Florida to equalize the funding of education nor current efforts involving high-stakes testing will close the Black-White achievement gap without consideration …

A Historical Investigation Of Education Quality Based On Kuhn's Theory Of Paradigm Shifts, Thomas Wright

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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High Stakes Testing In Louisiana: An Analysis Of The Disparate Impact On Black And White Eighth Grade Students And The Perspectives Of Parents, Monica L. Mancuso

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Standards based reform (SBR) measured by LEAP for the 21st Century (LEAP 21), the high stakes testing program in Louisiana, was explored across rural, suburban, and urban school community types. Differences in scores of Black and White eighth graders on LEAP 21 were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), revealing race and the interaction of race and community type to be statistically significant at p< .05. Black students did not score as well as White students when scores were analyzed by pass/fail and achievement level differences. The percentage of Black students passing the test increased at rates greater than White students when scores from magnet schools were included. Parents of eighth graders disagreed with the use of a single criterion for promotion. Parents said the instruction students received, pace of instruction, and stress of testing negatively affected student performance with the result that their children considered a Graduate Equivalency Diploma (GED) or quitting school. Parents agreed that affluence and the level of family support affected students’ test performance. Some parents also believed it was unfair that non-public school students were not required to take or pass such tests and some parents considered enrolling their child in a non-public school to avoid the consequences of the state testing program.