Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Effects Of Extended Time Programs On The Academic Achievement And School Attendance Of African American Students And Students In Poverty In Title I Schools In The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation, Cathlin S. Gray

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study examined the effects of participation in after school programs and summer programs on the academic achievement and school attendance rates of students living in poverty and African American students who attended Title I schools in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) in Evansville, Indiana during the 2004 school year. The researcher examined data from the 2004 Indiana State-wide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP+) test for students in grades 3-9, school attendance rates and the number of days a student attended after school or summer programs. The results of this study indicate that there is a significant difference between …

A Qualitative Study Of Stakeholders' Beliefs About The Use Of A Standards-Based Academic Reporting System, Gina Gail Berridge

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As school districts across our nation are making changes in curriculum and instruction to comply with the mandates of No Child Left Behind (No Child Left Behind, 2002), new reports to parents about student achievement are emerging. These reports are standards-based and clearly communicate to stakeholders what the student knows and is able to do based on the state standards. This qualitative case study, analyzing data collected in the 2005-2006 school year, describes principals', teachers', and parents' beliefs about the use of a standards-based report card. Through the use of individual interviews, insight was gained about the views and opinions …

Education Week’S 2006 Report On Arkansas, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In an attempt to gauge the educational progress of the nation and each state, Education Week has published state report cards since 1997 in its annual Quality Counts series. Released in early 2006, the 10th annual report, Quality Counts at 10: A Decade of Standards-Based Education, examines the progress that states have made on a core set of policy indicators related to standards-based education over the past decade: student achievement, standards and accountability, efforts to improve teacher quality, school climate, and resource equity. This policy brief summarizes Arkansas’ ratings on the 2006 report, compares Arkansas to its border states on …

Effects Of Charter School Laws On Charter School Performance, Kristen R. Hoffman

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Problem Statement

Many issues exist in the public school system in the United States today. The main problems are: 1) American students are performing below their peers in other developed nations; 2) American high school graduates have trouble competing in the global economy; 3) Large achievement gaps exist between subgroups of American students. One of the many recommended policy solutions is to create charter schools to induce innovation and competition into the public school system.

Research Question

While many researchers have looked at charter school outcomes, few consider the effects of charter school laws on student achievement. My research question …

Principals' Use Of Student Achievement Data To Improve Schools And Influence Change, Tracy Lorey

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to 1) determine how principals use student achievement data to initiate school improvement, and 2) examine the relationship between test scores and how change is influenced in schools. The study surveyed 262 principals of Title I elementary schools with a kindergarten through fifth grade configuration regarding data usage and their perception of change. 2004-2005 IS TEP+ percent mastery scores were utilized to determine the top and bottom performing schools for the data usage portion of the study. Percent mastery scores on the 2004-2005 ISTEP+ were also used to determine a relationship between perceived influences …

Rating The Special Masters, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

After the 85th General Assembly adjourned in April 2005, the Rogers School District, along with 48 other districts, filed a motion to the state Supreme Court to reopen the landmark Lake View school funding case, accusing the legislature of failing to increase school funding for the 2005-06 school year (see Policy Brief 17). The Supreme Court agreed and on June 9, 2005, reappointed former Justices Bradley D. Jesson and David Newbern as Special Masters to assess the plaintiffs’ claims. The Masters issued their report on October 3, 2005, concluding that “the state has not lived up to the promise made …

Superintendents Speak Out On Education Reforms, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In an effort to improve educational opportunities for all students, Arkansas has made education reforms in many areas over the past three years. The Office for Education Policy (OEP) recently distributed a confidential survey to superintendents across the state to see what kinds of successes districts are having as a result of these reforms and what challenges they still face. OEP also asked superintendents about teacher quality and supply issues in their districts, particularly in light of No Child Left Behind’s (NCLB) requirement that all schools be staffed with “highly-qualified teachers.”

Explaining Variation In State Implementation Of No Child Left Behind, Julie Gronquist

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Adequacy-Based Funding For Small, Isolated Schools: An Approach For Maine, Debra M. Allen, James E. Sloan

School Funding - Essential Programs and Services (EPS)

No abstract provided.

The Salary Debate, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In America, teacher compensation has undergone major changes over the last 200 years. Throughout much of the early 19th century, teachers were often paid with room and board within a community and taught all grades. Around 1921, a form of the single salary schedule still in use today was implemented (Protsik, 1995), where teachers’ salaries were linked to their educational background and their years in the field. Like the salaries of most other public officials, however, teachers’ salaries shift with changing social, economic, and political climates. The pay rate for teachers is also influenced by a number of variables (e.g. …

The Nclb Debate: Strengths And Weaknesses Of No Child Left Behind, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

NCLB: Education’s Panacea or Disaster? Will NCLB have a revolutionary impact on America’s schools? Is NCLB an unfunded mandate? Will NCLB strengthen teaching or demoralize the teaching profession? Will NCLB finally provide equitable education for minorities and low-income students or worsen disparities in education? Since NCLB passed in 2001, pundits, educators, and elected officials have asked these questions, expressing and sometimes exaggerating some of the real strengths and weaknesses of the legislation. The following section highlights some of the most controversial points in the legislation, mostly taken from an outline articulated by the former Assistant Secretary of Education for President …

Teacher Quality And Preparation, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act mandates that states require all teachers to earn full certification and demonstrate competency in the subject area in which they teach. But do these requirements really produce effective teachers— teachers who actually improve student learning and achievement? The existing research base is decidedly mixed, highly politicized, and often just plain confusing. Some experts maintain that teachers’ pedagogical knowledge shows even stronger relationships to teaching effectiveness than their subject matter knowledge (Darling-Hammond, 1997; Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002); others insist that teachers’ expertise in their content area is a far better predictor of student achievement …

Education Week’S Report On Arkansas, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

As schools open their doors for the spring 2005 semester, many legislatures around the nation are meeting to discuss accountability standards, equity and adequacy issues, and the link between money and student performance. While the education issues of 2005 are not unique, in that they have been discussed for years, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) deadline for schools to begin performing at higher standards increases the urgency. In addition to the increased standards, state policymakers are facing difficult legal challenges to their school funding systems. In an attempt to gauge the status of the nation and each state, Education …

2003-04 Education Special Session, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

On December 8, 2003 the Arkansas General Assembly convened in a special session called by the Governor for the purpose of developing a plan to address the court mandate in the Lake View case before the mandated January 1, 2004 deadline. Legislators in both chambers debated a number of plans concerning the relationship between a school’s size and its quality and cost efficiency (e.g. – consolidation of smaller high schools into larger ones) as well as the best means of monitoring student assessment and school accountability. Finally, they turned their attention to funding formulas and potential sources of new revenue …

Teacher Shortages In Arkansas, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

Over the past decade, we’ve heard time and again the dire warning that a major teacher shortage is imminent in our public schools. But is this really the case? Teacher education programs actually produce enough teachers each year to compensate for those who retire. Rather, some researchers suggest that we have focused too much on teacher shortages (the inability to recruit enough teachers) and not enough on teacher attrition (losing teachers already in the field). According to the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) latest School and Staffing Survey (SASS), about one-third of teachers quit during their first three years, …

Alternative Certification, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The term “alternative certification” has been utilized to describe programs ranging from immediate issuance of emergency certification to well-developed, highly professional training programs designed to bring new people into the profession. Because of the mandate to place highly qualified teachers in every classroom, the issue of alternative certification has become even more prominent and there is now more consistency in the academic rigor of alternative certification program across the nation. In this state, TeachArkansas serves as a clearinghouse for the various programs that enable an individual who did not out to be a teacher to become certified (see www.teacharkansas.org).

Supervisor Perceptions Of The Quality Of Troops To Teachers Program Completers And Program Completer Perceptions Of Their Preparation To Teach: A National Survey, William A. Owings, Leslie S. Kaplan, John Nunnery, Robert Marzano, Steven Myran, David Blackburn

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

[First Paragraph]

During winter/spring, 2005, 2,103 Troops to Teachers (T3) program completers and their school administrators from 49 states and the District of Columbia were surveyed to determine whether T3s were more effective in the classroom than traditionally prepared teachers who had comparable years of teaching experience. Respondents also returned information about their schools’ demographics, views about their teacher certification preparation program, and information about themselves, their teaching behaviors, and future plans. Sixty-one percent of the respondents returned completed surveys.

Accountability In Public Administration Education: Assessing The Martin School, Natalie Schneider

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Accountability is required for programs to maintain accreditation and is essential to the overall success of graduate programs like the Martin School. To show that it is meeting the stated goals, the Martin School has put tracking measures in place to gauge the success of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. These measures include pre and post skills assessments and an alumni survey among others. Analysis of the results is used to determine where goals are being met as well as areas where improvement is possible, and make necessary and appropriate adjustments.

The pre-test is given at orientation and …

Public Opinion About Measuring And Reporting Of Student Body Mass Index, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In response to growing public concern about childhood obesity, the 2003 Arkansas General Assembly passed a measure requiring that school officials measure and report to parents each student’s body mass index (BMI) annually (§20-7- 135). Beginning in the 2003-2004 school year, schools were required to do the following: • include as a part of a student health report to parents an annual body mass index percentile by age for each student; and • to annually provide parents with an explanation of the possible health effects of body mass index, nutrition, and physical activity. This measure was one element of a …

Academic Effects Of Looping On Elementary Students, Debra Lynn Jones

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose With the No Child Left Behind legislation, schools are considering nontraditional ways of looking at teaching and learning to determine what is academically the most beneficial for all children. Looping is a two year placement of students with the same teacher. This classroom configuration offers an opportunity for teachers to build a community and develop a trusting long term relationship with students and parents. This study compared the academic achievement of third grade students in looping and non looping classrooms. Research Questions ( 1) Is there a difference in academic achievement as measured by IS TEP between looping and …

Interview With Dr. Charles Watson, Arkansas Department Of Education, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

No abstract provided.

Interview With Dr. Ken James, Arkansas Department Of Education, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

No abstract provided.

Highly Qualified Teachers, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

One of the key features of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 is a requirement that all teachers in core academic areas be “highly qualified” before the 2005-2006 school year. Even more quickly, by the end of the 2002-2003 school year, all newly hired teachers in Title I schools had to be highly qualified. The core academic areas— which must be taught by a “highly qualified” teacher—are English, reading or language arts, math, science, arts and foreign language, economics, geography, civics or government, and history. Teachers of special education and English language learner students are not required …

School Finance Litigation And Adequacy Studies, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The adequacy approach to challenging school funding systems has proven the most successful of the waves of finance litigation, and the approach serves as the foundation for new or ongoing litigation and reform in many states today, including Arkansas. The standards reform movement has provided courts with a way to measure plaintiffs’ claims that school finance systems do not provide for an adequate education, and many courts have found school funding formulae unconstitutional. In this paper, we review the history of school finance litigation across the United States and focus specifically on cases related to educational adequacy. In the final …

No Child Left Behind And Act 35, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The Student Assessment and Educational Accountability Act or Arkansas Act 35 represents an ambitious attempt to develop and articulate a strategic plan for ensuring that all students in Arkansas are meeting grade-level standards in reading and math. The legislation describes the types of testing schools must implement each year, how schools and districts should report data, how data should be used to inform staff development, and the sanctions students and schools will face if they fail to meet state standards.

No Child Left Behind Act Of 2001: An Overview, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, the cornerstone of the Bush Administration’s plan to reform K-12 education, strengthens significantly the federal role in education through sweeping reforms to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The stated legislative intent of the NCLB Act is “to close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind” (PL-107-110 [20 U.S.C. §6301, et seq.], 2001). Key provisions of the measure, for both Title I and non-Title I schools, are as follows: • accountability for education results through annual standardized testing and through additional standards …

Understanding Adequate Yearly Progress, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates that all states develop an accountability system that measures student achievement every year. The method states must use to measure achievement is Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). States must agree to bring all students to proficient academic performance levels in reading and math by 2014 in order to continue receiving Title I funds, a federal funding program that commits $12 billion per year to help lower-income children. In Arkansas, the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing Assessment and Accountability Program (ACTAAP) serves as the basis for determining AYP and incorporates the mandates of NCLB.1 According to a 2004 …

Placing Arkansas School Funding Data In The National Context, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In November 2002, the Arkansas Supreme Court found the Arkansas school funding system to be unconstitutional. The decade long court battle, Lake View v Huckabee, concluded when the Supreme Court determined that the state needed to develop a new system to provide a “general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools equally available to all" as called for by the Arkansas Constitution (Article 14, § 1). Arkansas, however, is not alone in being taken to court over the equity and adequacy of its school funding system. Since 1960, over 40 states’ educational funding systems have been legally challenged. Since …

Effective School Reform, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

At the forefront of education research and policy agendas is an effort to ensure that all children, especially those in low performing, high-poverty schools, get a quality education. The question of which programs and strategies are most effective in reforming K-12 education is complex. School administrators and policymakers throughout the nation are seeking strategies that will help all students to achieve mastery of basic grade-level academic skills as measured by standardized tests. This brief summarizes current research on the characteristics of effective schools and effective teachers. Also, we highlight several comprehensive school reform models with evidence of effectiveness in improving …

Special Masters’ Report, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The final ruling in the 1992 Lake View School District case was upheld by the State Supreme Court in November 2002 in a decision known as “Lake View III.” The ruling found that the school system for Arkansas failed to meet the mandate in the Arkansas Constitution requiring that the State provide a “general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools equally available to all" (Article 14, § 1) and required that the legislature develop remedies by January 1, 2004. The Arkansas General Assembly convened in a Special Session from December 8, 2003 to February 6, 2004 to address …