Preserving Education as a Public Good: Lessons from the Grassroots

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 921-929
Author(s):  
Barbara Ferman
Keyword(s):  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Grassroots Activism ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
School Expansion ◽  
State Takeovers

The article provides an overview of my book, The Fight for America’s Schools: Grassroots Activism in Education. The book examines how grassroots activists in Pennsylvania and New Jersey challenged various neoliberal reforms in education such as high stakes testing, school closures, state takeovers of local school districts, and charter school expansion. The four case studies focus on who the activists were, how they became involved, the challenges they faced, and the prospects for coalition building across different constituent groups. The comparative analysis reveals the role of political, organizational, demographic, and historical factors in shaping how activism played out in each location and in its effectiveness.

Fighting for America’s Schools: Toward a More Democratic Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 973-980
Author(s):  
Stefanie Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Urban Education ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms

This article addresses several questions The Fight for America’s Schools pushes us to consider as scholars of urban education policy. By extrapolating from the themes in the chapters of the book, a number of issues are brought forward in this article. These issues include the challenges of coalition building against neoliberal reforms, the role of philanthropy in education policymaking, and questions about how scholars might engage more as activists in the area of education policymaking. In the end, this article asks scholars to reflect on how our scholarship can move beyond a critique of neoliberal reforms and toward a more democratic approach to education policymaking.

Researching the promotion of fundamental British values in schools

2019 ◽  
pp. 51-68
Author(s):  
Carol Vincent
Keyword(s):  
National Policy ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Work Lives ◽  
Affective Characteristics ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Policy Enactment

Chapter 3 discusses the processes of ‘policy enactment’ (Ball, Maguire and Braun 2012). This term is used to emphasise that there is no simple straight line between what a policy text states and what happens on the ground. Enactment describes the processes by which teachers interpret and reinterpret national policy, translating it to fit their own contexts. In the discussion, I consider the importance of what has been called the affective policy ‘tone’, in shaping enactment, drawing on Ben Anderson’s work to describe the affective characteristics of the wider social and political climate. The chapter also outlines the current education policy context in England, emphasising the key role of high stakes testing in shaping teachers’ work lives and the emphasis on traditional academic subjects, leading to the marginalisation of citizenship education described in Chapter 2. The chapter finishes by introducing the schools involved in this research. They consist of nine case study schools and eight schools that were visited for a one-off interview.

scholarly journals High-stakes testing and English teachers' role as materials developers: Insights from vocational high schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-130
Author(s):  
Elsa Ananda ◽  
Ashadi Ashadi
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
National Examination ◽  
Vocational High Schools ◽  
The Government ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

The implementation of the National Examination (NE) in Indonesia in elementary to high schools is considered as high-stakes testing and affects the teachers’ practice particularly in vocational settings. As material developers, English teachers in Vocational High Schools (VHS) are demanded to develop appropriate and suitable materials to meet the students’ specific needs. The incompatibility of the NE materials prescribed by the government and the vocational students’ needs put the teachers in a dilemma. The teachers should deal with the pressure of the NE and their roles as materials developers. This article tries to reveal how high-stakes testing impacts their roles as material developers particularly in the absence of specifically prescribed materials for VHS students. A case study design was used in this research with 31 participants of English teachers from nine state VHS in Pontianak, Indonesia. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. The result revealed that the role of teachers as materials developers somehow becomes diminishing because of the presence of the NE as high-stakes testing in the learning process, especially in VHS. This condition is detrimental to the teachers’ professional development since their roles as materials developers are limited and even under-developed. With the cancellation of NE by the end of this year, it is expected that the teachers are able to play their roles as materials developers and conduct evaluations based on the students’ specific expertise.

scholarly journals Preservice teachers’ beliefs about high-stakes testing and their working environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Sharon L. Nichols ◽  
Shon Brewington
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
High Stakes Tests ◽  
Working Environments ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Teachers Beliefs

In this exploratory mixed methods survey study, we assess preservice teachers’ (n=379) experiences with and beliefs about their high-stakes testing experiences and analyze how they relate to their beliefs about the role and efficacy of high-stakes testing in education and their future profession. Using Likert, vignette, and open-ended response opportunities, we gauged preservice teachers’ beliefs about accountability and the role of high-stakes testing in three ways: (a) what are their personal experiences with high-stakes testing, (b) what are their their beliefs about accountability and high-stakes testing in general, and (b) what role does accountability (and testing pressures) play in their future workplace preferences? Results indicate that preservice teachers’ experiences with and beliefs about high-stakes testing accountability vary based on gender, ethnicity, and previous experiences with high-stakes tests. Importantly, although in aggregate our participants reported they generally disliked the high-stakes tests they personally had to take in high school, subgroup analyses reveal that for those who took them during the NCLB era, they also saw high-stakes tests as good thing for education overall. Preservice teachers who were younger and “grew up” under NCLB and the height of high-stakes testing believed high-stakes tests to be a waste of time for them personally, but a useful way to evaluate teachers as an educational policy. Vignette and qualitative analyses of workplace preferences and rationales underscore some of the assumptions our preservice teachers hold about high-stakes testing as a policy mechanism to help explain this finding. We conclude with implications for policy and future research.

School Success and School Engagement of Immigrant Children and Adolescents

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi ◽  
Ann S. Masten
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
School Engagement ◽  
School Success ◽  
Immigrant Children ◽  
Integrative Model ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The Individual

Academic achievement in immigrant children and adolescents is an indicator of current and future adaptive success. Since the future of immigrant youths is inextricably linked to that of the receiving society, the success of their trajectory through school becomes a high stakes issue both for the individual and society. The present article focuses on school success in immigrant children and adolescents, and the role of school engagement in accounting for individual and group differences in academic achievement from the perspective of a multilevel integrative model of immigrant youths’ adaptation ( Motti-Stefanidi, Berry, Chryssochoou, Sam, & Phinney, 2012 ). Drawing on this conceptual framework, school success is examined in developmental and acculturative context, taking into account multiple levels of analysis. Findings suggest that for both immigrant and nonimmigrant youths the relationship between school engagement and school success is bidirectional, each influencing over time the other. Evidence regarding potential moderating and mediating roles of school engagement for the academic success of immigrant youths also is evaluated.

The High Risks of High-Stakes Testing

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce B. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
High Stakes
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