scholarly journals State-level autonomy in the era of accountability: A comparative analysis of Virginia and Nebraska education policy through No Child Left Behind

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Richard Ruff
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
State Level ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Accountability Policy

Following the 1983 A Nation at Risk report and culminating in No Child Left Behind (NCLB), states designed and implemented accountability policies to evaluate student achievement. External assessments of these policies identified substantial variability in the level of stakes associated with each system. This paper presents a comparative analysis of accountability policy prior to and during implementation of NCLB. Using the Virginia Standards of Learning and the Nebraska School-based Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System, it explores the role of the historical and political context in shaping assessment policy through the lenses of the processes, conditions, and consequences of the policy process. It concludes that the influence of Nebraskan historical culture embedded the role of local action in the design and interpretation of accountability policy, which when combined with the collaborative efforts of the board of education, legislature, and executive branch, resulted in an atypical assessment model involving actors across the policy process. The Virginia experience was characterized by a strong political identity of centralization, yielding a top-down accountability system that constrained resources and opportunities for transforming policy at local levels. Findings demonstrate how comparable policy intentions for accountability are transformed due to existing state-level conditions and local policy culture.

scholarly journals Accountability as a Design for Teacher Learning: Sensemaking About Mathematics and Equity in the NCLB Era

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana Seidel Horn
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Learning Design ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Accountability Policy ◽  
Urban Educators ◽  
Design Perspective

Using a learning design perspective on No Child Left Behind (NCLB), I examine how accountability policy shaped urban educators’ instructional sensemaking. Focusing on the role of policy-rooted classifications, I examine conversations from a middle school mathematics teacher team as a “best case” because they worked diligently to comply with the NCLB. Using discourse analysis, I identify instances of torque in their conversations: when educators’ compliance with accountability logics pulled them away from humanistic goals of education in ways that stood to exacerbate existing educational inequality. This article contributes to documentation on unintended consequences of accountability policies while identifying features that contribute to torque.

Longitudinal Comparative Analysis: The No Child Left Behind Generation Goes to College

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Waggener Pool ◽  
Amanda Lynn Nolen ◽  
Jim Vander Putten
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Left Behind

School Accountability

2018 ◽  
pp. 520-550
Author(s):  
Morgan Polikoff ◽  
Shira Korn
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Accountability ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Accountability Policy ◽  
Improve Student Achievement ◽  
Every Student Succeeds Act

This chapter summarizes the history and effects of standards-based school accountability in the United States and offers suggestions for accountability policy moving forward. It analyzes standards-based accountability in both the No Child Left Behind Act and the Every Student Succeeds Act, and discusses the effects of accountability systems. The authors argue that school accountability systems can improve student achievement, but that unintended consequences are possible. How accountability systems are designed—the metrics and measures used and the consequences for performance—has both symbolic and practical implications for the efficacy of the system and the individuals affected. Synthesizing what is known about the design of school accountability systems, the authors propose policy choices that can improve the validity, reliability, transparency, and fairness of these systems.

scholarly journals Niezamierzone skutki stosowania testów wysokiej stawki. Lekcja z amerykańskiej reformy NCLB

1970 ◽  
pp. 39-64
Author(s):  
Alicja Zawistowska
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Exit Exams ◽  
Unintended Effects ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Teaching Standards ◽  
Accountability Policy

Educational decision makers willingly draw on solutions adopted in other countries. It was also the case in Polish educational reform started in late 90s. Since the introduction of the reform, Poland joined countries whose educational system is divided into three levels, each ending with an exit exams and core curriculum is set to teaching standards. The exams seem to be the most important element of the Polish reform. While the designers of educational policies are often inspired by the experiences of other countries during the planning phase, they are less willing to learn from them when it comes to predicting outcomes of the reform. A good case to analyze potential consequences of high-stakes testing is United States, where standardized tests have been administered since the beginning of the era of mass education. In this paper I will analyze the effects of the last, most controversial federal reform, commonly known as No Child Left Behind introduced in 2002. Findings of the study might be used to predict potential unintended effects of using the high stakes tests for accountability policy. The article addresses the problem of test scores inflation as well as the factors which may accelerate it.

scholarly journals Closing the Racial Achievement Gap:The Role of Reforming Instructional Practices

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Wenglinsky
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Instructional Practices ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Fourth Graders ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Student Background ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Nationally Representative

No Child Left Behind calls for schools to close the achievement gap between races in math and reading. One possible way for schools to do so is to encourage their teachers to engage in practices that disproportionately benefit their minority students. The current study applies the technique of Hierarchical Linear Modeling to a nationally representative sample of 13,000 fourth graders who took the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress in mathematics to identify instructional practices that reduce the achievement gap. It finds that, even when taking student background into account, various instructional practices can make a substantial difference.

Principal Turnover under No Child Left behind Accountability Pressure

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Hajime Mitani
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Title I ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Principal Turnover ◽  
Elementary And Secondary Education ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Accountability Policy ◽  
The Impact

Background/Context The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was a performance-based accountability policy designed to motivate educators and administrators to change their behaviors and improve school and student outcomes. The simple logic behind this accountability policy was that they would change their behaviors to avoid sanctions. Many studies have investigated the impact of NCLB on students and teachers; however, little research has examined its impact on school principals even though they were a prime target of NCLB. Purpose/Objective This study fills the gap in the literature and investigates the impact of NCLB sanctions on principal turnover. It answers whether NCLB's informal and formal sanctions influenced principal turnover behaviors and whether the influence was moderated by principal and school characteristics. It also examines patterns in principal transfers and position changes. Research Design This study uses longitudinal administrative data and detailed school-level assessment data obtained from Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from 2001–02 to 2009–10. It constructs a distance variable to the adequate yearly progress threshold and uses it as a key matching variable in propensity score matching to identify comparable schools not facing NCLB sanctions. Postmatching logistic regression models identify the impact of NCLB sanctions. Findings/Results Although I find no evidence that informal sanction affected principal turnover, the impact is significantly moderated by principals’ job experience, Title I school status, and the percent of non-White students. The first-year NCLB sanction does not appear to have affected principal turnover. However, this finding needs to be interpreted with caution because of the way the NCLB sanction system is structured and the small sample sizes. A descriptive analysis of the relationship between the second-year NCLB sanction and beyond, and principal turnover suggests that principals tend to leave their schools when they face NCLB sanctions. Finally, I find that principals transfer away from Title I schools, transfer to schools with a smaller number of high-needs students, and take positions at district central offices, regardless of whether they face NCLB sanctions. Collectively, NCLB sanctions appear to have impacted principal turnover. Conclusions/Recommendations The results from this study have policy implications. They suggest that policy makers should provide professional support and adequate resources for principals, especially inexperienced principals, who work at low-performing schools and face sanctions. Moreover, policy makers should develop and embed a policy in new accountability systems that addresses inequity in the distribution of principal quality.

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