The paradigm of test-based accountability has been a dominant force for decades, yet some argue that we have recently witnessed a dramatic change in the key beliefs influencing educational policy. To understand the extent of this transformation, we investigated the policy narrative supporting the adoption of a multiple measure accountability…

This article seeks to deepen our understanding of the nature and quality of democratic participation in educational reform by examining the first-year implementation of California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) mandating civic engagement in district decision-making. Drawing on democratic theory, empirical literature, and data from 10…

California's system of school finance is highly regulated and prescriptive. A large share of state funding is allocated through categorical programs, that is, programs whose funding is contingent upon districts using the money in a particular way or for a particular purpose. In 2008-09, the strings were taken off 40 of those programs, collectively…

In 2009, California state legislators freed local educators from the specific guidelines that previously regulated spending on 40 categorical-aid programs known as Tier 3 programs. This Tier 3 flexibility reform, which deregulates $4.5 billion in education funding, was enacted at the same time the legislature made cuts in education spending in…

Data-driven decision making (DDDM), applied to student achievement testing data, is a central focus of many school and district reform efforts, in part because of federal and state test-based accountability policies. This paper uses RAND research to show how schools and districts are analyzing achievement test results and other types of data to…

In 2002, the RAND Corporation launched a project to understand how educators are responding to the new accountability requirements in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania--three states that represent a range of approaches, regions, and student populations. The researchers aimed to identify the factors that enhance the implementation of SBA…