The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many school accountability systems that rely on student-level achievement data. Many states encountered uncertainty about how to meet federal accountability requirements without typical school data. Prior research provides evidence that student achievement is correlated to students' social background, which raises…

The objective of this work was to verify if there is an association between a merit pay policy practiced by the Rio de Janeiro municipal local administration in the patterns of teachers' mobility and attrition. The research followed the movement of teachers who took posts in the Rio de Janeiro municipal system between 2009 and 2011 during the…

Results-based school accountability has been the linchpin of education reform in the United States for at least two decades. But the COVID-19 pandemic led many schools, states, and districts to put their testing and accountability programs on hold. Chester E. Finn, Jr., argues that it is time for the accountability holiday to end and makes…

The work of principals has become increasingly challenging and complex, as they are expected to lead school improvement, manage a host of competing demands, and attend to the needs of diverse stakeholders. However, the emotions related to principals' work, particularly in relation to educational reform, has been understudied in recent years. This…

The Smarter Balanced Assessment System consists of three components: (1) interim assessments designed to support teaching and learning throughout the year; (2) a suite of tools and resources in Tools for Teachers that support classroom-based formative assessment practices; and (3) end-of-year summative assessments designed for accountability…

This paper engages, Sara Ahmed's theorising on 'the uses of use' to frame an analysis of the hidden, embedded effects of standardised testing policy that have become normative practice/s in Queensland, Australia. It (re)examines data from an ethno-case study into the datafication of assessment and learning over one school year, in primary and…

Title I accountability requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) represent the present-day instantiation of Lau, which requires schools to provide a program for English learners (ELs) that supports their meaningful engagement and to provide transparent information about EL program quality. This study uses critical policy analysis to…

Since the Ronald Reagan era, the conservative K-12 education agenda has centered on two ideas: choice and accountability. The time has come for conservatives to rethink how to put these principles into practice. Initially, "choice" meant school vouchers, and "accountability" meant standards and high-stakes testing. Rather than…

Using a zone of mediation framework, we explore how one school district designed a community-based accountability system (CBAS) reflecting community stakeholders' values, priorities, and goals. We collected rich data sets from a document analysis, focus group, and individual interviews. Our findings indicated a strong dissatisfaction with…

Research on school leadership has shown that a principal's influence on student achievement is indirect and significant. A sample of principals who earned the highest (distinguished) rating on the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) measure responded to open-ended questions during an in-person interview. Principals in this…

The annual What's Hot in Literacy survey was conducted to determine what topics are currently receiving attention, and how they are being addressed effectively within schools and in the emerging research. Twenty-five literacy experts served as panelists and were interviewed to determine which of the 30 topics were a focus of current attention. The…

The purpose of the study was to investigate how grade retention affects Black males' perspectives about education and social-emotional skills during and after their K-12 educational journey. As a result of the Black Lives Matter movement, there has been increased discourse about our nation's current reality regarding the status of Black…

Teacher decision-making has been widely studied; however, teacher decision-making specifically with students who have been identified as aggressive has not. This qualitative case study investigated teacher decision-making with three traditional public-school K-12 teachers through case study methodology. Data were gathered through a semi-structured…

Elementary music teachers are required to attend long-term, campus-wide professional development outside their content area. The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to better understand how elementary music teachers in a North Texas and a South-Central Colorado school district who have had five or more years of teaching experience…

As is often the case with crises, the pandemic meant both an educational catastrophe but also an opportunity for transformation. The health and social emergencies, with their serious effects on students and their families (España, 2022; MINEDUC, 2020), prompted the search for new answers to tackle challenges that were not possible to address with…