Subject departments are an increasingly important unit of analysis for research on schools and beginning teachers' experiences. By analysing a practice-based typology of eight departmental types through an exploratory factor analysis of questionnaires completed by beginning teachers (n = 55), the authors refined the typology to four (hierarchical;…

In their nascent stages, charter schools formed under competing ideologies. In academic circles, charter schools were envisioned as pedagogical laboratories that would allow for educator- and community-driven school improvement. In other circles, charter schools emerged as a free-market reform driven by accountability, choice, and growth. Amid the…

A growing body of research distinguishes between official systems of accountability and "felt" accountability - how people feel responsible to one another across a web of complex, intersecting relationships. Research in the behavioral sciences suggests that while such feelings have a dramatic effect on results, these have been…

This study explored the phenomenon of collective leader efficacy and its potential influence on principal perceptions of self-efficacy with high school leaders in rural school districts. Research shows that school leaders have a positive impact on student achievement and the overall culture and climate of a building (Waters et al., 2004). Yet,…

Based on the theoretical approaches of social capital and institutional trust, this paper seeks to identify contextual factors and conditions behind teacher behaviours which aim to alter the results of standardised tests in the Italian low-stakes accountability system. Numerous studies report significant factors associated with student cheating,…

Positive student behavior is necessary, not only for a positive school culture, but for learning to take place, as students cannot learn in an environment where they do not feel safe, physically and/or emotionally, just as teachers cannot teach to the best of their ability. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of…

This qualitative study explored the perceptions of five high school science teachers to understand how the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment within the instructional program was perceived as purposeful to student learning in the age of accountability and the standards movement. A conceptual framework including alignment and…

Background: To inform prevention strategies, this study provides incidence, factors, and actions taken when a suspected concussion occurred in K-12 schools in Utah. Methods: Data were collected using Utah's Student Injury Reporting System (SIRS) from the academic years 2011-2012 to 2018-2019. SIRS is a unique online system that tracks injuries…

A Dissertation in Practice was conducted which connected theories of action and Yosso's (2015) community cultural wealth framework to address the absence of diverse parental perspectives and oversight at Freedom Middle School in South Texas. Platicas with seven parent volunteers and a parent engagement survey available to all Freedom Middle School…

Undergirded by "economic theory of the principal-agent problem", the study investigated secondary school teachers' perception of the influence of large-scale testing accountability on teaching and learning. Cross-sectional survey design was used. Simple random sampling was also employed to select 200 teachers for this study. The…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the complex relationships between educational policy and classroom practice. By employing a sociocultural perspective, we examine formulations inscribed in socio-material artifacts about what students should learn and how they should engage with knowledge. We explore how these formulations are mobilized in…

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between teachers' perceptions of organizational ethical climate and their accountability tendencies. The research was carried out with 405 teachers working in the province of Istanbul. Organizational Ethics Climate Scale and Teacher Accountability Tendency Scale were used as data collection…

Since the 1960s, business leaders and educators used the idea of "goal setting theory" as a guide to success. Teachers who implemented goal setting strategies contributed to student success and achievement. During my study, I found little existing literature focused on academic goal setting implementation for students in Tennessee rural…

This paper reflects on compulsory school self-evaluation in Ireland. It sets important historical and contemporary context by documenting the development of a culture of evaluation in Ireland throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium before charting the rise of school self-evaluation during the austere economic conditions of post-2008…

Under test-based accountability, side-effects--including practices to inflate test results, often seen as cheating--are usually associated to so-called high-stakes policies. However, the influence of different types of stakes in the generation of this type of practices has been overlooked in education research. Based on a survey experiment, our…