The impetus for test-based accountability systems is to improve the educational opportunities afforded to all students so as to improve their learning; therefore, integral to the validity argument of these systems is the appraisal of test-based inferences and decisions in terms of their consequences. Both positive and negative consequences of…

Since the 2001 passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), test-based accountability has been an organizing principle--perhaps "the" organizing principle--of efforts to improve American schools. But lately, accountability has been under fire from many critics, including Common Core opponents and those calling for more multifaceted…

The ubiquitous use of standardized test results to make varied judgments about educators, students, and schools within the public school system raises concerns of validity. If the test results have not been validated for making multiple determinations, then the decisions made about educators, students, schools, and school districts based on the…

This article investigates the persistent and change elements of educational testing and assessment from 1920 to the present day. I show by examining the addresses and texts of American Educational Research Association presidents a continuing focus on schools, from early experiments and development up through applications in accountability systems.…

The document is from a presentation at the 2014 annual conference of the Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT). The presenter noted that the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law was the most far-reaching education legislation in over four decades. To address the requirements of this legislation, the presenter examined the third-generation…

The use of standardized test results to drive school administrator evaluations pervades education policymaking in more than 40 states. However, the results of state standardized tests are strongly influenced by non-school factors. The models of best fit (n = 18) from this correlational, explanatory, longitudinal study predicted accurately the…

In this study, the outcomes of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as implemented in Illinois, are evaluated in terms of high school standards testing results between 2003-2013. NCLB was a policy dedicated to closing the gap in schooling outcomes nationally in the space of a decade. There have been few systematic examinations of its macro-level results…

To achieve perpetually better test results each year as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), teachers in successful schools such as Leroy Anderson Elementary in San Jose, California, will "try anything" to raise scores, as the school's principal stated in an interview with "The San Jose Mercury News." In schools…

Proponents of formative assessment (FA) assert that students develop a deeper understanding of their learning when the essential components of formative feedback and cultural responsiveness are effectively incorporated as central features of the formative assessment process. Even with growing international agreement among the research community…

In November 2011, eleven states submitted applications to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for waivers from key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Although the waiver process presents an opportunity to strengthen college and career readiness among the nation's high school students, this analysis by the Alliance for Excellent…

This author contends that contemporary issues classes no longer have currency, as standardized test results are the litmus test for education. In many schools, students are isolated from firsthand accounts and formal study of events that textbooks will one day proclaim as defining experiences of their generation. According to Doyle, schools tend…

Schools are drowning in test data, but many schools do little with test results other than sort students into various categories of proficiency or lack thereof. Some educators feel testing has taken the joy out of teaching. Others believe valuable instructional time has been lost as a result of testing. Yet, NCLB and other federal and state…

In this era of accountability-by-numbers, the elevated status accorded to large-scale external assessments such as the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is symptomatic of a trend towards data-driven policy initiatives in education, and the need for regular sources of outcome data to constantly feed narrow indicators of…

Educational systems in the United States are generating vast amounts of data on student achievement. This may provide researchers and policy makers with long sought-after insight on the factors explaining student performance. This study uses recent data from Washington 10th graders to examine why some students learned more math than others.…

In this hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry I explore the lived experience of public school teachers teaching amidst the federal law entitled No Child Left Behind. My research question wonders, "What is the lived experience of teaching under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)?" My exploration relies heavily upon the work of Ted…