Assessment is a critical component of teaching and learning but many educators, parents, and students have expressed concerns about the amount of assessment occurring in schools across the country. Standardized assessments have received a great deal of publicity as the culprit of over-testing. However, standardized assessments are only part of a…

This chapter is a research summary of the author's doctoral dissertation completed in May, 2015, which investigates the way Standardized Assessment (SA) is used in state educational accountability structures. This quasi-experimental quantitative study found that SA scores trend towards consistency over time, and that there is additional variance,…

Since 2002 the federal government has required states to have accountability systems that measure the quality of schools. When the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act ushered in the accountability era nationwide, it did so with the ambitious goal of ensuring that by 2014 "all children . . . reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state…

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as the nation's major law governing public schools. ESSA retains the requirement that states test all students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school, as well as the requirement that…

"TAP"™: "The System for Teacher and Student Advancement (TAP™)" is an educator effectiveness program that aims to improve student achievement through supports and incentives for teachers. Based on the research, "TAP"™ teachers were found to have no discernible effects on student achievement in science, English…

Some researchers believe that collaboration between schools and community stakeholders--including families, educators, community organizations, and businesses--is the key to improving public education. However, broad and inclusive community-school partnerships are rare. Instead, we frequently hear about friction between communities and their…

Many test-based accountability systems, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), place great weight on the numbers of students who score at or above specified proficiency levels in various subjects. Accountability systems based on these metrics often provide incentives for teachers and principals to target children near current…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Does Demography Dictate Destiny? The Radical…

Much attention has focused recently on using student test scores to evaluate public schools. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 requires states to test students and evaluate each school's progress toward having all students meet or exceed state standards. Under the law, however, schools only need to test 95% of their students. When some students…

This study positioned the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002 as a reified colonizing entity, inscribing its hegemonic authority upon the professional identity and work of school principals within their school communities of practice. Pressure on educators and students intensifies each year as the benchmark for Adequate Yearly Progress…

Many test-based accountability systems, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), place great weight on the numbers of students who score at or above specified proficiency levels in various subjects. Accountability systems based on these metrics often provide incentives for teachers and principals to target children near current…

High school principals and career and technical education (CTE) teachers throughout Illinois were subjects of this study which described principals' and CTE teachers' perceptions of the impact the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has had on high school CTE programs. Findings indicated principals and teachers collectively disagreed with "No…

Education is experiencing a case of misplaced accountability, where an exclusive reliance on high stakes tests overlooks the more subtle judgments of teachers and professional educators and, because of its simplicity, passes as democratic. This article investigates the theoretical underpinnings of current accountability initiatives and draws upon…

The history and development of city-wide testing programs in Chicago since 1936 are reviewed and placed in context with the impact on testing of Sputnik and the passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Current testing problems include the time lag between events and curricular changes and new test construction, the time lag between…

Findings of a study that incorporated a method for measuring the economic efficiency of K-8 school districts in Illinois are presented in this paper. The quadriform concept was used to identify four categories, or quadrants, for identifying school districts--technically efficient, low service, high service, and technically inefficient. The method…