Over the past few years, students by the thousands have refused to take their state's standardized tests. This "opt-out" phenomenon has prompted debate in state legislatures and in Washington, putting states at risk of losing Title I funds. Advocates describe opt-out as a grassroots movement of parents concerned about overtesting,…

The author of this article provides commentary on four articles published in this issue: (1) "Leadership for Rich Learning in High-Poverty Schools" (Oyler and Fuentes); (2) "Suspended in Liminal Space: Special Education Administrators and the Decade of Educational Reform within the NYC School System" (Connor); (3)…

In this year-long qualitative study we explore the case of two eighth grade U.S. History teachers who use simulations on a regular basis to teach heterogeneously-grouped students in a high-stakes testing environment. We describe the purposes the teachers espoused for implementing simulations and provide detailed portraits of three types of…

Education reformers have long questioned whether school boards have become an anachronism. Pointing to promising efforts in Boston and New York City, some have argued for handing over control of school districts to mayors. A review of the research suggests that advocates overstate the evidence and underestimate the pitfalls, but, on balance,…

The centerpiece of former Governor Elliot Spitzer's education reform agenda was a set of performance agreements between the state and designated needy school districts. Known as Contracts for Excellence, or C4E, these agreements would eventually be linked to over a quarter of the new state aid proposed in the governor's first budget. C4E districts…

This paper reviews New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's education reform agenda, "Children first", in the light of organizational theory. I argue that this reform agenda reflects both coercive and mimetic isomorphism, as Bloomberg uses mayoral control to apply business concepts and practices to New York City's public school system.…

Discusses how advocacy groups use standards movement to obtain more school spending from state legislatures through the courts. Describes New York and North Carolina cases wherein plaintiffs used states' standards and performance expectations as evidence of the states' failure to provide an adequate education for all students, especially poor and…

Supports the inclusion of teaching among the professions licensed by New York State. Argues that licensing will give the profession added stature which will help school districts recruit high-quality teachers, and that licensing will increase teacher accountability. (FMW)

Notes that within the past five years, the national standards movement has prompted many states to turn to the use of test scores to hold students and teachers accountable to higher standards in academic achievement. Discusses the unintended consequences: pervasive emotional pressure, reductionist views of literacy, conflicted views of teaching…

Challenges theory that high-stakes testing and accountability will improve student performance. Cites experience in New York and Boston where student test failure and dropouts have increased. Discusses success of Danish education reform efforts. (PKP)

Costs and benefits of New York's Truth-in-Testing law are reviewed and related to constitutional issues and fairness to test-makers as well as test-takers. Besides matters of cost and test question availability, challenges to the legislation also involve issues of due process, equal protection, and infringement of existing copyright laws. (MSE)

Perspectives concerning data collection in postsecondary education management and planning are considered. It is suggested that one of the dangers in data collection operations is collecting data without knowing why. It is argued that unless one knows in advance what is being measured and the purposes of measurement, data should not be collected.…

Arguments for and against disclosure of standardized test contents and answers, addressing issues of humanizing the testing process, equalizing educational opportunity, ensuring accountability, minimizing costs, ensuring fairness, and protecting test validity, are presented. (MSE)

This document, which highlights the efforts of the National Institute for Literacy to pilot the development of state literacy accountability systems in four states, outlines the components, operation, and importance of state accountability systems and discusses considerations in developing a systems approach to planning and implementing a quality…

A bill introduced in the New York State Legislature on April 26, 1979, would require that all tests used for postsecondary or professional school admissions become "public records" after they have been administered. The New York State Education Department is opposed to this bill because it would greatly increase the cost of test…