The goal of this study was to investigate New York State's Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) from the perspectives of secondary science teachers and their administrators. Examining their perceptions through interviews was insightful due to the subjects' proximity to the teaching and learning processes. Five science…

This article explores how candidates' experiences in multiple initial certification programs within a single School of Education evolved over the first three semesters of New York's implementation of edTPA as a requirement for initial licensure. The data reviewed included primarily surveys and interviews of teaching candidates, framed by critical…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how US school leaders and teachers make sense of multiple accountability policies, including the Common Core State Standards and teacher evaluation, and how this process relates to school priorities and classroom practice. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a comparative case study…

The purpose of this article is to share the results of a qualitative research study designed to shed light on the perspectives of inclusive prekindergarten classroom teachers in the United States. This study used surveys, interviews, and classroom observations to explore understandings of recently adopted learning standards and accountability…

This study investigates how the role of the reading specialist (RS) is defined and communicated by principals, and examines to what degree a common understanding of this role exists among teachers, building administrators and reading specialists. The principal's responsibility in defining and communicating role, and the effect these efforts have…

Utilizing "assemblage," a notion associated with Actor-Network Theory (ANT), we explore what discourses of transparency can, and cannot, accomplish in a network of education reform that includes schools, government agencies, and community organizations. Drawing on data collected between July 2011 and March 2013 in an…

This article focuses on the broader political sphere as it affects superintendents and other constituents of rural districts. The current landscape of education reform focuses on accountability--particularly at the policy level of both state and federal education agencies. This article draws on the literature and an empirical study that examined…

Although a growing body of literature is produced on reform of urban school districts, few studies examine shifts in the culture of managers resulting from reorganization in these bureaucracies. This article engages an analysis of central office managerial culture in the New York City Department of Education during a culminating moment of district…

Purpose: The study investigates the ways in which principals engage with, and attend to, the data-driven accountability measures of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and local mandates. Theoretical framework: The study is framed with the notion of "assemblage", a term often associated with actor-network theory (ANT)--a theory that focuses…

Budgetary shortfalls and excessive layoffs have left public schools with a deficiency of professional innovation as well as modern theory and practice. It is imperative that educators identify the exemplary school systems that are engaging students and adults in 21st century education, and broadcast those patterns of success to schools in need of…

Although national trends of urban adolescent reading underachievement suggest that schools are unable to adequately support this population's reading development, some studies have demonstrated that urban schools can operate to raise student achievement, thereby disrupting national trends. In this study, the author investigates one such school…

The number of teachers entering the profession through alternative certification and the number of charter schools in the United States have increased over the past twenty years. While there is a great deal of research on the efficacy of different paths to certification on teachers in public schools, there is little research exploring the needs of…

The role of the school superintendent has evolved as a result of increased accountability, specifically under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. Prior to NCLB, superintendents spent time the majority of their time on the managerial and political domains of leadership; however, the NCLB accountability movement combined with research on…

This article focuses on the response of educational leaders to No Child Left Behind's (NCLB) market-driven and sanctions-laden reforms as part of a political spectacle in which discourses link accountability and educational effectiveness to the advance of capitalism. Drawing on data collected during a multiyear ethnography of NCLB, this article…

"The commander of our ship knows that the eyes and ears of the shipmates will provide valuable information; that when combined with the experience and knowledge of leadership will navigate the ship to clear waters and bountiful lands" (Intertech, 2011). This analogy is reflective of the critical issue of meeting AYP (Adequate Yearly…