The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the relationship between teacher's perceptions of school climate and student achievement of middle school students. Two hundred twenty middle school teachers, from a large urban school district located in the Southwestern region of the US, participated in the "New Jersey School Climate…

This study was an autoethnography of the turnaround efforts of a Chicano leader in four low-performing schools in Texas. The U.S. Government and the State of Texas both impose sanctions on schools that fail to meet minimum standards on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams. The focus in the research was on how life…

Accountability in education was implemented to improve poor learning outcomes by documenting and monitoring learning achievement results. In this process, external standardized achievement tests have played a central role, being the mechanism most frequently used to measure learning outcomes. However, several decades after its initial…

This mixed methods study of explanatory sequential design researching two elementary and two middle school campuses will present information on the amount of instructional time allotted to social studies in Texas schools and whether integrating social studies instruction with another subject, is feasible and produces positive assessment results.…

In California, computers are needed for students to participate in the annual state assessments, the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). Public school districts across the state of California are required to formulate Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) each year. This mixed-method study first conducted…

This qualitative phenomenological research design study sought to explore whether the public education governance accountability system's high stakes standardized testing system in Texas played any role in the wellbeing of elementary school educators during the COVID-19 global pandemic. To explore the essence of the Texas high stakes…

In education, assessment helps shape teaching practices and student outcomes, as it influences how teachers perceive their roles, approach instruction, and engage with students. This study investigated 3rd-8th grade English Language Arts and mathematics teachers' conceptions of the NWEA MAP Growth assessment, focusing on four key factors: (1)…

As state school-based accountability systems have become more complex and increasingly comprehensive, school district leaders have struggled with the balance of managing limited school district funding while focusing on improving student academic achievement as quantified by state-mandated testing results. The amount of a school district's…

Education policy debates over the last twenty years have focused on the need to increase students' test scores. The federal government and states have implemented and expanded a variety of test-based, school accountability policies. Accountability pressures have incentivized schools to narrow their curriculum, decrease time allocated to…

The nature of federal and state policies regarding accountability testing narrows the taught curriculum to content tested, thereby changing what is officially valued as student learning. The over-emphasis on standardized test scores has narrowed the curriculum to content that is tested (Amrein&Berliner, 2002; Baker, 2008; Herman, 2008;…

The impact of school locale, size and poverty levels (SES) on student achievement has been of great interest in school research for more than the last five decades. The increasing public demand to hold schools accountable for their effects on student outcomes lends urgency to the task of exploring variables related to student achievement that are…

This study analyzed the required inclusion of school test scores in the yearly evaluation of school principals within the current school reform and standards and accountability movements of both the federal and state departments of education. Extant data from a single school district in Oregon was used for this study, and included: (a)…

In the fall of 2011, the state of Nebraska experienced a watershed moment in public education: results of the first standardized mathematics achievement test administered to all students in grades 3-8 and 11 the previous spring (2011) were reported to the public. One state senator referred to some of the results as "shocking." Only four…

Living in an era of test-based accountability systems, how do we hold accountability tests accountable? Many accountability decisions made today are based on the assumption that test scores successfully reflect the effect of instruction. However, only instructionally sensitive assessments, not the instructionally insensitive ones, reflect the…

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, public school districts in the United States are working toward improving the achievement of their students on state standardized tests of accountability. Through the use of a quantitative methodological approach, the purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship, if any,…