Title I accountability requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) represent the present-day instantiation of Lau, which requires schools to provide a program for English learners (ELs) that supports their meaningful engagement and to provide transparent information about EL program quality. This study uses critical policy analysis to…

Several social processes guide and shape how school actors engage with high stakes state and district policies relative to mandated curriculum and instruction. In this article, we use rhetorical argumentation analysis to explore how stakeholders mobilize resources through argumentation and rhetorical appeals (logical, emotional, and…

In many countries the need for education systems and schools to improve and innovate has become central to the education policy of governments. School inspections are expected to play an important role in promoting such continuous improvement and to help schools and education systems more generally to consider the need for change and improvement.…

High-stakes assessments have been a major factor in education reform and student success in the 21st century. Assessments are used to measure a student's ability to transfer classroom learning to formalized assessments. In the state of Texas, legislative policy was implemented to ensure that all fifth and eighth graders are prepared for proceeding…

Providing accurate and useful information on student achievement is a rising challenge for state educational agencies. With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001, such challenges have become more pressing. A centerpiece of the educational accountability movement, NCLB has prompted states to improve their reporting on student…

This is the first in a series of articles which will examine the results of a qualitative, longitudinal study of school improvement initiatives from the perspective of school stakeholders. The article captures the responses of students from a low socio-economic status school in NSW, Australia to a school initiative that restructured the learning…

The efforts of a committee to involve stakeholders, faculty in a department of nursing, in a program evaluation for accreditation, are described. Experiences over a five-year period are described, with an emphasis on strategies that fostered success. Implications for other educational evaluations are reviewed. (SLD)

An eight-year study of 49 schools purporting to practice and apply Quality Management (QM) techniques and processes uncovered some revealing differences between what respondents thought "should be" happening in these schools and what they reported was happening. The gaps uncovered could be recognized as differences between rhetoric and…