This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Gene V. Glass, Debra Ann Root, Juanita Naranjo, Sharon L. Nichols, David C. Berliner, Mitchell L. Yell, Jessica Zacher Pandya, Mary Shea, Danah Henriksen, and Sarah B. Fischer.
(2013). A Case Study: One Public School's Endeavor to Revive Arts Education, ProQuest LLC. Public K-12 schools in the United States currently face competing demands that place improved student learning as the main goal to ensure students develop 21st century skills. However, internal and external factors may work with or against each other within a school's efforts to achieve this. The problem that serves as the basis for this study is the struggle that educators face in maintaining arts education within the curriculum in the midst of high stakes testing measures and declining budgets. The focus of this case study was to identify the decisions and actions that take place in a school that embraces the arts as a fundamental piece of the school curriculum, along with the influence the arts have on the school culture. The qualitative case study design used multiple data collection methods, including surveys, interviews, observations, and a review of documents to allow for triangulation. The results reveal that the key factors for a school to sustain arts education include strong leadership with a vision that encourages and supports arts education, collaboration within and beyond the school site, adequate resources for arts instruction, and professional development in the arts for teachers. Additionally, the findings demonstrate that embracing arts education creates a positive school culture for all stakeholders. This case study can further the understanding of practitioners and policymakers of what at an arts focused school looks like, as well as on the benefits the arts can provide for schools. The findings can also build the case for making decisions to maintain arts education in all schools. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta… [More] Descriptors: Art Education, Case Studies, Public Schools, School Culture
(2013). International Issues, High-Stakes Testing, and Border Pedagogy: Social Studies at Border High School, Issues in Teacher Education. A recently constructed border wall stands within walking distance of Border High School (BHS) and was created to impede the flow of people, goods, fauna, and contraband from Mexico into the United States (U.S.). The reality, however, is that this geopolitical border is fluid, allowing connections between sociopolitical zones. The researchers selected BHS, which is in close proximity to the international border, as a site to uncover how social studies teachers and school administrators address U.S. international issues in classroom discussions. Within this setting, border pedagogy served as a framework for examining the work of educators on the U.S.-Mexico border. Specifically,the following question guided the researchers' investigation: To what extent and how are U.S. international policies addressed in social studies classrooms? [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Public Policy, Social Studies, High Schools
(2005). The Inevitable Corruption of Indicators and Educators through High-Stakes Testing. Executive Summary, Education Policy Research Unit. This research provides lengthy proof of a principle of social science known as Campbell's law: "The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor." Applying this principle, this study finds that the over-reliance on high-stakes testing has serious negative repercussions that are present at every level of the public school system. Evidence of Campbell's law at work was found in hundreds of news stories across America, and almost all were written in the last few years. In addition to news stories, traditional research studies, and stories told by educators about the effects of high-stakes testing are also part of the data. The data fell into 10 categories. Taken together these data reveal a striking picture of the corrupting effects of high-stakes testing: (1) Administrator and Teacher Cheating; (2) Student Cheating; (3) Exclusion of Low-Performance Students From Testing; (4) Misrepresentation of Student Dropouts; (5) Teaching to the Test; (6) Narrowing the Curriculum; (7) Conflicting Accountability Ratings; (8) Questions about the Meaning of Proficiency; (9) Declining Teacher Morale; and (10) Score Reporting Errors. [For full report, see ED508483.] [More] Descriptors: Cheating, Dropouts, High Stakes Tests, Social Indicators
(2015). We Teach Who We Are: Creativity in the Lives and Practices of Accomplished Teachers, Teachers College Record. Background/Context: There is a strong sense in education that creativity should be nurtured in classroom settings, yet there is little understanding of how effective and creative teachers function (Cropley, 2003; Robinson, 2011; Sawyer, 2011). Existing research has recognized that successful/creative people in any discipline use creative avocations to enhance their professional thinking (Simonton, 2000). Root-Bernstein (1996, 1999) demonstrated a strong connection between the professional and personal-life creativity of highly accomplished scientists, which has been applied to other disciplines. Until now, however, this phenomenon has not been applied to exemplary teachers. This study focuses on a broader picture of how exceptional teachers use creativity in the classroom. Purpose/Objective: This study documents the ways in which successful, award-winning teachers function creatively in their classrooms. It investigates their beliefs about creativity in teaching–what "creativity" means, and how skilled teachers instantiate it in classroom practices. Finally, this research examined the teachers' personal creativity (in terms of creative pursuits, hobbies, and habits of mind) and the practical ways this translates into teaching. Research Design: A qualitative research design was used for in-depth interviews with highly accomplished teachers. Detailed interview data was gathered from eight recent National Teacher of the Year award winners/finalists, to investigate creative classroom practices and beliefs about creativity among exceptional teachers across varied teaching contexts. Qualitative coding of phenomenological research described important themes arising from the creative practices and beliefs of the participant teachers. Findings: Findings reveal how excellent teachers actively cultivate a creative mindset. Results show how excellent teachers are highly creative in their personal and professional lives, and that they actively transfer creative tendencies from their outside avocations/interests into their teaching practices. This study describes common themes in creative teaching, including intellectual risk taking, real-world learning approaches, and cross-disciplinary teaching practices. Conclusions/Recommendations: Current U.S. educational policy, with its emphasis on high-stakes testing and scripted, "teacher-proof" curricula, have impeded creativity in teaching and learning. Based on the findings of this study, suggestions for curricula include the incorporation of teachers' unique personal creative interests in lessons, along with infusion of the arts and music across varied disciplinary content. Teacher education programs and professional development courses should include a focus on both real-world, cross-disciplinary lesson planning, while administrators and policymakers should support opportunities for teachers to take creative and/or intellectual risks in their work. [More] Descriptors: Creativity, Experienced Teachers, Classroom Techniques, Creative Teaching
(2013). Purpose, Policy, and Possibilities: Social Studies Teachers' Sense-Making of Curriculum, ProQuest LLC. The purpose of this study was to explore how high school social studies teachers made sense of curriculum work. The setting was a large, urban area in Texas with high percentages of students who were considered economically disadvantaged. The context of the study was important because these teachers were implementing revised standards and new testing procedures for the first time this school year. The study took place in the fall as the teachers attempted to make sense of the pragmatic and theoretical facets of curriculum work. The theoretical framework for this study included curriculum theories that arose from Dewey's notion of a progressive education that incites students' imagination through inquiry and experimentation. This qualitative case study included a historical chronicle of recent educational reform measures in Texas and nationally as well as a series of focus groups and interviews during which three teachers explained their processes of making sense of curriculum work. With-in case and across case analysis was performed. Themes that emerged from the data included what are called the 5Ps. The over-arching theme of "profession" emerged as a dominant theme. Teachers felt disciplined through mandates of "policy" that established the "purpose" for education as passing high stakes testing based on standardized education. These mandates, according to the study, influence teachers' "praxis". Teachers learn to either teach to the test, or live in fear of being "found out" by administrators. Standardized education and accompanying tests, these participants believed, result in limiting "possibilities" for students' learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta… [More] Descriptors: Social Studies, Secondary School Teachers, High School Students, Economically Disadvantaged
(2015). The Experience of Place in Childhood Literacy Life-Worlds: A Phenomenological Study of Readers as Place-Makers, ProQuest LLC. Current educational policy in the United States supports the standardization of school curricula and promotes a high-stakes testing culture that reinforces the ideologies of market fundamentalism. This accountability movement has resulted in school curriculum that aims to transcend children's diverse lived experiences and the local contexts in which those experiences are made meaningful. In elementary schools in particular, these policies have also led to the decrease of aesthetic activities that nurture children's social, emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing, such as music education, art education, physical education, the social studies, unstructured playtime and pleasure reading. Place-based educators have pushed back against these trends by advocating for curricula that promotes permeability between the physical and conceptual boundaries of children's school, home and community contexts and emphasizes project-based instructional design that meaningfully connects to children's everyday lived experiences. While research in children's literature and literacy education recognizes the important role that reading can play in rooting children in the world they are coming to know, place-based educators have not thoroughly explored the relationship between children's identities as readers and their identities as place-makers. Designed as a phenomenological inquiry, this study explored five adults' experiences of place within their childhood literacy life-world, or reading landscape. By studying adults, this project aimed to describe and interpret the role children's literature and childhood reader identity might play in one's development as a place-maker in middle childhood (approximately ages six to thirteen), as well as the meaning these experiences hold in adulthood. The findings have significant implications for place-based curricula, suggesting that children engage in dynamic transactions with out-of-school places as they enact their emerging identity as independent readers and that these experiences contribute to how they see the world and themselves into adulthood. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta… [More] Descriptors: Place Based Education, Literacy Education, Phenomenology, Childrens Literature
(2010). The Multicolored Patchwork Portraiture of an Effective Veteran High School Special Education Teacher Amidst the Tempest of the High Stakes Testing Movement, ProQuest LLC. This single-subject study used the art and science of portraiture to illuminate a veteran special education teacher who is meeting the needs of her students with disabilities. This qualitative study was not done for the purposes of generalization but rather to show how this remarkable and effective special educator acts as an inspirational educational leader and inspires both her students and her fellow teachers. The movement to hold schools accountable for the educational performance of students with disabilities is fairly new in the United States. Since the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142) in 1975, states have been directed to provide a free and appropriate education for all students with disabilities (Gallagher, 2000; Rothstein, 1995). The cornerstone of special education is to provide specialized instruction to meet the unique needs of each child with a disability. Special educators are expected to utilize individualized referenced decision-making and continually plan and adjust curriculum and strategies to educate and motivate their students. Unfortunately, given the current educational climate that is focused on high stakes testing, standards, student achievement, and school accountability, many of today's special education teachers have taken the "special" out of special education and are employing a general education utilitarian approach to service their students (Hardman & Dawson, 2008). The teacher in this portraiture explored and analyzed norms, patterns, and complexities of her journey as a special educator. She discussed her vision to inspire students to set and reach individual goals. She also divulged how she collaborates and inspires other professionals to do the same. Ultimately, she described how she is implementing the current high stakes testing, data-driven, decision-making assessment model with her students with disabilities. The findings make a compelling case for having tailor-teacher leaders in the field of special education. These teachers, like the one in this study, know how to meet the individual needs of each student and create a vision, shape values, and empower change so that students with disabilities can continue to receive specialized instruction and service delivery models in supportive and caring educational environments in today's standards driven schools. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta… [More] Descriptors: Special Education Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Experienced Teachers, High Stakes Tests
(2011). Overtested: How High-Stakes Accountability Fails English Language Learners. Language & Literacy Series, Teachers College Press. This timely book explores what is often overlooked in policy debates about the education of English language learners: how the day-to-day dynamics of the classroom are affected by high-stakes testing and the pressures students and teachers experience and internalize as a result. The author presents and analyzes classroom observations, student work, and test scores, as well as interviews with students and teachers. A disturbing picture of today's overtested public school classroom emerges from the events and practices described in this book. While hard to believe, all the depictions presented took place in a real elementary school classroom and reflect the current culture of extreme accountability. "Overtested" not only describes the flaws in our current accountability system, but it also provides real-world solutions that can have an immediate and positive effect at the classroom, state, and national level. Chapters address key debates such as how to measure proficiency, the validity of various language assessment tools, the overuse of assessment, and the risks and benefits of teaching language arts to English language learners via mandated, structured curricula. [Foreword by Robert Rueda.] [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Accountability, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning
(2013). The Attack on Teachers and Schools of Education: Identifying the Bullies and Bystanders, Kappa Delta Pi Record. In this article the authors reason that current reform efforts in education–such as those fueled by Race to the Top (www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop) or the Common Core Standards (www.commoncorestandards.org)–emphasize the need to improve teacher preparation programs in ways that ensure graduates are ready for the realities in today's diverse classrooms. The wide range of students' interests, needs, cultural backgrounds, and languages are influential variables that present both challenges and opportunities for teachers; this is the reality in America's ever-expanding pluralistic society. The authors make the argument that it is a mistake to lay the sole responsibility for a child's success or failure in school solely with the teacher while ignoring other influential variables, such as the child's home, community, and cultural background. In this era of high-stakes testing, stakeholders such as education-minded politicians, administrators intent on proving students' adequatete yearly progress, and parents who may not know how to support their child's academic development are looking to teachers for the answers. Each often acts as a bully–putting the task of educating the nation's children solely on the shoulders of classroom teachers. The article warns that there are no silver bullets to fix educational dilemmas and that bullying with bureaucratic and punitive measures only undermines initiative and enthusiasm, which are essential qualities of well-prepared dedicated teachers. The authors close by saying that the bystanders need to confront the bullies and make them back off. [More] Descriptors: Race, Educational Change, Standards, Teacher Education Programs
(2012). Exit Exams, High-Stakes Testing, and Students with Disabilities: A Persistent Challenge, Intervention in School and Clinic. The demands for accountability in education have led to an increase in high-stakes testing practices in public schools. Accountability can be seen at the high school level in the use of exit examinations (hereafter "exit exams") that students must pass to receive a diploma and graduate from high school. One of the most challenging issues regarding the use of exit exams has been how best to include students with disabilities (Johnson & Thurlow, 2003). The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; 1990) requires that students with disabilities participate in state and district-wide assessments, with appropriate accommodations and modifications when needed. Students with disabilities participate in these assessments in one of the following ways: (a) by taking the assessment with no modifications or accommodations, (b) by taking the assessment with modifications or accommodations, or (c) by taking an alternate assessment. Clearly, students with disabilities must participate in high stakes tests if required by the school district or state. The proper forum for determining how a student will participate in state or district-wide assessments is in a meeting of his or her individualized education program (IEP) team. This article examines litigation (i.e., due process hearings and court cases) in which high school exit exams and students with disabilities have been examined. To accomplish this, the authors (a) examine a few of the more important cases and hearings by the issues they addressed and (b) extrapolate implications from this litigation to help inform school district officials about their responsibilities when administering high-stakes tests to students with disabilities. [More] Descriptors: Disabilities, High Stakes Tests, Accountability, Exit Examinations
(2005). High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act. Appendices, Education Policy Research Unit. This paper presents the appendices to the "High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act" report. It contains the following appendices: (1) Example of Context for Assessing State-Level Stakes Sheet–Connecticut; (2) Example of Completed Rewards and Sanctions Worksheet–Connecticut; (3) Directions Given to Judges; (4) Data Collection Sheet; (5) Correlations and Scatter Plots–Threat Change and NAEP Gain; (6) Method for the Inclusion of Media in Portfolios; (7) Summary News Search: Massachusetts; (8) Summary of News Searches in Five Pilot States; and (9) Summary of New Search Rationale–Finalized System. (Contains 38 tables, 16 figures and 241 notes and references.) [For the full report, "High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act," see ED531184. For executive summary, "High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act. Executive Summary," see ED531535.] [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Standardized Tests, Academic Achievement, Federal Legislation
(2005). The Inevitable Corruption of Indicators and Educators through High-Stakes Testing, Education Policy Research Unit. This research provides lengthy proof of a principle of social science known as Campbell's law: "The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor." Applying this principle, this study finds that the over-reliance on high-stakes testing has serious negative repercussions that are present at every level of the public school system. Evidence of Campbell's law at work was found in hundreds of news stories across America, and almost all were written in the last few years. In addition to news stories, traditional research studies, and stories told by educators about the effects of high-stakes testing are also part of the data. The data fell into 10 categories. Taken together these data reveal a striking picture of the corrupting effects of high-stakes testing: (1) Administrator and Teacher Cheating; (2) Student Cheating; (3) Exclusion of Low-Performance Students From Testing; (4) Misrepresentation of Student Dropouts; (5) Teaching to the Test; (6) Narrowing the Curriculum; (7) Conflicting Accountability Ratings; (8) Questions about the Meaning of Proficiency; (9) Declining Teacher Morale; and (10) Score Reporting Errors. (Contains 10 tables and 115 notes.) [For Executive Summary, see ED508510.] [More] Descriptors: Cheating, Dropouts, High Stakes Tests, Social Indicators
(2011). Examining the Implementation of a Problem-Based Learning and Traditional Hybrid Model of Instruction in Remedial Mathematics Classes Designed for State Testing Preparation of Eleventh Grade Students, ProQuest LLC. The following paper examined the effects of a new method of teaching for remedial mathematics, named the hybrid model of instruction. Due to increasing importance of high stakes testing, the study sought to determine if this method of instruction, that blends traditional teaching and problem-based learning, had different learning effects on students than traditional instruction alone. In a quasi-experimental, primarily quantitative design, the researcher instructed three groups, two through hybrid methods and the other through traditional methods. Following instruction, all groups completed identical multiple-choice exams that were used to examine the initial effects of the hybrid method. Two months later, groups again took identical exams on the material that were used to examine effects of the hybrid method on retention. Independent t-tests showed that the students who participated in hybrid instruction scored significantly lower on both the initial and retention exams than those who participated in traditional instruction. Dependent t-tests showed that there were no significant differences within either group from the initial exam to the retention exam. Results prompt further research in the area of remedial mathematics so that schools can find the best means of offering supplemental instruction to their struggling students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta… [More] Descriptors: Problem Based Learning, Blended Learning, Remedial Mathematics, Grade 11
(2011). Contracted Providers: Overcoming Challenges in a Portfolio School District. CRPE Working Paper #2011-2, Center on Reinventing Public Education. Over the past two decades, some district leaders have asked urban universities to develop emergency strategies to rescue low-performing public schools. However, managing such endeavors has proven both complex and challenging. How do universities and school districts develop effective collaborative relationships that align with their missions to meet the collective good? Building a structure and process for a partnership that incorporates shared accountability and high-stakes testing requires buy-in from both districts and universities, yet some district and university leaders have left managing people and resources to chance. This working paper draws from the author's dissertation on shared governance and how two universities experienced a university-school district partnership in a portfolio district. The author's interviews with university representatives provided an opportunity for deep exploration of their experiences. The paper briefly describes an urban school district, the historical relationship between the district and two universities, and how these two university-school district partnerships came into existence. The paper explores the factors that contributed to issues and conflicts between the district and universities during the universities' operation of public schools, and concludes with a discussion that may help other localities engaging in similar partnerships. [More] Descriptors: Portfolios (Background Materials), Public Schools, Urban Universities, School Districts
(2013). Degrees toward Social Justice Teaching: Examining the Dispositions of Three Urban Early-Career Teachers, Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education. Teaching for social justice means understanding students¬ and advocating for them. These dispositions are especially critical for those who teach in urban communities where low-resourced schools and deficit perspectives toward students prevail. While many teacher education programs claim to prepare teachers for social justice (Zeichner in "Teacher education and the struggle for social justice." Routledge, New York, 2009), it remains unclear how program graduates actually think and act according to social justice principles. This study focuses on the dispositions of three, early-career teachers in relation to Cochran-Smith's ("The international handbook of educational change." Springer, New York, 2010) theory of social justice in education, and some of the background and contextual factors that shaped their ability to enact social justice teaching practices. Case studies, largely based on teachers' written narratives, reveal differences in their orientations toward: (1) caregivers, (2) students' knowledge traditions, and (3) their ability to raise students' critical consciousness. The two teachers who were most evolved in their demonstrations of social justice teaching grew up in families where service to others was highly valued. The study also demonstrates how two of the teachers managed in school contexts where scripted teaching and high stakes testing were enforced, and how these conditions factored into one teacher's departure from her position. Findings from this study indicate how teacher education and professional development programs can be strengthened to develop and support teachers' social justice orientations. [More] Descriptors: Social Justice, Urban Education, Urban Schools, Teacher Characteristics