This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Jacob M. Marszalek, Teaching Children Mathematics, Audrey L. Amrein, Susan A. Adler, Sherman Dorn, Karen L. Miksch, Jaekyung Lee, Cathryn Berger Kaye, Larry Krumenaker, and Steven M. LaNasa.
(2004). School Counselors' Perceptions of the Impact of High-Stakes Testing, Professional School Counseling. Two studies of school counselors' perceptions of the impact of the North Carolina ABC (high-stakes) testing program are reported in this article. (For ease of interpretation, percentages were rounded to the nearest whole number in both studies.) One hundred forty-one counselors who attended their state association's professional conference participated in study one, and a random sample of 139 school counselors, members of the state school counseling association, participated by mail in study two. Eighty percent or more of the counselors reported that they or another counselor served as the school's testing coordinator and that this function consumed a considerable percentage of their time. Although counselors noted some positive effects of the high-stakes testing program, they overwhelmingly reported that it negatively impacted their ability to provide services and their relationships with students, teachers, and administrators. Descriptors: Program Effectiveness, Testing Programs, State Standards, School Counseling
(2010). Work that Is Real, Principal Leadership. Service learning as an integral facet of academic pedagogy is catching on everywhere–and for good reasons. Even in challenging economic times, when high-stakes testing appears to be calling the shots, educators realize that having students show up is only part of the equation. Like adults, students want a significant reason to turn off the alarm clock in the morning, get out of bed, go to work or school, and learn. They crave purpose to their lives like everyone else. And they want relevance–they want to know that what they are studying, practicing, researching, and remembering can be put to use. Service learning can make a difference. Applying prior and acquired knowledge and skills through service learning creates an explicit and deliberate arena for students to experience the relationship between what is "strictly academic" and what is often perceived as "real life." This article explains how service learning that is firmly embedded in the curriculum can connect learning to life, discusses the foundations of service learning, and cites examples that reflect several standards that are consistent with K-12 Service Learning Standards for Quality Practice. [More] Descriptors: Elementary Secondary Education, High Stakes Tests, Service Learning, Teaching Methods
(2003). The Testing Divide: New Research on the Intended and Unintended Impact of High-Stakes Testing, Peer Review. Found, based on data from 28 states, that there is scant evidence to support the proposition that high-stakes tests, including high-stakes high school graduation exams, increase student achievement. Also found that adoption of high-stakes testing policies leads to increased dropout rates, decreased graduation rates, and higher rates of younger individuals taking General Education Diploma (GED) equivalency exams. Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Evaluation Research, Graduation Requirements, High Stakes Tests
(2010). Trick or Treat: New Ecology of Education Accountability System in the USA, Journal of Education Policy. This study tracks American states' policy choices under the No Child Left Behind Act and explores their consequences for student achievement. Using the path analysis of relationships among state-level policy input, context, and outcome variables, the study portrays a Halloween-like "trick-or-treating" game between the federal and state governments in the new ecology of the test-driven education accountability system. States that chose the "trick" path with a calculative policy negotiation and manipulation strategy made significant gains on their own state assessments but not on the national assessment. In contrast, states that followed the "treat" path with a faithful policy implementation for funding strategy have not yet brought about significant gains on either the national or state assessments. The first-generation accountability states with a prior history of high-stakes testing tended to employ both strategies at the same time. However, neither effective illusion nor ineffective implementation serves the goal of long-term, sustainable academic improvement. Implications for research and policy are discussed. [More] Descriptors: Accountability, Federal Legislation, Educational Legislation, Academic Achievement
(2010). Rethinking Accountability in a Knowledge Society, Journal of Educational Change. Competition between schools combined with test-based accountability to hold schools accountable for predetermined knowledge standards have become a common solution in educational change efforts to improve the performance of educational systems around the world. This is happening as family and community social capital declines in most parts of developed world. Increased competition and individualism are not necessarily beneficial to creating social capital in schools and their communities. This article argues that: (1) the evidence remains controversial that test-based accountability policies improve the quality and efficiency of public education; (2) the current practice of determining educational performance by using primarily standardized knowledge tests as the main means of accountability is not a necessary condition for much needed educational improvement; and (3) there is growing evidence that increased high-stakes testing is restricting students' conceptual learning, engaging in creative action and understanding innovation, all of which are essential elements of contemporary schooling in a knowledge society. Finland is used as an example to suggest that educational change should rather contribute to increasing networking and social capital in schools and in their communities through building trust and strengthening collective responsibilities within and between schools. This would create better prospects of worthwhile lifelong learning in and out of schools. Based on this analysis, the article concludes that education policies should be directed at promoting more intelligent forms of accountability to meet external accountability demands and to encourage cooperation rather than competition among students, teachers and schools. [More] Descriptors: Educational Improvement, High Stakes Tests, Lifelong Learning, Competition
(2003). High-Stakes Testing and the History of Graduation, Education Policy Analysis Archives. A historical perspective on high-stakes testing suggests that tests required for high school graduation will have mixed results for the putative value of high school diplomas. Graduation requirements are not likely to settle the general cultural confusion in the United States about the purpose of secondary education or a high school diploma. Descriptors: Educational History, Graduation Requirements, High School Graduates, High Schools
(2010). Dual Standards of School Performance and Funding? Empirical Searches of School Funding Adequacy in Kentucky and Maine, Education Economics. This study examines potential consequences of the discrepancies between national and state performance standards for school funding in Kentucky and Maine. Applying the successful schools observation method and cost function analysis method to integrated data-sets that match schools' eight-grade mathematics test performance measures to district funding, this study conducts empirical searches for adequate instructional expenditures per pupil to meet desired proficiency targets on national versus state assessments. While Kentucky (high-stakes testing state) had a lower performance standard than Maine (low-stakes testing state), this study reveals a relatively lower level of school funding adequacy and a weaker relationship between school expenditures and performance for Kentucky than for Maine. The study suggests that state educational accountability systems and policies may influence the level of state performance standards and the proficiency gaps between national and state assessments, which in turn lead to potential gaps in school funding. Implications for policy and research are discussed to address problems with dual standards of school performance and to improve school funding adequacy and efficiency. [More] Descriptors: Educational Finance, School Funds, National Standards, State Standards
(2010). Distortion or Clarification: Defining Highly Qualified Teachers and the Relationship between Certification and Achievement, Education Policy Analysis Archives. Recent studies of the relationship between teacher preparation pathways and student achievement have resulted in similar statistics but contradictory conclusions. These studies as a group have several limits: they sometimes focus on student-level indicators when many policy decisions are made with indicators at the school-level or above, are limited to specific urban locations or grade levels, or neglect the potential influence of building type, as defined as the grade-levels serviced. Using statewide data from the 2004-2005 school year, we examined the relationships between school-level indicators of student achievement on nationally-normed tests and proportions of alternatively certified teachers, while controlling for building type and other relevant covariates. Our findings indicate that the relationship between teacher preparation and student achievement at the school level depends on whether the building mixes multiple grade levels (e.g., elementary and middle). The implications of Missouri's policy change for research and school improvement are discussed with respect to the current high-stakes testing environment. [More] Descriptors: Academic Achievement, High Stakes Tests, Teacher Qualifications, Teacher Certification
(2003). Legal Issues in Developmental Education: The Impact of High-Stakes Testing, Research & Teaching in Developmental Education. Discusses the increasing number of legal challenges to high-stakes testing, which can potentially impact developmental education programs nationally. Analyzes challenges to the tests in four states, and suggests that the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) may lead to lawsuits if a child has not received an appropriate education. (Contains 15 references.) Descriptors: Basic Skills, Community Colleges, Compensatory Education, Developmental Studies Programs
(2010). What It Would Take to Increase the Number of High School Astronomy Courses: A Survey of Principals and a Comparison to Astronomy Teachers, and a Prescription for Change, Astronomy Education Review. A survey to principals of high schools without astronomy points to the conditions needed to increase the number of high school astronomy courses and acceptable justifications for adding in a course. The former includes the need for more and better trained teachers, changing the perceptions of higher officials from local administrations to Federal-level legislators and education department officials, more funds, locally a need for students to show enough interest as well as a curriculum that helps with high stakes testing and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) scoring. Good reasons for having a course include helping increase options for students needing science electives or fourth year courses, and astronomy reinforces prior learning that helps raise AYP scores and increases student interest in science with material not taught in other courses. Some inhibiting influences include the timing of the course is usually after AYP testing, standards may not exist or limit new electives, and a dearth of astronomy teachers locally. Results of this study include a list of competing electives, typical procedures and a prescription for adding in courses. [More] Descriptors: High Schools, Student Interests, Science Interests, Prior Learning
(2010). A School's Organizational Structure and Students' Mathematics Achievements. How a school is organized–or, more specifically, the extent to which teachers work together and treat one another as professionals–can influence elementary school students' mathematics achievement. So suggest the authors of a recent study on the impact of school organization on longitudinal student achievement (Moller, Stephanie, Roslyn A. Mickelson, Elizabeth Stearns, Neena Banerjee, and Martha Bottia. 2013. "Collective Pedagogical Teacher Culture and Mathematics Achievement: Differences by Race, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status." "Sociology of Education" 86 (2): 174-194). Using data gathered from 4500 kindergartners who attended elementary school from 1998 to 2003 as part of the Department of Education's Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, researchers Moller and her colleagues (2013) found a link between school organizational practices and student achievement. The premise of the study is that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and high-stakes testing are largely responsible for a drop in teacher morale as well as a decrease in teacher collaboration and communities within a school. On the basis of earlier research, the authors hypothesize that this move away from teacher collaboration and community had serious consequences for student achievement. In particular, the researchers were interested in the effect on minority and low-socioeconomic (SES) students. [More] Descriptors: Mathematics Achievement, Organizational Theories, School Organization, Mathematics Education
(2010). Rose and Primary English: Are the Shackles Really off?, Education 3-13. This article offers a critical appraisal of some of the Rose Report's recommendations for the primary English curriculum. It is divided into two parts. The first discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the recommendations whilst raising questions about their potential to bring about urgently needed curriculum renewal. The second is a reflective study of a short, intensive teaching programme recently conducted with a Year 6 class which used a children's story to improve writing performance. Dramatic activities and a progressive model for questioning texts made use of pedagogical strategies which were designed to engage children's enjoyment and motivation whilst also ensuring that developmental gains were made in spoken language, thinking and writing. The head teacher who initiated the project had already embarked on a series of new approaches to the curriculum which happened to coincide with Rose's recommendations to make greater use of spoken language and drama in reading and writing development. It is suggested that such approaches "can" make a strong impact upon children's learning across several areas. However, what is left unresolved is the question of whether high stakes testing and literacy prescriptions will continue to inhibit the real potential which exists for curriculum change. [More] Descriptors: Curriculum Development, English Curriculum, Writing (Composition), Speech
(2003). High-Stakes Testing and the Default Philosophy of Education, Theory into Practice. Asserts that high stakes testing may lead to a default philosophy of education that holds in high regard a narrow bundle of knowledge and skills, offering suggestions for what educators can do in the current context (e.g., maintain dialogue in schools, expand internal accountability, engage high standards, connect to higher-order concepts, and take community responsibility for all schools). Descriptors: Accountability, Educational Philosophy, Elementary Secondary Education, Evaluation Methods
(2010). What's Stopping You? Classroom Censorship for Better or Worse, Social Education. Censorship is a complex question. Studies show a number of reasons teachers refrain from teaching controversial issues. These include: (1) The general "chilling effects" in school and community contexts, characterized by fear of reprisal; (2) Standards and high stakes testing; (3) Insufficient teacher preparation to teach about controversy; and (4) Inadequate teacher understanding of academic freedom and the rights it affords them. Teachers often respond to these barriers by censoring themselves–a decision that ultimately undermines academic freedom. To understand better how and why social studies teachers self-censor, a small group of teachers from several Midwestern schools and districts were surveyed in 2010 about their approach to the teaching of controversy. Teachers were asked a number of questions about teaching controversy, censorship, their individual and school contexts and their sense of their own academic freedom. They reported on previous experiences with censorship, and they were asked about preparation to teach about controversy. In this article, the author reports the results of the survey that show that teachers often make up for a lack of pre-service training in the issue through in-service training, but their uncertainty about the extent of academic freedom and wariness of dealing with "hot button issues" can lead to self-censorship. [More] Descriptors: Controversial Issues (Course Content), Academic Freedom, Censorship, Barriers
(2010). Envisioning Knowledge: Building Literacy in the Academic Disciplines. Language and Literacy Series, Teachers College Press. This book by Judith Langer–internationally known scholar in literacy learning–examines how people gain knowledge and become academically literate in the core subjects of English, mathematics, science, and social studies/history. Based on extensive research, it offers a new framework for conceptualizing knowledge development (rather than information collection), and explores how one becomes literate in ways that mark "knowing" in a field. Langer identifies key principles for practice and demonstrates how the framework and the principles together can undergird highly successful instruction across the curriculum. With many examples from middle and high schools, this resource will help educators to plan and implement engaging, exciting, and academically successful programs. Essential reading for pre- and inservice teachers and curriculum developers, this book: (1) Offers a new framework on content-area literacy, building on a decade of research and responding to the implications of high-stakes testing; (2) Connects to current concerns about adolescent literacy, offering ways for educators to understand essential distinctions between knowledge and information; (3) Treats new literacies in the digital-age classroom as essential context for teaching and learning; and (4) Includes examples of instructional activities that will engage students in critical and creative thinking. [More] Descriptors: Literacy, High Stakes Tests, Creative Thinking, Learning Processes