Pines, Marion, Ed. (2000). The 21st Century Challenge: Moving the Youth Agenda Forward. A Policy Study of the Levitan Youth Policy Network. Public Policy Issues Monograph. This document contains nine papers devoted to the labor market problems faced by out-of-school and other disadvantaged young people in the United States and policy options and strategies for addressing those problems. The papers update the data on out-of-school young adults, review the lessons learned from past youth programs and policies, identify seven guiding principles for policy and practice in the youth field, and detail a model for creating a community-wide system built on collaborative partnerships among all relevant stakeholders. The following papers are included: "Confronting the Youth Demographic Challenge: Labor Market Prospects for Out-of-School Young Adults" (Andrew Sum, Neeta Fogg, Garth Mangum); "Human Capital Investments by People Matter" (Stephen L. Mangum, Judith W. Tansky); "High Stakes Testing: Opportunities and Risks for Students of Color, English-Language Learners, and Students with Disabilities" (Jay P. Heubert); "Using Educational Resources for Out-of-School Youth" (David Gruber); "Out of School and Unemployed: Principles for More Effective Policy and Programs" (Gary Walker); "The Power of Youth Popular Culture" (Ed de Jesus); "The Declaration of Inter-dependence" (Young Leaders Council, National Alumni Council of the YouthBuild USA Affiliated Network); "Winning Support" (Dorothy Stoneman); and "Building a System to Serve Out-of-School Youth" (Marion Pines, William J. Spring). One paper contains a substantial bibliography.   [More]  Descriptors: At Risk Persons, Case Studies, Community Cooperation, Cooperative Planning

Lambright, Nsombi (2001). Community Organizing for School Reform in the Mississippi Delta. Racism is still the central problem in Mississippi. The White community resists participation by African Americans in every aspect of political, economic, educational, and cultural life. Education is the key to breaking the system, and it is no secret that the state's school boards, legislators, and corporations want to keep Black children and other children of color undereducated. Mississippi maintains a dual, segregated education system: Whites attend private academies, and Blacks attend public schools. Educational problems facing Mississippi Blacks include high-stakes testing with no accountability for teachers or schools, corporal punishment, and criminalization of students. Empowerment of the African American community is essential. The Mississippi Education Working Group (MEWG) is a coalition of grassroots community organizations working in their local school districts to improve educational opportunities for African Americans. MEWG trains grassroots organizations to impact education policy in their local school districts and pools the resources of the local organizations to impact education policy at the state level. Profiles of six community organizations in the rural, impoverished Mississippi Delta region present community demographics, history, current work, accomplishments, and future goals. Common elements of these groups are their engagement in an ongoing meeting, training, and debriefing process; the active participation of young people through an intergenerational model of work; and their policy and legal work through MEWG. More resources for legal assistance are needed. Although most groups have large memberships, the bulk of the work falls on a dedicated few. Other existing groups that have the potential to engage in real organizing work are identified.   [More]  Descriptors: Access to Education, Activism, Black Education, Community Action

Scruggs, Thomas E., Ed.; Mastropieri, Margo A., Ed. (2004). Research in Secondary Schools. Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities. Volume 17, JAI Press. Secondary education of students with learning and behavioral disabilities is an issue of great importance. Unlike elementary schools, secondary schools require substantially more independent functioning, assume the effective use of student planning and study skills, and often lack the classes in basic skills needed by some learners. Further, new developments in state high-stakes testing have increased the demands on content knowledge, and have decreased the availability of vocationally oriented programs. In this volume, several topics of relevance to secondary schools are considered by leading scholars, in reviews of recent research and new investigations with original data. Included in the volume are reviews of recent research on the efficacy of self-management techniques; the utility and efficacy of homework assignments; treatments for secondary students with autism; interventions on content-area learning, including English, Science, Math, and Social Studies; the effects of teacher licensure on teaching competence; dynamic assessment of working memory; and uses of technology in secondary education programs for students with learning and behavioral disabilities. In addition, original research is presented in areas of problem solving in algebra; effectiveness of co-teaching in secondary classrooms; and the interaction of depression and self regulation. This book is intended for interested professionals and practitioners; researchers in learning and behavioral disabilities; and graduate students in psychology, education, and special education, particularly those concerned with the issues of learning and behavior problems in secondary schools. This book contains the following twelve chapters: (1) Efficacy of Behavioral Self-Management Techniques with Adolescents with Learning Disabilities and Behavior Disorders (C. A. Hughes, W. J. Therrien, and D. L. Lee); (2) The Effects of Self-Instructional Strategies on Problem Solving in Algebra for Students with Special Needs (C. R. Lang et al.); (3) Value Added of the Special Education Teacher in Secondary School Co-Taught Classes (N. Zigmond and D. W. Matta); (4) Homework for Students with Disabilities (J. Jakulski and M. A. Mastropieri); (5) Making the Grade: Promoting Success of Secondary Students with autism Spectrum Disorders (J. E. Graetz); (6) Effective Content-Area Instruction for all Students (J. Bulgren); (7) Social Studies and Students with Disabilities: Current Status of Instruction and a Review of Intervention Research (J. Fontana); (8) How can a Student's Depressive Attitude Interfere with the Use of Good Self-Regulation Skills (A. Moe et al.); (9) Preliminary Work in Determining Whether Dynamic Assessment of Working Memory Helps in the Classification of Students with Reading Disabilities (C. B. Howard and H. Lee Swanson); (10) Recent Research in Secondary Content Areas for Students with Learning and Behavioral Disabilities (T. E. Scruggs and M. A. Mastropieri); (11) Technology and Students with Learning and Behavioral Disabilities (N. S. Oflesh); and (12) The Effects of Teacher Licensure on Teachers Pedagogical Competence: Implications for Elementary and Secondary Teachers of Students with Learning and Behavioral Disabilities (A. Nougaret, T. E. Scruggs, and M. A. Mastropieri).   [More]  Descriptors: Secondary Education, Secondary School Students, Learning Disabilities, Behavior Disorders

Pedroza, Anna (1998). Bordering on Success: Mexican American Students and High Stakes Testing. The assumptions that high-stakes testing is useful in raising educational standards for all students and that higher standards lead to higher educational performance for all students have not been tested in schools along the Texas border with Mexico. This study analyzed the effects of the high-stakes testing policy on students in a small rural school district along the border. It is a qualitative, single-case study of a border school district serving over 6,000 predominantly Mexican-American students. Quantitative school data (retention rates, dropout rates, program placement rates) and qualitative data were collected. Interviews were held with 31 teachers, 6 counselors, 10 administrators, 11 community members, and 7 school board members. Site visits were made to an elementary school designated as exemplary by the state, the intermediate school (grades 4-6), the middle school, and a low-performing high school. Findings suggest that the high stakes policy provisions have not been sensitive to the complexity of language experience in this community, where most students are "intermediate" speakers of English. Other contextual factors, such as access to mainstream experiences and the cultural exchange with Mexico, are also ignored by the testing program. Border schools, their recourses, the communities they serve, and the students' educational experiences are dramatically different from other Texas schools, and their students may not benefit from a policy that assumes that all schools are alike. (Contains 2 charts, 8 tables, and 40 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Case Studies, Dropouts, Educational Policy

Vars, Gordon F. (2001). Can Curriculum Integration Survive in an Era of High-Stakes Testing?, Middle School Journal. Discusses the value of curriculum integration and developmentally appropriate curriculum in middle school education. Suggests ways to incorporate standards into the integrative curriculum process that includes life skills competencies, prioritizing subject matter standards, organizing staff to teach the hybrid curriculum, and involving students. Descriptors: Academic Standards, Curriculum Design, Curriculum Development, Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Passman, Roger (2000). Pressure Cooker: Experiences with Student-Centered Teaching and Learning in High-Stakes Assessment Environments. High stakes testing is a given in many public school districts in the United States. This paper reports the chilling effect high stakes testing had on the pedagogy of one teacher. The study took place in a large Midwestern urban district where a university consultant observed a fifth-grade classroom.  This researcher was able to observe and document a teacher who attempted to engage in purposeful change in her teaching style and classroom structure.  The instructor decided to teach a unit on the Age of Exploration, a long-term inquiry project about explorers. She divided the class into six groups of five and sat them at individual tables.  She started the project by covering her curriculum in a traditional manner, but once she determined what the students knew about explorers, she instructed the students to choose one question, either one of their own or one from another group, and do research and discover the answer. The students were then asked to take a series of weeks to prepare a report, both written and visual, to present to the school community. Over the next several weeks, the students researched at the school library, connected to the Internet, and looked at classroom resources on their topics. The teacher's role became more of a coach in which the shift of responsibility for learning was on the student. As a result, she watched the students enter the world of discovery and inquiry on a topic that genuinely engaged the entire class. The project was a complete success; two of her groups gave very impressive and sophisticated presentations on the topics of "navigation" and "supplies". The teacher noted, "It's amazing how smart kids get when you teach them this way." However soon after the completion of the exploration project, the principal called a faculty meeting. He made a direct order to the school teachers stating, "Don't teach anything that isn't on the Iowa test". He then reminded the teachers about probation, testing success, and job security. After the meeting, the fifth grade teacher felt compelled to return to a traditional classroom setting and abandon her efforts toward a student-centered pedagogy.  When faced with the pressure of high-stakes assessment, sadly, the teacher returned to a more teacher-directed classroom where students were once again isolated from one another. She stated, "The constructivist stuff is nice, but we have real work to do now." (Contains 4 figures and 16 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Constructivism (Learning), Elementary School Teachers, High Stakes Tests, Intermediate Grades

Meijer, Rob R. (2002). Outlier Detection in High-Stakes Certification Testing, Journal of Educational Measurement. Used empirical data from a certification test to study methods from statistical process control that have been proposed to classify an item score pattern as fitting or misfitting the underlying item response theory model in computerized adaptive testing. Results for 1,392 examinees show that different types of misfit can be distinguished. Descriptors: Certification, Classification, Goodness of Fit, Item Response Theory

Seymour, Mike, Ed. (2004). Educating for Humanity: Rethinking the Purposes of Education, Paradigm Publishers. The promise and necessity of working toward "a world for all" is a viable aspiration for education at a time when the worldwide crises in social justice, peace, democracy and ecological integrity have become the defining issues of our times. Ample evidence from many schools today, and dating back throughout the last century, prove that the purpose of educating young people of character, compassion, purpose and commitment is integral with the mastery of intellectual skills and life competencies. Self and School subjects develop interdependently. But, as the saying goes, "if you don't know where you're going, you'll probably get someplace else." Educational policy directions over the last twenty years have veered far away from the important work of educating for humanity. This book makes a powerful appeal to revisit educational purpose in light of what is most fundamental and important to human beings everywhere. The authors address timely issues such as high stakes testing, school choice, and privatization of education in looking beyond these measures to new approaches to educational excellence. Following an introduction, Educating for Humanity: Rethinking the Purposes of Education, this book is divided into 5 parts. The first part, The Great Work of Reconnecting, includes the following chapters: (1) Networks and the Web of Life: The Science behind an Integral, Sustainable Culture; and (2) An Evolutionary Threshold: Calling on Humanity's "Double Wisdom." Part 2, Educating for Self: Being Called into Life, contains: (1) Authentic Living and Teaching: Rejoining Soul and Role; (2) Mentoring the Genius of Our Youth: Watering the Seeds of the Future; (3) Teachers: The Heart of Education; (4) Downside Up: Getting Education Right; and (5) How Schools Can Empower Our Children. Following this, part 3, Educating for Authentic Community, presents: (1) Caring as a Foundation for Learning; (2) Creating a School Community; (3) Community in School; (4) The Bridges to Civility: Empathy, Ethics, Civics, and Service; (5) Multicultural Education: Access, Equity, and Social Justice; and (6) Educating Global Citizens in a Diverse World. Part 4, Educating for Earth, Future Generations, and All of Life, includes: (1) Ethics and Ecology; (2) Deciding for Life and Our Children's Future; (3) Deciding for Life and Our Children's Future; (4) Ecological Education: Extending the Definition of Environmental Education; and (5) Returning Home with Empty Hands. Finally, part 5, Educating for Spirit: The Quest for Heart, Character, and Meaning, concludes the book with: (1) A Vision of Schools with Spirit; (2) Making Meaningful Connections in School; (3) Making Space for the Mystery: Reawakening Life and Spirit in Teaching and Learning; (4) Way of the Brave: An Indigenous Perspective on "Character Education"; and (5) Nourishing Soul in Secular Schools. An appendix includes a list of resources and an index.   [More]  Descriptors: Justice, Integrity, Democracy, Altruism

Phelps, Richard P. (1999). Why Testing Experts Hate Testing, Fordham Report. The objections of testing experts to standardized testing are evaluated. The report begins with a foreword by Chester E. Finn, Jr., followed by an executive summary and an introduction. Four case studies include: (1) experts' opposition to high-stakes testing in Texas; (2) in North Carolina; (3) concerns raised in connection with the National Assessment of Educational Progress; and (4) in connection with the Scholastic Assessment Tests. Eight alleged harms of standardized testing are: (1) test score inflation; (2) curriculum narrowing; (3) emphasis on lower-level thinking; (4) declining achievement; (5) harm to women and minorities; (6) expense; (7) over use compared to other countries; and (8) opposition from parents, students, and teachers. Each of the claims is examined in detail, and a rebuttal is offered for each. The conclusion offers two views of testing and learning. (Contains 139 endnotes.)   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Case Studies, Elementary Secondary Education, High Stakes Tests

Stecher, Brian M.; Chun, Tammi; Barron, Sheila; Ross, Karen (2000). The Effects of the Washington State Education Reform on Schools and Classrooms: Initial Findings. RAND Documented Briefing. A growing number of states are implementing standards-based accountability systems in their efforts to improve student achievement. Policymakers in these states believe that standards-based reforms that include high-stakes testing can be powerful tools to change what is happening in schools and classrooms. This study is part of ongoing research funded by the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the University of California, Los Angeles, to investigate the impact of standards-based state education reforms on schools and classrooms. Researchers from RAND and the University of Colorado, Boulder, began this program of research in 1995-96 with an examination of the effects of standards-based education reform in Kentucky, which was one of the earliest in the country, including new performance standards for students and a new statewide-testing system. After studying the effects of the Kentucky reform for 3 years, researchers shifted their attention to Washington State, which was just beginning to implement standards-based reform. Research activities began in Washington in 1998-99 and continued through 1999-00. This briefing summarizes results from the 1999 survey of teachers and students. Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Academic Standards, Accountability, Educational Change

Langer, Judith A. (2002). Effective Literacy Instruction: Building Successful Reading and Writing Programs. This book focuses on middle school and high school literacy programs that effectively support student learning in an era of national and state standards and high-stakes testing. The book offers a programmatic vision, a set of principles, and real-life examples to guide educators who wish to inform their practice with research-based knowledge to help their students to become more highly literate. Drawing on the author's 5-year study of classes in 25 schools that are attempting to improve student learning, the book discusses the essential features of teachers' professional experiences and of curriculum and instruction that mark the more effective programs. By studying each school for 2 years, the book examines both teachers' professional lives and students' learning experiences and identified the pivotal elements that empower the best-performing teachers and schools, where high test scores are part of overall achievement in active student learning. The book is divided into two main sections: first it discusses key characteristics of effective English programs–the kind of English curriculum and instruction that mark the more effective programs, as well as the related features of professional support empowering individual teachers who are effective in their classrooms; and second, field researchers who worked with the author provide portraits of particularly effective teachers and programs to bring the principles to life. Chapters in the book are: (1) Effective Literacy Programs; (2) Effective English Instruction in Middle School and High School; (3) Teachers' Professional Lives in Effective Schools; (4) Effective Teachers in an Urban District (Steven D. Ostrowski); (5) An Effective Teacher in a Newcomers' School (Ester Helmar-Salasoo with Sally Jo Bronner and Paola R. Bonissone); (6) Rich Webs of Professional Support in a Suburban District (Eija Rougle); and (7) Creating the Educational Culture within Which Students Learn. Appendixes contain brief descriptions of each school that participated in the Excellence in English Project; a list of 12 related reports from the project; and an activity guide for the Motion Team at International High School. (Contains 6 tables, 17 notes, and 53 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Case Studies, Educational Environment, Educational Practices, English Curriculum

Disability Rights Advocates, Inc., Oakland, CA. (2001). Do No Harm–High Stakes Testing and Students with Learning Disabilities. This report from a blue ribbon panel of experts convened by Disability Rights Advocates, Inc. and the Oregon Department of Education addresses the interplay between standardized examinations and students with learning disabilities. The report describes in detail the accommodations, alternate assessments, appeals procedures, and other safeguards which must be implemented for the statewide assessment systems to comply with the law and guarantee educationally sound opportunities to students with learning disabilities. Following an introduction, Section 2 of the report analyzes the nature of learning disabilities and how the design of many standardized tests discriminates against students with those disabilities. Section 3 contains a brief analysis of the federal laws that protect students with learning disabilities in the testing context. Section 4 examines what state educators can and must do to ensure students with learning disabilities are treated fairly with respect to a high-stakes assessment system. Finally, Section 5 looks at how high-stakes tests have been implemented in several states across the country, including Oregon, in which a lawsuit brought by students with learning disabilities led to a comprehensive evaluation of that state's assessment system by a panel of experts in testing and learning disabilities. (Contains 22 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Accommodations (Disabilities), Court Litigation, Educational Assessment, Educational Legislation

Linton, Thomas H. (2001). High Stakes Testing and Special Education Students: A Five-Year Trend Analysis. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of including special education students in the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) accountability subset of students. In 1999, the accountability subset was expanded to include scores for all special education students not exempted and all bilingual/limited English proficient (LEP) students tested with the Spanish TAAS at grades 3 and 4. The study compared the accountability subsets of TAAS for 1999 and 2000 with the accountability subsets for the previous 3 years to determine changes in the percentages of students taking the TAAS, the percentage of students in the accountability subsets, and the percentage of special education students receiving exemptions from the TAAS. The data show that clear trends in the percentage of students taking the TAAS and the percentage in the accountability subset are present in the 5 years from 1996 to 2000. There were slight increases in the percentage of students tested in 1996-1998 and decreases in the percentage tested from 1998 to 1999 and 1999 to 2000. The decrease in percentage of students tested in 1999 coincided with the inclusion of special education students in the TAAS accountability subset. This would seem to indicate that a larger percentage of students were being exempted from the test in 1999 and 2000. The inclusion of special education students should have caused an increase of 10 to 12% in the accountability subset in 1999, but the increase was 2 to 3% less than projected. This pattern was consistent for all ethnic and gender groups. From 1999 to 2000, the accountability subset remained constant, except for Hispanic students. The percentage of Hispanic students increased by 2.4%, primarily because of a decrease in the percent of LEP exemptions and the inclusion of Spanish TAAS results for grades 5 and 6 in the accountability subset. Black and Hispanic students were more likely to be placed in special education and were more likely to receive exemptions from the TAAS, and males were twice as likely as females to be classified as special education. The Texas Education Agency had predicted that 1999 TAAS passing rates would drop by about 5% because of the inclusion of special education students, but the predicted drop did not materialize. The paper suggests that the percentage of identified special education students dropped because school districts could no longer use the special education status as a way of exempting TAAS scores from the calculations for school ranking. At the same time, more exemptions were granted for special education students, an occurrence that would minimize the impact of including them in the accountability subset.   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Accountability, Achievement Tests, Educational Trends

Darling-Hammond, Linda (2000). Transforming Urban Public Schools: The Role of Standards and Accountability. This paper examines how urban school districts that have substantially improved student performance emphasize improvement of education guided by rigorous standards for teachers rather than high-stakes testing for students. States and districts that rely on test-based accountability emphasizing sanctions for students and teachers often produce greater failure rather than success for educationally vulnerable students. The paper reviews research on various approaches to accountability and highlights successful reforms in urban settings that emphasize the use of standards for teaching and learning to guide investments in better prepared teachers, higher quality teaching, more performance-oriented curriculum and assessment, better designed schools, more equitable and effective resource allocations, and more diagnostic supports for student learning. It argues for a broader conception of accountability that focuses on whether policymakers' and practitioners' actions, in fact, produce better quality education and higher levels of learning for a greater share of students. It suggests that genuine accountability is achieved when school system policies and operating practices work both to provide good education and to correct problems as they occur. It concludes that raising standards for students so they learn what they need to know requires raising standards for the system. (Contains 69 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Academic Standards, Accountability, Educational Change

Luna, Catherine; Turner, Cara Livingstone (2001). The Impact of the MCAS: Teachers Talk about High-Stakes Testing, English Journal. Asks some local experts (Massachusetts English teachers) to talk about the impact of the new Massachusetts high-stakes test, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), and about how they are dealing with this in their classrooms and schools. Concludes that English educators must work to understand and address the issues these tests raise for teacher and students. Descriptors: English Instruction, High Stakes Tests, Secondary Education, Standardized Tests