Voices from the Field
Voices from the Field

Author: Elisabeth L. Woody

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In an effort to understand teachers' and administrators' experiences with public school accountability, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), with the support of the Noyce Foundation, established the Educator Responses to Accountability Project (ERAP). During the 2002-2003 school year, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with educators in eight elementary schools across California. They spoke with teachers, principals, and district leaders, exploring such topics as their knowledge and understanding of recent accountability mandates, the impact of accountability on their classroom practices and their sense of professionalism, and their efforts to address inequities in student achievement within the context of accountability. This report discusses key themes that have emerged from their conversations with educators, drawing on the voices of public school teachers, principals, and district administrators to present a portrait of accountability policies at the school level. The authors heard critiques as well as expressions of appreciation for recent state efforts, and they heard suggestions on ways to improve or supplement existing policies. Four appendices are included: (1) PSAA [California's Public Schools Accountability Act] Overview & Evolution; (2) ERAP Schools (2002-2003); (3) Trend of API [Academic Performance Index] Scores; and (4) Interview Protocols. (Contains 2 figures and 19 endnotes.) [Additional funding for this project was provided by the California Policy Research Center.].

School Accountability
School Accountability

Author: Williamson M. Evers

Publisher: Hoover Inst Press Publication

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Scholars from history, economics, political science, and psychology describe the present state of school accountability, how it evolved, how it succeeded and failed, and how it can be improved. They review the history behind the ongoing conflict between educators and policymakers over accountability and testing, describe various accountability schemes, and analyze the costs of accountability. Case studies of three states with strong school systems compare how accountability works in practice. Evers is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

No Child Left Behind?
No Child Left Behind?

Author: Paul E. Peterson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2003-11-18

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 081579620X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act is the most important legislation in American education since the 1960s. The law requires states to put into place a set of standards together with a comprehensive testing plan designed to ensure these standards are met. Students at schools that fail to meet those standards may leave for other schools, and schools not progressing adequately become subject to reorganization. The significance of the law lies less with federal dollar contributions than with the direction it gives to federal, state, and local school spending. It helps codify the movement toward common standards and school accountability. Yet NCLB will not transform American schools overnight. The first scholarly assessment of the new legislation, No Child Left Behind? breaks new ground in the ongoing debate over accountability. Contributors examine the law's origins, the political and social forces that gave it shape, the potential issues that will surface with its implementation, and finally, the law's likely consequences for American education.

Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education
Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-10-18

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13: 0309225078

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In recent years there have been increasing efforts to use accountability systems based on large-scale tests of students as a mechanism for improving student achievement. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a prominent example of such an effort, but it is only the continuation of a steady trend toward greater test-based accountability in education that has been going on for decades. Over time, such accountability systems included ever-stronger incentives to motivate school administrators, teachers, and students to perform better. Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education reviews and synthesizes relevant research from economics, psychology, education, and related fields about how incentives work in educational accountability systems. The book helps identify circumstances in which test-based incentives may have a positive or a negative impact on student learning and offers recommendations for how to improve current test-based accountability policies. The most important directions for further research are also highlighted. For the first time, research and theory on incentives from the fields of economics, psychology, and educational measurement have all been pulled together and synthesized. Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education will inform people about the motivation of educators and students and inform policy discussions about NCLB and state accountability systems. Education researchers, K-12 school administrators and teachers, as well as graduate students studying education policy and educational measurement will use this book to learn more about the motivation of educators and students. Education policy makers at all levels of government will rely on this book to inform policy discussions about NCLB and state accountability systems.

An Administrator's Handbook on Educational Accountability
An Administrator's Handbook on Educational Accountability

Author: Lesley H. Browder

Publisher:

Published: 1973

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This handbook is intended for those administrators who are in search of ways to improve their educational programs. The first part is designed to lay out the problem in broad strokes, with a survey of alternatives offered up as leading to greater accountability. The second part offers guidelines for accountability program development in the form of a model that offers a wide variety of options, along with conceptual support.

Technical Assistance Manual for the California Model School Accountability Report Card
Technical Assistance Manual for the California Model School Accountability Report Card

Author: Greg Geeting

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 90

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

California State Proposition 98 requires the governing boards of California school districts to prepare and issue an annual School Accountability Report Card for each elementary and high school under their jurisdiction, beginning in the school year 1989-90. The report card must assess a minimum of 13 specified conditions. This manual provides technical assistance and examples of what report cards for individual schools might contain and how they might be developed. Guidelines for preparing a model report card are provided in the appendix to this manual. Although it is not limited to these areas, each report card must address the following school conditions: (1) student achievement in and progress toward meeting reading, writing, arithmetic, and other academic goals; (2) progress toward reducing dropout rates; (3) estimated expenditures per student and types of services funded; (4) progress toward reducing class sizes and teaching loads; (5) assignment of teachers outside their subject areas of competence; (6) quality and currency of textbooks and other instructional materials; (7) counseling and support personnel availability; (8) substitute teacher availability; (9) safety, cleanliness, and adequacy of school facilities; (10) adequacy of teacher evaluations and professional improvement opportunities; (11) classroom discipline and climate for learning; (12) teacher and staff training and curriculum improvement programs; and (13) quality of instruction and leadership. (SLD)