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To many, it seems obvious which schools are failing--schools whose students perform poorly on achievement tests. But since evaluating schools on achievement mixes the effects of school and nonschool influences, achievement-based evaluation likely underestimates the effectiveness of schools that serve disadvantaged populations. In this article, the authors discuss school-evaluation methods that more effectively separate school effects from nonschool effects. Specifically, the authors evaluate schools using 12-month (calendar-year) learning rates, 9-month (school-year) learning rates, and a provocative new measure, 'impact'--which is the difference between the school-year learning rate and the summer learning rate. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of 1998-99, the authors show that learning- or impact-based evaluation methods substantially change conclusions about which schools are failing. In particular, among schools with failing (i.e., bottom-quintile) achievement levels, less than half are failing with respect to learning or impact. In addition, schools that serve disadvantaged students are much more likely to have low achievement levels than they are to have low levels of learning or impact. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to market-based educational reform.

The article examines reactivity, the idea that people change their behavior in reaction to being observed, evaluated or measured. It indicates that these public measures change expectations and institutions.

Abstract Following a year-long implementation of a standards-based middle school mathematics curriculum, students were surveyed. The survey revealed that positive attitudes toward mathematics prevailed in each of the six middle [...]

Byline: Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes (1), Traci Mach (2), John D. Clapp (1) Keywords: schools; substance use; governance Abstract: We use data from the two rounds of the NLSY97 and the corresponding QED data to examine the effectiveness of school endowments and curricula in targeting juvenile use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. Our results support the notion that schools matter in reducing juvenile involvement in substance use. Higher discretionary dollars per pupil are linked to reduced rates of juvenile initiation and repetitive use rates of cigarettes and marijuana. Additionally, school curricula, as indicated by the implementation of year round classes and some innovative and after-school programs--such as gifted and talented, attendance monitoring, homework hotline, international baccalaureate, extended-day, and mentoring, programs, affect both juvenile initiation to tobacco and alcohol use and juvenile repetitive use of tobacco and alcohol. In particular, we find that juvenile initiation to cigarette use is approximately between 2 percentage points and 3 percentage points lower among youths attending schools with gifted and talented and international baccalaureate programs. In addition, juvenile repetitive cigarette use is approximately 54%, 52%, and 48% lower among youths attending schools offering year round classes, international baccalaureate, and twenty-first century programs, respectively. Finally, juvenile initiation to alcohol use and juvenile repetitive use of alcohol are approximately 3% and 20% lower, respectively, among youths in schools offering gifted and talented programs. In sum, while these programs are not implemented to address substance use problems among the student body, we find that the implementation of these programs is often accompanied by a reduction in juvenile initiation and repetitive substance use. Author Affiliation: (1) San Diego State University, San Diego, California (2) Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington D.C Article History: Registration Date: 18/10/2004

Richard F. Elmore has visited many low performing schools that might fail to meet the provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). He states the requirements to be met and the efforts to be made, in building the capacity of educators and schools to deliver high quality instructions to the students.

The trends in school segregation for schools located in various distances from environmental hazards are examined by drawing upon the political economy and urban ecology of race perspectives. The trends in segregation among eighty-four public grade schools between the years of 1987 and 1999 in Hillsborough County School district are studied.

This article systematically reviews U.S. evidence from cross-sectional research on educational outcomes when schools must compete with each other. Competition typically is measured by using either the Herfindahl Index or the enrollment rate at an alternative school choice. Outcomes are academic test scores, graduation/attainment, expenditures/efficiency, teacher quality, students' post-school wages, and local housing prices. The sampling strategy identified more than 41 relevant empirical studies. A sizable majority report beneficial effects of competition, and many report statistically significant correlations. For each study, the effect size of an increase of competition by one standard deviation is reported. The positive gains from competition are modest in scope with respect to realistic changes in levels of competition. The review also notes several methodological challenges and recommends caution in reasoning from point estimates to public policy. KEYWORDS: competition, markets, school choice.

Accountability systems in relation to No Child Left Behind Act makes the schools engage in a performance agreement with public agencies. This specifies the results to be produced and consequences of it to enhance performance of schools.

The issue of body/space invasion and regulation in the process of schooling is discussed. The use of collective biography research and collective memory work contributes to the construction of students as subjects within the classroom discourse.

The influence of state-mandated accountability testing on Eagle High School's dramatically shifting context and the embodied knowledge held and expressed by Henry Richards principal and Eagle teachers is discussed. The study indicates the careful unpacking Richard's dragon in school backyards metaphor and reveals the way the prevailing state accountability system shaped and continues to shape the school development.

The inexcapable dimension of American education is presented. It is argued that success or failure on test affects the academic careers and life choices of students and increases the funding and operation of schools at the elementary, secondary, and collegiate levels, and it also reflects and influences what is taught to students and what they learn.

The information on the importance of the summer holiday in the development of compulsory schooling in several North American jurisdictions is discussed. The resistance in recent times to changing the school year is examined.

A broad theoretical argument that positions the school as the site and instrument through which cultural responses to material conditions are played out is presented. It is argued that an effective struggle for social change can emerge from the specific cultural forms.

The concerns of American parents, about the safety of their children in schools, are described.

The one-year anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act brought its share of praise and criticism this month as organizations from the White House to grass-roots groups disagreed on […]