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Indicators of student academic growth are desired in state accountability systems in order to approximate student learning over time and attribute observed growth to schooling inputs. Through an extant analysis of five states’ assessment data, this study offers evidence about whether longitudinal match rates and measures of growth differ at the state level for students with disabilities, relative to students without disabilities. There were three main findings: 1) In states in which a modified assessment was offered, students with disabilities were more likely to have missing prior year scores, and consequently missing growth scores; 2) Low scoring students, many of whom has a disability, were more likely to have missing prior scores on the state general assessment, and consequently missing growth scores; 3) Students with and without disabilities showed similar growth using transition and gain score definitions of growth, but students with disabilities had lower growth when estimated via a regression-based model. Measurement and policy considerations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the housing market and residential mobility changes that occur soon after a Title 1 school fails to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Students within attendance zones of failing schools are given priority in lotteries for oversubscribed schools, potentially increasing the attractiveness of living in a failing school attendance zone. We find that housing prices, home buyer income, and the probability of attending a nonassigned school increase in the highest-quality neighborhoods within failing school attendance zones. Our results are driven largely by the behavior of new residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on science and math professional learning communities (PLCs) that were implemented through a university-urban high school partnership. These PLCs were part of mandated school-wide, content-based PLCs implemented as part of the reform efforts initiated in an urban school to address the school's failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for four years consecutively and low graduation rate (less than 25%) for male students. The key issues were (a) students had continually earned low test scores; (b) there was continuous principal turnover; (c) faculty morale was at an all-time low, and the quality of teaching was very poor; and (d) the students were not effectively disciplined. The study examined the impact that university faculty-led mandated PLCs have on teachers' practices and students' learning and achievement. Analysis of data revealed practices that were effective in developing and implementing these successful math and science PLCs. Three themes emerged: ethics of care, teacher agency, and aesthetics of professional interactions. Each theme contained key features that appeared to contribute to the implementation of a successful PLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federal governments are increasingly employing empirical measures of lower-level government performance to ensure that provincial and local jurisdictions pursue national policy goals. We call this burgeoning phenomenon ' performance federalism' and argue that it can distort democratic accountability in lower-level elections. We estimate the impact of a widely publicized federal indicator of local school district performance-one that we show does not allow voters to draw valid inferences about the quality of local educational institutions-on voter support for school tax levies in a U.S. state uniquely appropriate for this analysis. The results indicate that a signal of poor district performance increases the probability of levy failure, a substantively large and robust effect that disproportionately affects impoverished communities. The analysis employs a number of identification strategies and tests for multiple behavioral mechanisms to support the causal interpretation of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today the implementation of Accounting Information System (AIS) has a great impact on the organizational scenario. Continuous adjustments that influence the organizations impose the necessity of reassessment of accounting information as a management instrument, to determine the situation, to notice the opportunities and risks derived from the company's overall policy, to observe strengths and weaknesses, to make adequate decisions in time and, more than that, to control the results obtained. Accounting theorists have long recognized that AIS is an integral part of an organization's control system. In this study, the author has pointed out 14(fourteen) questions related to application of AIS on total 30 listed banking companies of Bangladesh and has found that 96.7% of total listed banking companies attach emphasis on back-up computer system, and 90% emphasize on online commerce and networking for internal activities. The findings also suggest that the listed banking companies emphasize on promptness and preventive application of AIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined parental involvement's (PI) impact on school performance. The hierarchical linear modeling method was applied to national Schools and Staffing Survey 2007–2008 data. They found that PI variables explained significant variance for the outcomes of (a) meeting adequate yearly progress (AYP) and (b) being free from sanctions. The authors also found that PI in (a) open houses, (b) parent–teacher conferences, and (c) special events were statistically significant positive predictors for meeting AYP, and that PI (a) on hiring teachers, (b) in open houses, and (c) in special events were statistically significant positive predictors for being free from sanctions. PI on hiring teachers seemed to be an important strategy in turning around schools. The similarity and difference in the sets of statistically significant predictors for both outcomes indicate that some PI strategies were effective for all schools while others were effective for particular situations. Implications and limitations of the study were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared a value-added approach to school accountability to the currently used metrics of accountability in California of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and Academic Performance Index (API). Five-year student panel data ( N = 53,733) from 29 elementary schools in a large California school district were used to address the research questions. Results show the strong relationship between AYP and API to student background measures. Schools with a majority of students from low socioeconomic background lagged far below schools from more affluent context. Results from the value-added approach however, showed a strongly diminished relationship to student background. Under this model, several schools from a low socioeconomic context can be seen as high achieving. Additionally, little evidence was found that high levels of student achievement negatively affect school value-added scores. Schools that enroll large proportions of advanced students, which often do not show positive growth across years are not penalized under a value-added approach. Recommendations for policy and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematics and special educators who taught in middle schools that had or had not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) were surveyed to compare their motivation across three domains on a Teacher Motivation Survey: Work Environment, Professional Identity, and Career Satisfaction. Educators from schools who had met AYP reported a significantly better Work Environment, also referred to as collective efficacy, than that of educators from schools that had not met AYP. There were no statistically significant differences for special or mathematics educators, whether from a school that had or had not met AYP. Other results from the Teacher Motivation Survey are presented, including qualitative analyses from open-ended queries in the survey. Implications for expanding this research as well as more immediate applications and actions for school administrators are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Student achievement and adequate yearly progress (AYP) have practitioners and researchers alike searching for strategies that will sustainable student academic growth. One area of study that may inform practitioners is furthering an understanding of student-teacher relationships for students of differing abilities and in different types of schools and situations. Purpose.The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the level of teacher influence perceived by fifth grade students from poverty and affluent schools in a rural midwestern community. Method. Research was conducted using a mixed-methods approach, with data collected from 24 semi-structured student interviews. Results. Results indicated similarities between the perceptions of teacher influence for students in poverty and affluent schools on school-related issues, as well as differences in perceptions of overall teacher influence on their lives, especially on non-school related issues. Conclusions. An implication of the study is that students in poverty tend to have weaker foundational relationships with parents and lack trust of adults in general, and therefore may not have the emotional and psychological building blocks to naturally form strong relationships with teachers. Recommendations include concentrated efforts in mentoring students of poverty, as well as promoting experiences with influential adults in order to build stronger positive relationships both in and out of school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the trade-offs that lie at the intersection of methodological requirements for causal effect studies and policies that affect how and to what extent schools engage in such studies. More specifically, current federal funding priorities encourage large-scale randomized studies of interventions in authentic settings. At the same time, policies that require schools to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) on state achievement tests make it risky for them to participate in trials of unproven interventions. Researchers attempting to balance rigorous study designs with the pressures felt by school districts must thoughtfully balance validity threats that are introduced in the negotiations with those districts. In this article, we draw on our experience conducting several randomized trials to discuss how these factors can be balanced. Specifically, we discuss necessary trade-offs in causal effects studies related to statistical power, measurement sensitivity, research ethics, minimizing bias, and addressing the interests of all stakeholders. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50: 1127-1141, 2013 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘The commander of our ship knows that the eyes and ears of the shipmates will provide valuable information; that when combined with the experience and knowledge of leadership will navigate the ship to clear waters and bountiful lands’ (Intertech, 2011). This analogy is reflective of the critical issue of meeting AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) measures because it has made it very difficult to lead, teach, and learn in schools today. Therefore, as the analogy of ships above demonstrates, in order to traverse the rough waters that are the pressures of the daunting AYP, all the members of the ship [school], or the stakeholders [leaders, teachers, students], need to work together to plan and tackle AYP. Using pertinent questions created after reviewing literature on how stakeholders feel about AYP, research was conducted via surveys with stakeholders at a New York City school building that showed all the necessary parties must work together to meet AYP successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School districts required under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to provide supplemental educational services (SES) to students in schools that are not making adequate yearly progress rely heavily on the private sector to offer choice in services. If the market does not drive out ineffective providers, students may not gain through SES participation. We estimate SES provider effects on students’ math and reading achievement in an urban school district that accounts for a significant share of participating students. We expect this research to inform education policy on the viability of policy interventions employing a private market model to improve public sector outcomes, including the reauthorization of Title I and district tutoring interventions under NCLB and after federal waivers from NCLB. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical comparison of two measures of school success - a value-added assessment system and the federally-mandated system of adequate yearly progress (AYP) - to identify highly effective urban schools in the USA and to explore the predictive relationship between evidence-based decision-making and school improvement. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 204 urban schools with 6,684 teachers and 149,665 students in grades 1 through 10 participated in the study. Data included teacher survey and students' standardized reading and math scores from 2002 through 2005. Analyses included factor analysis, growth modeling, and multiple logistic regression analyses. Findings - AYP status was strongly predicted by student and school demographics rather than by organizational climate and instructional practices. In contrast, school growth as measured by the district's value-added assessment system was unrelated to the demographics of the student population and related strongly to specific school practices. Specifically, high growth schools exhibited strong evidence-based decision-making practice where teachers used the district's benchmark assessment to reflect on instructional practice, used the core curriculum to guide instruction, and received frequent and high quality professional development on reading and math instruction. Practical implications - As states gravitate away from relying on AYP status as a measure of school success, districts will benefit from integrating measures of growth and using school data management systems that integrate benchmark assessment capabilities and provide teachers with the training and tools needed to use the information in their daily practice. Originality/value - This study provides a direct comparison of evaluation models using a variety of current methods within a single district that has played a central and highly-visible role in the education reform movement in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines which categories of the special education expenditures predict the adequate yearly progress (AYP) in reading and mathematics of special needs students in Ohio for the school year 2008-2009. The study includes 594 school districts and uses binary logistic regression. It shows that catastrophic expenditures has a small positive contribution to predict if students meet AYP in reading.

Background/Context: Recently emerged with the implementation of the California's Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 and the NCLB Act of 2001 is an increase in the number of education production function studies estimating the relationship between educational inputs and APIs. While the majority of past research on California school performance focuses on the impacts of different demographic measures and school resources on API scores at interschool level, few are done to study the effects of changes in similar factors on performance gain at intraschool level. Given that school performance is to be measured against oneself over time under California's current accountability system, the need is great to understand how school performance gain is affected by changes in student demographics and school characteristics within the school. Objective Of Study: The primary objective of this study is to investigate how APIs change with student demographics and school resources within individual schools. It is hypothesized that changes in factors contributing to interschool variations in API may also affect school API gains. In addition, the impacts of these variables on API gains of individual schools are then compared with results from prior cross-sectional studies to see if their effects on school performance differ between and within the schools. Research Design: Using the fixed effects regression a hypothetical causal relationship proposed between API gains and changes in nine student demographic variables, including seven racial/ethnic, free and reduced price meal and English language learning subgroups, plus seven school resource variables was estimated. Findings: School API gains appeared very sensitive to changes in all 16 variables. A 1% change in student demographics at school level was significant enough to change API by an average of -5.0077 to 1.2372 points, while changes in school resources by 1 unit was found to affect school API in the range of -0.0212 to 2.5013. Conclusions: While California places great responsibility on individual schools for student growth, little policy consideration is given to the likely effects of demographic and resource changes on school performance within the school. Moreover, this study's confirmation of the positive impact of teachers' advanced degree and full teaching credential on performance gains suggests that teacher qualifications may hold the key to improving student achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides ways as to how should reading be taught so that optimal learning takes place. On U.S. state level, it is noted that testing dominates ways of ascertaining student achievement in reading with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in which they are tested from grades 3 to 8 to determine promotion to the next higher grade level. It is stated that student results are used to evaluate in the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) wherein a school may be required to change a number of teachers.

Drawing on the theoretical lens of organizational learning, and utilizing the methodological approaches of social network and case-study analyses, our ex ploratorystudy examines whether schools under sanction exhibit the necessary processes, relationships, and social climates that support organizational learning and improvement. We also investigated the degree to which length of time under sanction affects the processes, relationships, and social climates of schools as well as the extent to which the relationships and climate of the larger district facilitate or hinder improvement in schools under sanction. Results indicate sparse ties within these schools, suggesting limited connectedness of staff with greater connectivity in the school that was newly placed on sanction. We also found school climates that did not support the type of collaboration necessary to bring about organizational learning and improvement. Finally, we found that a negative social climate and weak underlying relationships between district leaders inhibited the flow of ideas and practices district-wide, especially to these low-performing schools. These findings have important implications for school and district improvement under high-stakes accountability policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines high-stakes test scores in Washington, DC that are used to evaluate school quality for AYP purposes. On the basis of analyses of school scores in terms of subpopulations and neighborhood income, it is found that there are, district-wide, significant correlations between test results and students' economic status, special education status, and English language proficiency. Furthermore, there is evidence that schools with a majority of students considered to be economically disadvantaged experience more pervasive testing failure. These findings contradict the premise of NCLB that we ought to ignore differences in student factors when evaluating instructional quality. The article suggests that while test scores may provide useful information regarding a given school, they are not valid for accountability purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research suggests that the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is having an adverse effect on school music programs, particularly in schools that have not made "adequate yearly progress." In many instances, music programs are being reduced or eliminated, music teachers are being required to assist with the teaching of other subjects, academically low-achieving students are being precluded from participating in music, and the overall time allotted for music is being reduced. Because the arts are excluded from NCLB's list of tested subjects--that is, subjects for which schools are held accountable--music has been relegated to a noncore status, even though the law identifies the arts as a core academic subject. This article discusses changing paradigms within music education and how some music teachers are adapting to these shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predictive value of selection criteria on outcome data from two cohorts of students (Total N = 525) accepted to an urban magnet high school were evaluated. Regression analyses of typical screening variables (suspensions, absences, metropolitan achievement tests, middle school grade point averages [GPAs], Matrix Analogies test scores, and demographic variables) on graduation and magnet school GPA indicate that most of the selection variables did not have predictive value. The results of the regression analyses are discussed, as well as the implications for using selection criteria in urban “select” schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated African American fathers' involvement in the school-based lives of their elementary-aged children using the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model of parent involvement and Epstein's framework of involvement. Questionnaires were administered to 101 African American males in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Multiple regression analyses found predictive relationships between attitudes and behaviors that influence African American fathers' decisions to be involved and the types of involvement related to the child's schooling. Results revealed significant findings for (a) Invitations from Others and home-school communication, (b) Fathers' Life Context and school-based parent involvement, and (c) Fathers' Life Context and Invitations from Others and the overall parent involvement score. Implications for the field of family involvement are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented that discusses the author's experience of being accidentally placed in a special education high school science class as a result of the U.S. Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. Also noted are the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and its mandates of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), and the requirements that students with disabilities make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under NCLB.

There is widespread interest in using various statistical inference tools as a part of the evaluations for individual teachers and schools. Evaluation systems typically involve classifying hundreds or even thousands of teachers or schools according to their estimated performance. Many current evaluations are largely based on individual estimates and hypothesis tests, with little or no consideration of controlling simultaneous error rates and their potential effect on the whole educational evaluation system. In this article, we discuss controlling simultaneous errors in classification of teachers or schools by a decision-theoretic approach. We first develop a β-mixture model to estimate the local false discovery rate (local fdr) by the classic p-values from one-sided tests. We discuss a few decision rules based on standard loss functions. We also construct a controversy loss function to further accommodate the incoherence between effect size and local fdr. We apply the proposed approach to evaluate adequate yearly progress (AYP) in math proficiency of Pennsylvania schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban school leaders have challenges in continually improving student achievement and making change as quickly as needed. To address this problem 37 non-Title I principals completed an on-line survey, Principal's Actions Survey (PAS), based on the seven responsibilities for second order change identified by Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005). Principals were also asked what actions they took to improve student achievement and to which actions they attributed improvement in Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) subgroups. While principals indicated that they implemented the seven responsibilities, there was not a significant relationship between their overall PAS score and student achievement. The principals' responses were compared to results in an earlier study (La Cava, 2009) using the PAS scores of Title I urban elementary principals in the same geographic area and the comparison revealed that the Title I principals had a significantly higher PAS score and reported a significantly higher implementation of ideals/beliefs and monitoring/evaluating. Principals identified actions to which they attributed change in AYP subgroup performance aligned with principal action themes (Taylor, 2010a) of focusing the culture on learning, using data-based decision-making, personally investing in the change, and making decisions for student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law moves through the reauthorization process, it is important to understand the basic performance impacts of its central structure of accountability. In this paper, I examine the effects of failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under NCLB on subsequent student math and reading performance at the school level. Using panel data on Maryland elementary and middle schools from 2003 to 2009, I find that the scope of failure matters: Academic performance suffers in the short run in response to school-wide failure. However, schools that meet achievement targets for the aggregate student group, yet fail to meet at least one demographic subgroup''s target see between 3 and 6 percent more students in the failing subgroup score proficiently the following year, compared to if no accountability pressure were in place. I discuss alternative interpretations and policy implications of the main findings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) requires that all students, including those with disabilities, to make adequate yearly progress in the general education curriculum. To ensure that this occurs, effective practices are needed that fit the classroom needs of teachers and result in improved academic gains. One practice that shows promise as an effective classroom practice is guided notes. The purpose of this article is to examine research on the effectiveness of guided notes. For this review, 13 studies met inclusion criteria. Results indicate that using guided notes has a positive effective on student outcomes, as this practice has been shown to improve accuracy of note taking and student test scores. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for classroom practice and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from empirically based and theoretical literature in the field, this review examines Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the accountability provisions found in Title One of the NCLB legislation. States have the ability to statistically manipulate their AYP implementation, which may give a false impression to the public that AYP is a consistent measure of school effectiveness across the country. The first section identifies the measurement concerns with the implementation of AYP. The second section of the review deals with the benefits of AYP and the unintended consequences. The review also analyzes the complexities involved with establishing school accountability and the effective and ineffective provisions of the NCLB reform. Finally, this paper concludes with recommended areas of research for policymakers and educators alike who are interested in sustainable reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correlation and regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship of student mobility (as expressed by the school-level mobility rate) and first through fifth grade reading, language arts, and mathematics achievement for a statewide sample of 1062 elementary schools. Comparison data were analyzed to further investigate the relationship of school-level mobility rate and achievement for schools that met adequate yearly progress (AYP), a mandate of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and those that did not meet AYP. Findings indicated moderate, negative correlations between mobility rate and achievement across grade levels and subject areas; modest, negative correlations between achievement and mobility when school enrollment size or school poverty status were controlled; and, no significant differences in mobility rate, school size and poverty status for schools that met AYP when compared to schools that did not meet AYP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the conflict facing state education officials in reporting the adequate yearly progress results required by No Child Left Behind and how those challenges obfuscated the transmission of school choice information to parents. To comply with school accountability mandates, state education officials transformed test scores into school performance labels using complicated accountability systems. Then, to meet school choice requirements, state education officials were required to explain the results in a way that parents can understand. The conflict reveals a critical shortcoming of future education policies that link school accountability and choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors report insights, based on annual site visits to elementary and middle schools in three states from 2004 to 2006, into the incentive effect of the No Child Left Behind Act’s requirement that increasing percentages of students make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in every public school. They develop a framework, drawing on the physics concept of an attractor basin, to relate to theoretical literatures in economics and psychology the experiences that teachers, principals, and parents are having with the law. The authors anticipate—and find evidence of—very different incentive effects of the AYP requirements on schools of different initial achievement levels. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this research was to determine if the variables included in the Mississippi Report Card utilized for the calculation of AYP can be used to predict whether ornot Mississippi LEAs will attain adequate yearly progress in reading and math using the logistic regression technique. This study demonstrated that using the variables utilized for the calculation of AYP, a predictive model can be successfully utilized to classify Mississippi LEAs that will andwill not attain AYP in reading and math with an accuracy greater than that which can be attributed to chance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires states to measure the adequate yearly progress (AYP) of each public school and local educational agency (LEA) and to hold schools and LEAs accountable for failing to make AYP. Although it is required that science be assessed in at least three grades, the achievement results from science examinations are not required to be used when calculating AYP. A history of attempts to include science into AYP calculations and the role of science education within state accountability programs is provided here. An examination of National Assessment of Educational Progress science achievement data revealed that those states that opted to make schools accountable for students' science achievement had significantly higher fourth-grade mean scale scores when compared to states that did not include science in this manner. However, a significant difference was not found between these groups of states when analyzing eighth-grade data. Specific recommendations are provided to include science into accountability programs and to ameliorate existing requirements of NCLB. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed94:888–902, 2010 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested how well Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action predicted the attitudes and morale of urban teachers in high poverty schools under the pressures of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB forced local administrators to target schools that had not made adequately yearly progress (AYP) for two or more consecutive years. Teachers from 4 schools in an urban school district in Southern Illinois were surveyed under the scope of the theory of reasoned action. Quantitative and qualitative results were analyzed to determine that the pressure of NCLB adversely affected teachers' morale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current climate of high-stakes accountability created under the No Child Left Behind legislation, public schools, including charter schools, are under tremendous pressure to show consistent improvement in student achievement for all students. Students with disabilities present unique challenges to schools attempting to meet Adequate Yearly Progress. An accountability system that relies exclusively on students' ability to meet a fixed proficiency level is now under great scrutiny. Indeed, efforts to pilot an assessment system that measures individual students' growth are underway in a number of states. What can be learned from analyzing the achievement of students with disabilities using a growth model? This question became the focus of a study conducted in 4 urban charter schools where growth in reading and math achievement were examined for students with and without disabilities. The challenges with measuring growth in charter environments and implications for policies around accountability are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many wonder whether the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) will realize its goal of improving achievement among low-performing students in high-poverty schools. An examination of assumptions that underlie the accountability and school improvement aspects of this federal policy suggests that it will not. In spite of the coherence of the systemic reform framework in which NCLB is based, flawed rules for placing schools in improvement status, mismatches between actual needs and pre-prescribed service types, and major gaps in state and local capacity for designing and providing services mean that the implementation of school improvement may be insurmountably limited by the NCLB policy basis. Following this analysis, five recommendations for the next reauthorization of our nation's federal education policy are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: This study addresses recent changes in professional development policy, practice, and theory, in which professional development has increasingly become continual, collaborative, and school based. We consider both traditional notions of structure and content as well as context in developing a more complete understanding of professional development for today's teachers. Purpose: We conducted this study to understand more fully the delivery of school-based professional development within a high-stakes accountability context. We build on the accountability, professional development, and school context literature and expand the explanatory framework to include teacher experience with, and use of, school-based professional development in instructional practices. Research Design: We conducted case studies of professional development in three elementary schools with varying levels of pressure to make adequate yearly progress. Although these three school sites operated within the same federal, state, and district policy contexts, the school contexts varied considerably. We focused in particular on professional development around short constructed responses, a form of paragraph writing required for the state exam. Conclusions: We argue that school leadership, culture, and resources, as well as the structure and content of professional development, filter policy initiatives before they ultimately shape teacher learning experiences. Although high-stakes accountability policies increased the quantity of professional development, the quality of teacher learning opportunities depended on the context in which it was delivered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study illustrates the development and validation of an admission test, labeled as Performance Samples on Academic Tasks in Educational Sciences (PSAT-Ed), designed to assess samples of performance on academic tasks characteristic of those that would eventually be encountered by examinees in an Educational Sciences program. The test was based on one of Doyle''s (1983) categories of academic tasks, namely comprehension tasks. There were 108 examinees who completed the test consisting of nine comprehension tasks. Factor analysis indicated that the test is basically unidimensional. Furthermore, generalizability analysis indicated adequate reliability of the pass/fail decisions. Regression analysis then showed that the test significantly predicted later academic performance. The implications of using performance assessments such as PSAT-Ed in admission procedures are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This qualitative study examined perceptions of elementary school principals regarding the NQ Child Left Behind Act's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirement as it relates to the students with special needs subgroup. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with seven principals working in urban public schools. An interview schedule was created, and responses were analyzed using the constant comparative method (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003). Central findings included limited principal and teacher training; contradictions between AYP and Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals; complex, restrictive, and punitive nature of the AYP process; and insufficient school resources to achieve AYP requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which analyzes the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on the high school astronomy course in the U.S. The study surveyed high school astronomy teachers and used the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) of each school to examine the impact. Results show that 33% of the teachers believe that NCLB has negative effects citing that the Act focuses on Math and Language Arts only and that some states have few or no high school astronomy standards. NCLB also leads to fewer number of enrollees, course cancellation, and redeployment of teachers and certification issues. Meanwhile, respondents also cited positive effects such as the increased enrollees experienced by the course and the paradoxical increase in the amount of time spent on astronomy.

In this article, we will review several issues relating to the definition of "adequate yearly progress" (AYP), and its measurement, and offer some reasons why it may be prudent to separate the definition and measurement of AYP from its use in accountability. The design of accountability system includes general prescriptions about what data are relevant, policy questions that will guide the formulation of progress and productivity indicators based on students' longitudinal test scores, and procedures for using the resulting indicators in accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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To prevent summer achievement loss and help ensure Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for all students as mandated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), school districts are enacting summer enrichment programs. To determine effectiveness, additional student assessments are often required and instructional time is reduced. The goals of this study were to collect data within the schools existing assessment framework for program evaluation and to examine how the summer break impacts low-SES students' literacy scores (n = 236). Results indicated statistically significant summer improvement in writing for kindergarten, third-, and fourth-grade participants, and a statistically significant summer loss for first and second graders who did not attend. With some enhancements to administration and scoring, assessments that teachers already collect have the potential for credible program evaluation use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Percentage of Proficient Students (PPS) has become a ubiquitous statistic under the No Child Left Behind Act. This focus on proficiency has statistical and substantive costs. The author demonstrates that the PPS metric offers only limited and unrepresentative depictions of large-scale test score trends, gaps, and gap trends. The limitations are unpredictable, dramatic, and difficult to correct in the absence of other data. Interpretation of these depictions generally leads to incorrect or incomplete inferences about distributional change. The author shows how the statistical shortcomings of these depictions extend to shortcomings of policy, from exclusively encouraging score gains near the proficiency cut score to shortsighted comparisons of state and national testing results. The author proposes alternatives for large-scale score reporting and argues that a distribution-wide perspective on results is required for any serious analysis of test score data, including "growth"-related results under the recent Growth Model Pilot Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines an illuminative evaluation study of the work-based module in a vocational qualification in Animal Health offered for the paraveterinary industry by a distance education institution in South Africa. In illuminative evaluation, a programme is studied by qualitative methods to gain an in-depth understanding of its 'instructional system', its intended teaching arrangements, as well as its 'learning milieu', the actual sites of learning interaction. This results in a rich description of the programme that allows 'matches' and 'mismatches' between the instructional system and learning milieu to be uncovered. In this study, this approach provided useful information relevant to the quality assurance of the module, and also generated significant insights about the design and delivery of work-based learning in vocational qualifications in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Voices Inside Schools essay, Ron Sofo, a school district superintendent in western Pennsylvania, argues that schools need bottom-up solutions more than top-down mandates if they are to prepare all students to meet twenty-first-century work-force demands. Framing the discussion in terms of his district's' reform model -- the "New 4 Rs" of rigor, relevance, relationships, and reflection -- Sofo describes how one middle school developed a multifaceted, classroom-level intervention to support struggling learners. He then explains how that effort was scaled up to other grades and how insights from the initiative reverberated throughout the district. In telling his story, Sofo depicts the instructional reforms his staff undertook, the challenges they encountered, and the early indications of their success. His essay offers a window into the complex process of instructional reform at the classroom, school, and district levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how biology education is affected by the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). NCLB will require the development of standardized science tests to be factored into Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and a biology test required for grade promotion or graduation. The author suggests NCLB standards may be incompatible with inquiry-based instruction, may require changes to science curriculums, and will require biology teachers to be certified in biology.

The No Child Left Behind Act ( NCLB, 2002 ) establishes ambitious goals for increasing student learning and attaining equity in the distribution of student performance. Schools must assure that all students, including all significant subgroups, show adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward the goal of 100% proficiency by the year 2014. In this paper, we illustrate an alternative way of evaluating AYP that both emphasizes individual student growth over time and focuses on the distribution of student growth between performance subgroups. We do so through analyses of a longitudinal data set from an urban school district in the state of Washington. We also examine what these patterns tell us about schools that have been designated as meeting their AYP targets and those that have not. This alternative way of measuring AYP helps bring to light potentially important aspects of school performance that might be masked if we limit our focus to classifying schools based only on current AYP criteria. In particular, we are able to identify some schools meeting Washington state's AYP criteria in which above-average students are making substantial progress but below-average students making little to no progress. In contrast, other schools making AYP have below-average students making adequate progress but above-average students showing little gains. These contrasts raise questions about the meaning of “adequate” progress and to whom the notion of progress refers. We believe that closely examining the distribution of student progress may provide an important supplementary or alternative measure of AYP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]