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The goal of this study was to better understand the perspective of administrators on accountability and high stakes testing - what effect it has, if any, on his/her ability to serve as building administrator. Through a series of in-depth interviews and analysis of the perception of principals that lead schools that are on various levels of No Child Left Behind sanctions, this study will help the reader to understand how high stakes testing and accountability have impacted the leadership of the school principal. As presented by Allen (2008) are we focusing curriculum on preparation for high-stakes testing versus the philosophy of letting the high stakes testing evaluate the effectiveness of what is being taught as a method for supporting learning? From budgeting and organizational structure, to local curriculum and classroom instruction, efforts from external sources to ensure "accountability" in public schools have impacted virtually every aspect of school operations in America. No Child Left Behind is the initiative most often associated with the current accountability movement. While this study did not aim to measure the effectiveness of initiatives like No Child Left Behind, it did aim to analyze how these measures have impacted the role of the building principal. This study used a semi-structured interviews with eleven elementary school principals who lead schools on a sampling of the No Child Left Behind sanction continuum. In addition to interviews, pertinent documents and artifacts will be analyzed. The constant comparative method (Glaser & Stauss, 1967) will be used to analyze the data in terms of the study's two theoretical frameworks: Turbulence Theory (Gross, 1998) and Multiple Ethical Paradigm. / Educational Administration

This qualitative case study is designed to document the impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on career and technical education (CTE) in Pennsylvania. The research was conducted utilizing a qualitative case study protocol on two specific CTE Centers in the suburban Philadelphia area. The study centered on the following question. Has compliance to the accountability components of NCLB impacted the delivery of secondary education in CTE centers in the Pennsylvania? The study identified the changes that have occurred to selected CTE centers in the NCLB era. The assessment mandates of federal policy NCLB are narrowly focused in academic curriculum. The data used to answer the questions was accumulated through interviews with facility staff and the examination of archival records at the two specific centers to be researched. This study determined the impacts of NCLB on the facilities. The impacts included; decreased enrollment, increased academic and testing focus, reduction in technical budgets, increase in academic budgets, increase of special education students, staff changes for the increase of academic areas, morale issues, program changes, shifts in staff development, facility changes, negative publicity and public image due to academic reporting in the media. Questions for future study. What are the costs, financial and opportunity related to the reduction in CTE for increased academics? How many students have been denied the opportunity of attending or completing CTE programs? Why there isn't an alignment of NCLB and IDEA goals? What is the emotional impact to our students who keep getting told they are below basic? The conclusion from this study suggests that the public education system in this country needs to be more centered on actual student outcomes and preparing students with marketable skills and not based on the narrow focus of academic test scores. / Educational Leadership

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地球環境学) / 甲第24858号 / 地環博第241号 / 新制||地環||47(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院地球環境学舎地球環境学専攻 / (主査)教授 星野, 敏, 准教授 鬼塚, 健一郎, 准教授 落合, 知帆 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Global Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

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This is an ethnographic case study of a high poverty, ethnically diverse elementary school and the transformation that occurred there. The research describes what happened at the school within the context of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) during a nine-year period. The researcher documents the challenges faced, practices employed, and resources used at the school which has demographic and socioeconomic characteristics that are highly correlated with failing schools as defined by NCLB. The study used a qualitative research design in order to investigate the complexities and processes within a specific context and setting from multiple participants' frames of reference and from the researcher's perspective as a participant observer. The researcher analyzed the data, identified patterns, and categorized them into a set of assertions about this school. The discussion of the assertions and implications for future research is organized around the three research questions: 1) What were the challenges faced on the path to improved student academic achievement? 2) What practices were implemented during the process of improving student academic achievement? and 3) What resources were used during the process? / Ed. D.

In 2002, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation (U.S. Department of Education, 2002) was signed into law to help children in the United States receive quality education and learn the basic skills needed to be successful (Chadd & Drage, 2006). The central focus of this legislation is the core academic subjects, which are identified in the legislation as English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history and geography. Career and technical education (CTE) is not specifically mentioned in the legislation, which suggests that NCLB and the high-stakes testing associated with the accountability benchmarks could impact the future of CTE. Even though the primary expectation of high-stakes testing is to increase academic achievement in specific areas, many worthwhile school programs could suffer from unintended consequences of this high-stakes testing initiative. One of the strategies that many school districts are using to improve student performance in the core subject areas mentioned in the NCLB legislation is to devote more instructional time to the tested content subjects, such as reading, mathematics, social studies and science. Hence, the development of an unintended consequence of narrowing the curriculum offered to secondary students. As a result more CTE courses may be dropped from high school master schedules, which make the topic of specific concern for educational leaders (Gordon et al., 2007). School administrators and school leaders are concerned about school accreditation and student performance on state mandated tests. Therefore, examining career and technical education student performance on Virginia's Standards of Learning assessments and the graduation rates of CTE students would help to determine the impact of CTE enrollment on student achievement. As such, the impact of CTE on high-stakes testing in the Commonwealth of Virginia was the impetus for this topic of study. This purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the academic performance of CTE completers and non-CTE completers in the Commonwealth of Virginia on the Standards of Learning English and mathematics assessments, as well as cohort graduation rates. This quantitative study used descriptive statistics, such as mean and standard deviation, to determine if their pass rates and graduation rates differ during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 school years. A t-test was used to determine if they differ significantly from each other. Findings indicate that statistically (p<.05), CTE completers had higher mathematics and Grade 11 English reading pass rates from those of non-CTE completers. The CTE completers in this study also demonstrated higher cohort graduation rates. It appears that a concentration of career and technical education makes a positive impact the pass rates of students on the Standards of Learning assessments and cohort graduation rates. / Doctor of Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate turnaround reform by identifying student factors from the perspective of successful turnaround leaders in Virginia that hinder or aid the process and the supports in place to address learning issues. It was determined, through a literature review, that research focused on the school culture, leadership, teacher and parent factors concerning turnaround reform efforts, but there was little mention of students beyond the scores they produce on end-of-the-year standardized tests. The central research question investigated the student-related factors that impact a school's ability to increase academic achievement within the turnaround process. Interviews were conducted with four successful turnaround principals in Virginia. The results of the study indicated the student factors thought to impact learning were reading issues, teacher competency issues, students' personal needs, attendance issues, and discipline issues. While the first inclination of school leaders in a failing school may be to find the 'quick fix' to turn scores around, the principals in this study focused on three fundamental goals: get the students to read more, keep students in the classroom, and meet students' needs. Research in the area of turnaround strategies and implementation is useful for school boards and principals as they endeavor to raise the achievement of their students. This study of successful turnaround organizations focusing on how student-related factors impact academic performance would be beneficial in determining whether the organizational structure supports or hinders Priority School reform. This examination of how student-related factors contribute to an organization's capability to turn around low performance informs administrators and policy makers on strategies to overcome the learning barriers that may exist. / Ed. D.