abstract: Much research has been conducted regarding the current state of public education within the United States. Very little of that research bodes well for the system’s current circumstances or for the direction our system is headed. The debate stems around two opposing ideologies. One believes that there needs to be more accountability via high-stakes testing and the continuum of the status quo that the country has maintained for centuries, regardless of the effect it may be having on the students’ well-being. While the opposing view sees high-stakes testing as a contributing factor to the seemingly unproductive, chaotic, and even harmful conundrum of bias and hegemony that shows a positive correlation of deleterious effects to student well-being. Although this paper references the research of highly esteemed scholars, it asserts that the voices of those that are most relegated to that of undervalued and ignored are precisely the voices that need to be gleaned most relevant. This paper’s purpose is to hear what the ‘experts’ in the field of education, the students themselves, have to say. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social and Cultural Pedagogy 2018

abstract: This study examined the intended and unintended consequences associated with the Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) as perceived and experienced by teachers in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). To evaluate teacher effectiveness, HISD is using EVAAS for high-stakes consequences more than any other district or state in the country. A large-scale electronic survey was used to investigate the model's reliability and validity; to determine whether teachers used the EVAAS data in formative ways as intended; to gather teachers' opinions on EVAAS's claimed benefits and statements; and to understand the unintended consequences that occurred as a result of EVAAS use in HISD. Mixed methods data collection and analyses were used to present the findings in user-friendly ways, particularly when using the words and experiences of the teachers themselves. Results revealed that the reliability of the EVAAS model produced split and inconsistent results among teacher participants, and teachers indicated that students biased the EVAAS results. The majority of teachers did not report similar EVAAS and principal observation scores, reducing the criterion-related validity of both measures of teacher quality. Teachers revealed discrepancies in the distribution of EVAAS reports, the awareness of trainings offered, and among principals' understanding of EVAAS across the district. This resulted in an underwhelming number of teachers who reportedly used EVAAS data for formative purposes. Teachers disagreed with EVAAS marketing claims, implying the majority did not believe EVAAS worked as intended and promoted. Additionally, many unintended consequences associated with the high-stakes use of EVAAS emerged through teachers' responses, which revealed among others that teachers felt heightened pressure and competition, which reduced morale and collaboration, and encouraged cheating or teaching to the test in attempt to raise EVAAS scores. This study is one of the first to investigate how the EVAAS model works in practice and provides a glimpse of whether value-added models might produce desired outcomes and encourage best teacher practices. This is information of which policymakers, researchers, and districts should be aware and consider when implementing the EVAAS, or any value-added model for teacher evaluation, as many of the reported issues are not specific to the EVAAS model. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2012

This qualitative multi-method study investigates potential construct-related outcomes of using a high-stakes standardized literacy test that is based on a limited construct. This study presents comprehensive construct and outcomes analyses of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), as one example of a high-stakes literacy testing program, focusing on critical literacies in particular. Critical literacies are shown to be underrepresented in the test’s construct sample despite being valued in the relevant educational domain being measured. The two central research questions shaping this study are as follows: (1) What are students learning about critical literacies in an educational context that includes the OSSLT?; (2) How do students perceive the OSSLT to be contributing to, and/or hindering, their development of critical literacy skills? This study is structured as an arts-informed multiple case study. Participants included ten Grade 11 and 12 students who contributed to the study through multiple research activities, including interviews and group conversations, questionnaires, activity handouts, as well as journaling, photography, and graffiti walls activities. The findings of the outcomes analysis (1) identify limitations with regards to students’ understandings of literacy, including being unfamiliar with a concept of critical literacies; (2) demonstrate that students align their understandings of literacies with the reading and writing skills that are valued on the high-stakes literacy test while also wondering what else might count as literacy; and (3) suggest that the OSSLT is perceived by students to be influencing their literate identities, their relationships with literacies, and their learning trajectories. As an original contribution to knowledge, this study demonstrates how an in-depth analysis of a test’s literacy construct can be performed, and this study presents a qualitative multi-method methodology for conducting research into the outcomes of literacy education in an educational context that includes a high-stakes literacy test.

The purpose of my study is to explore the stories of the ethical tensions K-12 educational administrators navigate when implementing high-stakes assessment policy in a culture of measurement during testing season. Some educational leaders, in particular K-12 school and district administrators, struggle with the tensions existing between their own personal belief systems, organizational dilemmas, and the requirements of enacting high-stakes assessment policies. Using narrative inquiry as method, I collected and analyzed four school administrators selected who expressed frustration with enacting high-stakes assessment policies. The participants include a middle principal, a middle school assistant principal, a high school assistant principal, and a middle school testing administrator. Through their stories, I raise questions about the purpose of high-stakes assessment and the impact of policies at the implementation level and the impact of policies on the daily practices of school administrators. I illustrate how school administrators negotiate these tensions or have resigned themselves to accept what they cannot change. The findings include the reallocation of capital and human resources during testing season and the abundant loss of instructional time. Additional findings comprise of the juxtaposition between compliance and agency school administrators’ experience, and the nuanced ways schools and districts work to game the system of accountability. Findings also involve how educational leaders work within the boundaries of high-stakes assessment, and at times, find small spaces to resist high-stakes assessment implementation. The study shines light on how they accept the differences between their own personal ethics and the requirements of their jobs. Implications include the need for more scholarship surrounding the allocation and reallocation of resources in public schools during testing season, and the impact high-stakes assessment implementation has on vulnerable populations of students, especially students with disabilities, and students who are English language learners. The participants' stories revealed aspects of high-stakes assessment policy implementation, which impact the lives of students and educators that have not been explored in great depth. I argue for centering ethical leadership and the need for training and socializing school leaders to be social justice advocates for their students even while they are also implicated in systems of accountability. Finally, I also present the inquiry as a pilgrimage metaphor as journey toward not only understanding how school leaders grappled with ethical dilemmas associated with implementing high-stakes assessment in a culture of measurement during testing season, but also a journey to understand my place, as a school administrator, in this ethical conundrum.

National and state-based assessments have been a common practice for the past several decades. These assessments often come with high-stake consequences for students and schools, which tends towards the creation of a test-centric environment where educators prioritize test-based instruction to prepare students to be successful on those assessments. The over-arching purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how mandated high-stakes testing influences educators specifically within a complex system by first seeking to identify ways educators at different levels within the system—the classroom, campus, and district levels—perceive these testing influences. This study is based on complexity theory with a particular focus on complex adaptive systems (CAS) and frameworks from human systems dynamics (HSD), which helped to identify key tensions within a complex learning ecology. This study used thematic analysis of interview data from the classroom, campus, and district levels. Analysis also included mapping the emergent themes and patterns onto a CAS model for each level. Findings revealed a tension between a complicated, linear approach and a complex approach to curricular and instructional decisions that is moving those decisions ever closer to standardization. This study includes implications and recommendations for balancing these tensions for a healthy, complex learning ecology.

The problem addressed by this study was the relationship created by mandated English language curricula and state standardized tests and students' perceived levels of self-efficacy. Vygotsky's theories on thought and language development and Bandura's theories on self-efficacy were used as a theoretical lens for this study. The research question concerned the relationships between students' perceived levels of self-efficacy, gender, age, and grade point average (GPA) and language development when learning within a standards-based test-driven environment. The ELA portion of the State High School Exit Exam (SHEE) generated language development scores. The General Self Efficacy (GSE) scale was the survey instrument used for this study. The GSE is a 10-item scale, and each item is ranked on a 4-point scale (1-Not at All True, 4- Exactly True). The scores for each item are then added together for a total score between 10-40. Cumulative GPA, student age, gender, and language proficiency scores from the ELA portion of the SHEE were used as variables in this study. Language proficiency scores were used as a progress indicator for students' language development. Language proficiency (ELA SHEE scores) was measured an interval scale between 275-450 (350 = passing, 382 = proficient, 405 = advanced). A multiway ANOVA was conducted. According to study results, there was not a statistically significant relationship between students' perceived levels of self-efficacy, gender, age, and GPA and language development when learning within a standards-based test-driven environment. There are aspects of recent curriculum trends that seem to be helping students reach state proficiency goals while also building personal levels of self-efficacy.

Teachers in a New Jersey suburban high school noticed an increase in students' stress and anxiety associated with high-stakes testing, and they were struggling to find strategies and interventions to help. The purpose of this study was to investigate high school English and mathematics teachers' current knowledge, experiences, and perceptions about students' preparation and responses to high-stakes testing and to explore teachers' perceptions about teaching strategies they needed to reduce student test anxiety. Liebert and Morris's bidimensional components of anxiety, emotionality, and worry form the conceptual framework that guided this study. The research questions focused on teachers' perceptions about students' high-stakes testing readiness, students' testing behaviors, and teachers' training needs. A case study design was used to capture the insights of 12 high school English and math teachers through semistructured interviews and a focus group interview; a purposeful sampling process was used to select the participants. Emergent themes were identified through open coding, and the findings were developed and checked for trustworthiness through member checking, rich descriptions, and researcher reflexivity. The findings revealed that teachers recognize that students react in different ways to testing, that students who are prepared for the tests demonstrate greater confidence and less anxiety, and that teachers want more professional development specific to reducing students' anxiety and stress. A professional development project was created to provide teachers with strategies and approaches to prepare students for high-stress testing situations. This study has implications for positive social change by creating a structure to provide teachers with strategies for managing students' test anxiety.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) brought high-stakes testing to the forefront of American public education. With its call for teachers and schools to be accountable for academic performance, NCLB has focused the spotlight on yearly progress, as measured by students' test scores. Issues associated with this charge include the questionable reliability of tests, the variation evident in state standards, and the consequences an emphasis on high-stakes testing may have on teaching and learning in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to investigate the consequences of high-stakes testing on teaching and learning in public elementary schools in Utah from the vantage point of school principals. Although policymakers assume a direct correlation between increased test scores and academic achievement, this study went beyond test scores. Analysis of semi-structured interviews with 12 principals, selected through purposive sampling from both Title 1 and non-Title 1 schools, revealed both positive and negative themes. Principals appreciated the focus and collaboration that NCLB testing encourages among teachers, but they disliked the impact of poor test scores on faculty morale. Unlike respondents in previous studies, principals did not feel that NCLB diminished creativity in the classroom; they did worry, however, about the validity of scores as a measure of student learning, particularly in the case of a one-time, year-end test.

Teachers work within a context of competing stories, including pressures regarding English language learners (ELLs), a deficit view of teachers, and high-stakes testing and accountability, all of which impact teachers' emotions. Within this context, teachers prioritize what is most important to them. This self-study using narrative inquiry methods lays the author's stories of teaching alongside those of two other teachers of ELLs. The author conducted a series of interviews with the participants, analyzed the interviews for themes and tensions, negotiated meaning with participants, and created interim texts to represent the participants' priorities in teaching ELLs. Three teachers' priorities, as indicated by their stories of teaching, are relationships with students, and helping students continue to progress. Implications include the importance of teachers' understanding of their own priorities, which helps alleviate some of the pressure that teachers are under, positively impacting students as well. Recommended research includes future research on teachers' priorities regarding their ELL students, and further self-studies with narrative inquiry methods.

This study sought to uncover how the annual Florida School Report Card influences secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers’ self-efficacy and perceptions of student writing. The study’s findings suggested that ELA teachers’ self-efficacy may be indirectly influenced by the School Report Card. The participants in this study suggested that they do not feel totally capable of applying the information learned from the School Report Card to their own classrooms. The teachers who participated in the study also reported that they have low outcome expectations when interacting with the School Report Card. They do not believe that their actions can influence the School Report Card, and suggested that they see the school grade as a moving target with changing rules they may not be able to keep up with. The School Report Card was not suggested to directly impact the participants’ perceptions of student writing. Instead, the data suggested that a variety of internal and external factors influence the way teachers perceive their students’ writing quality. Finally, most of the participants suggested that they view the school grade as an unfair measure of achievement, and a tool that does not take into account the quality of the learning in the school and represents the school poorly. Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was used to situate these findings and gain a better understanding of how the School Report Card functions as a tool for teachers and administrators.