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The purpose of the study was to determine the impact, if any, of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on middle level characteristics (e.g. interdisciplinary teams, common planning time, heterogeneous grouping, interdisciplinary curriculum, and advisory programming) in Indiana middle level schools as assessed by building principals, and if those characteristics have increased, decreased, or remained consistent as a result of NCLB. The research also included demographic information (e.g. age of respondents, years in administration, years in current position), university/certification training on the specific needs of young adolescents, current Adequate Yearly Progress status under NCLB, improvement in mathematics and/or language arts as measured by ISTEP, and adjustments to the daily schedule to provide more time for mathematics and/or language arts classes. In addition, respondents were surveyed regarding the increase in remediation classes, both in place of elective and core classes, and the expansion of grade retention.The population for the study included all Indiana public schools that include grade seven as reported by the 2006-2007 Indiana Department of Education School Directory. The sample did not include principals of Indiana Department of Correction schools or alternative schools. The survey instrument was mailed to 420 principals. At the close of the survey window, 274 surveys had been returned for a 65 % return rate.The findings indicate a greater level of implementation of middle level characteristics as a result of No Child Left Behind in all areas with the exception of wide participation in exploratory activities. Data also indicates a narrowing of the curriculum for young adolescent students as more students are removed from core classes and exploratory classes to spend extended time in mathematics and/or language arts classes, There has also been a dramatic increase in schools utilizing grade retention as a result of NCLB. / Department of Educational Leadership

Thesis (Ed.D.) -- California State University San Marcos ; University of California, San Diego, 2009. / Abstract: leaves viii-ix. Committee members: Robin Marion (chair), Jennifer Jeffries, Carolyn Hofstetter. Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-145) Also issued online

The involvement of low-income and minority parents in their children's education is an important issue. When parents are actively involved, children tend to perform well academically. If the Mong children in California are to have a greater chance of academic success, school principals need to collaborate with Mong parents. This study investigated the strategies elementary and middle school principals use to involve Mong parents in the education of their children, obstacles they encounter, and methods they use to evaluate whether their efforts have been effective. This study also examined whether there are any differences between the strategies principals use to involve Mong parents, obstacles they encounter, and methods they employ for evaluation, based on their demographic characteristics. Data were collected through the administration of a survey. Of the 113 surveys mailed to school principals throughout California, 31.9% were completed and returned. Upon receiving the surveys, frequencies, percentages, one-sample proportion tests, and independent-samples t tests were employed to analyze the data. The results demonstrated that there were 28 strategies school principals used to involve Mong parents (e.g., 97% encouraged Mong parents to participate in the parent organization(s) at school), eight obstacles they encountered (e.g., 86% encountered the Mong parents' lack of knowledge about the school system as an obstacle to encourage the involvement of Mong parents), and nine methods they employed to evaluate their efforts (e.g., 86% used informal discussions with teachers as a method for evaluation). In addition, some of the differences between the strategies school principals used, obstacles they encountered, and methods they employed based on their demographic characteristics were identified. It is recommended that other school principals use the strategies and methods found in this study to improve their relationship with Mong parents as educational partners. It is also recommended that school principals employ a variety of methods to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. To increase the academic achievement of Mong children, future research is needed.