This qualitative, phenomenological study examined teachers' experiences of the policy context of the fall of 2013 in the School District of Philadelphia. It was an extremely turbulent time resulting from a cascading policy environment with origins in federal government mandates. The study focused on ten teachers' perceptions of policy implementation in one comprehensive high school. Each teacher was interviewed once in the summer of 2017. State, local, and school specific policy forces were examined. Turbulence theory anchored the study. Teacher interview data were used to construct a turbulence gauge for the school, shedding light on teacher perceptions of the magnitude of disruption. Events from 1997 to 2013 in the School District of Philadelphia provided evidence that policy forces from different governance levels and various contextual factors cascaded upon each other yielding a crescendo of policy implementation experienced by teachers in the fall of 2013. Findings indicated that teachers' perceptions of policy implementation during the fall of 2013 were traumatic, chaotic, and compliance-driven. Teachers primarily held the district responsible for the state of affairs, then the principal, and lastly, the federal government. A finding of severe turbulence was assigned to the school reflecting teachers' perceptions of policy implementation. This study informs school leaders in domains related to policy implementation, strategic planning, and impacts on human capital. Future studies should examine how policy implementation in the NCLB era manufactures an up-tempo change culture which converges on teachers and impacts their perceptions of efficacy and capacity to deliver instruction. Key terms: policy implementation, NCLB, Turbulence Theory, Philadelphia, affective, school closings / 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

The purpose of this pilot and main study was to examine teachers' perceptions of the post No Child Left Behind (NCLB) elementary classroom, the perceived changes, and the implications for teachers' feelings of empowerment and student test anxiety. Previous investigators have agreed that the teacher's voice has been missing, but needed in test anxiety research. By engaging veteran teachers who had experience both before and after the enactment of NCLB in reflective conversation about their experiences, valuable information was gained concerning whether or not teachers felt empowered to perform their duties and what impact they perceived that high stakes standardized testing has had on both teacher anxiety and student test anxiety. This information could be used to inform educational practice and decision making. Triangulation of data sources included narrative data collected through face-to-face interviews with the teachers, the writing of field notes, interview process notes, and reflective journal entries from both the pilot and main studies. Three clear themes emerged that fit the division of the data by the research questions: change in the teachers' experiences, change in teaching vocabulary, and change in the students' experiences. These themes emerged through a process of categorical-content perspective analysis for coding the data and sorting it into themes. The Hermeneutic narrative analysis approach was used to analyze and identify the meaning of these related experiences and stories. The context of the pilot and main studies was elementary schools in a rural school system in the Southeastern United States. The participants were eleven elementary teachers from grades three through five with experience before and after NCLB enactment who taught core academic subjects. Member checks of the interview transcripts and data analysis enhanced the credibility of these reports. The analysis revealed both positive and negative perceptions of the changes in the classroom experience of these elementary teachers, their feelings of empowerment, and the impact of the changes on the test anxiety of their students. Participants across the pilot and main studies indicated that increased stress, pressure, frustration, and professional struggles have had a negative impact on teacher anxiety, teacher efficacy beliefs, and student test anxiety. / Ph. D.

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.

As part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act the federal government has added the requirement that all schools receiving Title I funds must have "highly qualified teachers" in every classroom. The term "highly qualified teacher" comes from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. What exactly is a "highly qualified" teacher? This part of the law is widely debated throughout the fifty states, but most agree that a teacher's subject-matter knowledge and experience result in increased student achievement.(Ansell& McCase, 2003) Some states have made progress in meeting the "highly qualified" requirement of NCLB. However, most states have merely established the criteria for determining if a teacher is highly qualified (Keller, 2003). The Education Trust has called for clarification from the Department of Education on the guidelines for the teacher quality provision of the law. Ten states have put into law all the requirements of the federal law, 22 have done some work toward that goal, and 18 states still have a long way to go (Keller). With so many states still grappling with compliance to the law, this study may well give policy makers in those states options that are being used in other states to consider. In addition, the study focuses on middle school and the possible impact these requirements will have on staffing of middle schools. Policy makers would do well to look at this aspect closely since middle school is often where education "loses" many students to dropping out. Also, the middle school is where the greatest number of non-certified teachers are working and where the greatest percentage (44%) of teachers are teaching without even a minor in the subject they teach (Ingersoll, 2002).

ABSTRACT SCHOOL SIZE, SCHOOL POVERTY AND SCHOOL-LEVEL MOBILITY: INTERACTIVE THREATS TO SCHOOL OUTCOMES by Sharon M. Thompson School-level mobility is the flow of students moving in and out of schools and has been defined as the rate of student entries and withdrawals per 100 students enrolled in a school during the year (Pike & Weisbender, 1988). Stakeholders report that school mobility disrupts the delivery, pace and effectiveness of classroom instruction, causes problems associated with classroom adjustment, and renders long-term negative effects on schools’ Adequate Yearly Progress rankings (Bruno & Isken, 1996; GAO, 2007; Kerbow, 1996; Lash & Kirkpatrick, 1990; Rhodes, 2005; Sanderson, 2003). Despite these findings very few studies have been conducted to determine the effects of mobility (particularly at the school level) and how it combines with other school-level factors such as school size and school poverty to create threats to positive school outcomes. Of the few relevant studies (e.g., Bourque, 2009; Rhodes, 2007), little attention has been given to understanding mobility’s relationships to achievement in the context of size of student enrollment, degree of poverty and longitudinal examination of achievement across multiple years. To address these gaps in the research literature, this study investigated the effects of school-level mobility on middle school reading achievement after controlling for the effects of school enrollment and poverty. Findings from regression analyses indicated significant relationships between school-level mobility and reading achievement over and beyond the relationships between school size or school-level poverty with achievement. A repeated measures procedure was used to analyze long-term effects on eighth grade reading achievement for Title I middle schools that focused on three, key variables: degree of school mobility (e.g., high versus low rate), size of student enrollment (e.g. big versus small school), test administration year(s) (e.g., 2006, 2007 and 2008) and interactions between these variables. There were significant main effects for school size, school-level mobility as well as for the year of test administration. Reading test scores rose significantly from one year to the next, big schools out-performed small schools , and highly mobile schools performed significantly lower than low mobile schools in reading achievement over a three-year period. No significant interaction effects were found. Results are discussed in terms of research and policy implications.

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires the use of scientifically based research (SBR) to guide the selection of appropriate educational interventions. Although NCLB does not stipulate the use of scientifically based research specific to special education, its provisions influence the education of all children. The implementation of scientifically based research is complex and relies on the knowledge and beliefs of practitioners in general and special education. In order to utilize scientifically based research, there is a need to know the level of knowledge and attitudes of practitioners relative to scientifically based research. This study examines the relationship between practitioners' beliefs and actions taken when implementing scientifically based research. The theoretical framework of Argyris and Schön (1974) provides a conceptual framework for the interpretation of the data. Connections between scientifically based research, school leadership, practitioners, and students, including those with disabilities, are also examined. Information and results extracted from survey responses of 403 middle school teachers from a large, urban school district in Texas shed light on how knowledge and beliefs can influence the understanding and the implementation of scientifically based interventions. The results indicate that teachers are somewhat knowledgeable about scientifically based research and interventions. However, their responses to three open-ended questions provide increased insight into their actual knowledge and understanding. The results indicate that initially teachers are in need of more knowledge about scientifically based research and what constitutes quality research. Their responses also indicate that teachers are lacking concise information that would help them understand what makes an effective scientifically based intervention. Teachers could through college or university classes be better prepared to use scientifically based interventions in the classroom. In the classroom, teachers need administrative support, continuous mentoring and coaching, and effective professional development in order to implement interventions with fidelity. Both general and special education teachers need increased knowledge to use scientifically based interventions effectively to increase student learning. / text

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.

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The purpose of the study was to compare the relationship between grade eight English language proficiency as measured by the ACCESS for ELL's assessment (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State for English Language Learners) and achievement test outcomes on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, a state mandated test. The ACCESS for ELLs is an annual, large-scale English language proficiency assessment given to kindergarten through grade twelve students who have been identified as English language learners. The ACCESS assessment is administered in English. Data from the Nation's Report Card (US. Department of National Center for Education Statistics, 2007 a & 2007 b) show that ELL students lag behind their English proficient peers on standardized tests of reading. The inclusion of English language learners in state assessments has prompted issues regarding the validity and equity of assessment practices (Abedi, 2004). The data for the study were gathered from an analyses of 8th grade ELL students' scores on the 2011 PSSA standardized assessment test administered in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania public school district. Data were also gathered from the analysis of 8th grade ELL assessments for the 2010-2011 school year. The study also assessed the predictive values of the criterion variables and the moderating effects of categorical variables by school: Ethnicity (Black, White, Hispanic), ELL status (English Language Learner), Students with Disabilities status (SWD), Socioeconomic status (SES), which contribute to Pennsylvania's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status. The study showed strong evidence that there is a significant relationship between the PSSA and language background as measured by the ACCESS assessment. Assessment. The implications of these data for the testing and assessment of ELL learners was discussed. / Educational Leadership