This research analyzes the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and the Florida A+ Plan, in an attempt to understand how people personally responded to the changes that occurred in a school setting as a result of the mandates of standardized testing. The focus will be on the reactions of the administration and the changes the administrative body of a high school was forced to make, and focus will be placed on teachers in regards to teacher focus, instruction, and their view of student perceptions of the testing, before during and after the test is administered. The focus of this research is Roberts High School, an inner-city high school that went from a failing school, with an "F" status for five consecutive years to that of a school with a "D" status-missing the "C" status by a mere five points. This dramatic change happened after the state of Florida took control of the operations of the school, as dictated by state mandates, due to the failing performance of the previous five years. This research is conducted in an attempt to understand what caused the significant gains as cited by the results of the testing, how teachers and administrators responded to and implemented these changes, and to see if the controversial standardized testing that is taking over the nation's schools is meeting the aim of No Child Left Behind-to close the achievement gap.

This study was designed to examine the ideal and actual teaching practices of sixth through eighth grade teachers in the Rankin County School District whose students take the Mississippi Curriculum Test in an effort to raise student achievement whose students take the Mississippi Curriculum Test. It was also designed to examine whether ideal or actual teaching practices align with constructivist or behaviorist teaching practices. Eighty nine sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teachers whose students took the Mississippi Curriculum in the Spring 2006 semester participated in the study. Teachers responded to two surveys whose questions were identical but from two different frames of reference: one with high stakes testing and one without high stakes testing. Teachers also responded to a third survey that asked for their perceptions of the Mississippi Curriculum Test. A two-way Measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), supported by a tukey post hoc comparison on the scale scores of the questionnaires were used to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between teachers? ideal and actual teaching practices to improve student achievement on the Mississippi Curriculum Test. Further findings from the study did conclude that there was a statistically significant difference in teachers use of behaviorist and constructivist instructional practices. Data obtained from the study indicated that there are significant differences in teachers actual and ideal instructional practices in relation to their behaviorist and constructivist instructional practices. Data obtained from the participants indicated that they use favor constructivist practices to raise student achievement on the Mississippi Curriculum Test.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

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

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 how online testing was implemented within a statewide high-stakes testing program in Virginia's public education system. Virginia's state assessments, known as the Standards of Learning (SOL) tests, were first administered to public school students in 1998 as paper-and-pencil, multiple-choice tests where students used a paper test booklet, an optical scan paper answer document, and a #2 pencil to complete each test. In 2000, at the direction of the Governor and General Assembly of the Commonwealth, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) introduced a technology initiative where, upon successful implementation, students would be able to complete their required SOL tests electronically via the Internet. The researcher, an employee of the VDOE with direct involvement in the implementation of online testing, conducted a participant-observer case study and interviewed individuals closely associated with the Virginia Web-based Standards of Learning Technology Initiative. The interview transcripts, project documents, and experiences of the researcher as a participant-observer were used as the primary data sources. Glaser and Strauss's (1967) constant comparative method with suggested procedural additions from Lincoln and Guba (1985) and Maykut and Morehouse (1994), was applied in data analysis. The findings are presented as a monograph with the history and implementation of Virginia's Web-based Standards of Learning Technology Initiative detailed by the participant-observer researcher. The desired outcomes of the researcher's efforts are (a) informing others of Virginia's experiences, including its successes and failures, (b) sharing the lessons learned throughout the implementation of Virginia's Web-based SOL Technology Initiative, and (c) identifying best practices that could be transferable to other state or local organizations attempting similar large-scale initiatives. / Ed. D.

Over the last several decades, the field of education has the seen the introduction and normalization of high-stakes standardized testing as part of the educational routine. With this introduction, questions concerning how these standardized tests have altered the educational landscape for teachers remain. 'Teaching to the test' has become a household phrase, one that can have both positive and negative undertones. To better understand how teachers negotiate the influences over their curricular and instructional decisions requires the studying of both their planning and implementation processes as well as how they interact with the official curriculum. Guiding this investigation are two comprehensive questions. How does a veteran teacher's understanding of historical significance impact how they ascribe value to the purpose, nature and utility of history as a school discipline over time and space? How tightly aligned are a veteran teacher's conceptions and perceptions of the purpose, nature and utility of history as a school subject with their observed pedagogical practices? This study sought to investigate the various influences over a teachers' curricular and instructional decision-making by building on previous research. Through interviews, surveys, classroom observations, and collecting documents, I was able to capture the planning and implementation routines of a veteran teacher. Through these methods, it was discovered that the multitude of influences were much more fluid and intertwined than first thought. This study sheds light on the web of influences teachers have to operate in on a daily basis. / Ph. D. / Over the last several decades, the field of education has the seen the introduction and normalization of high-stakes standardized testing as part of the educational routine. With this introduction, questions concerning how these standardized tests have altered the educational landscape for teachers remain. “Teaching to the test” has become a household phrase, one that can have both positive and negative undertones. In an attempt to better understand how teachers determine what is important enough to teach, this study investigates the planning and implementation processes of a veteran teacher. More specifically, this study sought to investigate the various influences over a teachers’ curricular and instructional decision-making by building on previous research. Within a high-stakes testing environment, is it as simple as “teaching to the test?” Through interviews, surveys, classroom observations, and collecting documents, I was able to capture the planning and implementation routines of a veteran teacher. Through these methods, it was discovered that the multitude of influences were much more fluid and intertwined than first thought. This study sheds light on the web of influences teachers have to operate in on a daily basis.