While there is ample research theorizing reasons for so-called "achievement gaps" between African American and White students on standardized tests, few studies explore African Americans' perceptions of the impact these tests have on overall education. Through interviews with six current students attending Hillsborough County public high schools, one recent graduate of a Hillsborough County high school, and two parents of students in Hillsborough County public schools, this research study probes participants' perceptions of the impact of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) on their high school experiences. All participants in the study identified as African American or Black. Through archival research and participant observation with the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope (TBAH), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing leadership, behavioral, and academic skills for inner-city middle and high school students, this study also investigates the role of community-based organizations in facilitating the successful navigation of academic and bureaucratic challenges for African American students and parents in the quest for academic success at and beyond the high school level in Hillsborough County. The consequences of standardized testing in the Hillsborough County schools participants have attended reach beyond individuals' successful graduation, affecting course options, academic tracking, school structure, and school climate. Here I argue that standardized testing is another method of academic tracking, and school-wide penalties and rewards associated with disaggregated standardized test scores impact student and parent perceptions of school climate and school-family relationship.

The reauthorized No Child Left Behind requirement for annual state-mandated student examinations led some teachers to believe that they must teach solely for test preparation. This case study explored teachers' perceptions of preparing students for the state-mandated tests at an economically disadvantaged high school in the southeastern United States. Ten teachers were interviewed to understand their perceptions of 'teaching to the test,' feelings of pressure and stress, motivation to teach, and recommendations for integration of creative teaching strategies. The researcher collected demographic data, such as gender, grades taught, and subjects taught, and manually calculated frequencies and percentages. With an electronic software program for qualitative data management, the researcher analyzed the data manually by iterative review of the interview transcripts for codes and themes. Teachers' perceptions of standardized test preparation were both positive and negative. Preparation fostered discipline and content mastery but inhibited teacher creativity and stressed students. Teachers experienced pressure and stress with unhealthy physical reactions, lack of competence, and responsibility to students. Teachers' motivations were both positive and negative. Some experienced increased self-efficacy, and other experienced decreased motivation; commitment to students; and inadequate institutional support. Teachers recommended incorporation of creative teaching strategies and professional development (PD) programs. Findings led to a PD for addressing the problems and creative strategies (e.g., reciprocal teaching, graphic organizers). Findings may help teachers reduce negative feelings toward standardized test preparation and use innovative strategies for students' more effective learning.

The applied dissertation was designed to investigate the three models of grade span configurations of sixth grade and the effects grade span configuration has on results of the standardized achievement scores of sixth grade students in private, Florida schools. Studies that have been conducted on sixth grade students and grade span configuration have provided mixed results on the impact of standardized scores. Exploration of the topic that supports the connection is outdated and current research has yet to examine the impact on students who are in private, parochial schools in Florida. The use of data from the TerraNova, Third Edition on grade span configuration has not been evaluated. The correlation between grade span configuration and the results on the sixth grade student standardized achievement scores examines the following three models: kindergarten to sixth grade model (K6), kindergarten to eighth grade model (K8), and the sixth to eighth grade model (6-8, MS). The researcher will use one standardized collection instrument to obtain data in the study and will collect data from Florida schools that administer the TerraNova, Third Edition to sixth grade students in the spring of 2015. Three grade span configuration models will be evaluated by the mean score of sixth grade student performance on the test. Mean scores will be requested by the researcher from the school administrators of private schools in Florida.

This study uses the state report cards published by the Tennessee Department of Education to compare the academic achievement grades to the value-added grades to determine if there is a relationship between the two grading systems. The data used for this study are from the 2001, 2002, and the 2003 state report cards published for each school using the five subject areas of reading, language, math, science, and social studies. One thousand sixty schools in the state of Tennessee were for this study. The socioeconomic status (SES) of the schools was used as a covariate to determine if the socioeconomic status of the school has an effect on the relationship between achievement grades and value-added grades on the state report card. Schools were grouped into one of three categories. Schools with 0 – 33% of their students eligible for free/reduced meals were categorized as an upper SES school. Schools with 34-66% of their students eligible for free/reduced meals were categorized as a middle SES school, and schools with 67-100% of their students eligible for free/reduced meals were categorized as a lower SES school. The data used to determine the grades on the report card are based upon the results of the state mandated achievement tests given in the state of Tennessee. The 3 cumulative three year averages of the normal curve equivalent scores (NCEs) are used to determine the achievement grades while the cumulative three-year value-added percentages are used to determine the value-added grades on the state report cards. There was a statistically significant relationship between academic achievement grades and value-added grades in math, language, and social studies on the 2001, 2002, and 2003 state report cards. In reading, the 2002 state report card did not show a significant relationship between the grades while the 2001 and 2003 report cards did indicate a significant relationship. In science, the 2001 and 2003 report cards did not indicate a significant relationship between achievement and value-added grades while the 2002 report card did indicate a significant relationship between the grades.

The purpose of this study was to determine if an association exists between preschool experience and student achievement in third grade as reported by criterion referenced Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) scores in four schools in northeast Tennessee with at least 80% of its students receiving free or reduced lunch. The variable under study was the presence and type of preschool experience. Descriptive statistics were employed to present school demographic data. A causal comparative approach utilizing convenience sampling was the foundation for this study. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to investigate differences in achievement as categorized by varying preschool experiences. An analysis of the results indicated mixed results. A significant difference was found only in the content area of math. Post hoc tests revealed a difference that favored students with private preschool experience as opposed to state- or federally-funded preschool experience. No significant differences were found in any other content area. A two-way analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the interaction between preschool experience and gender on reading/language arts, math, science, and social studies scale scores. No significance was found to indicate an interaction between preschool experience and gender. Cross-tabulated tables were also used to determine the percentage of students in each preschool category that achieved advanced, proficient, or below proficient status as determined by Tennessee state guidelines. The highest percentages of students achieving advanced status in each content area were those with private preschool experience.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of standardized test scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) of students enrolled in Unicoi County Schools, that offers a universal breakfast program, compared with mean scores of students in both public and private schools in the state of Tennessee during the 2007-2008 school year. Test results of 404 Unicoi County third and fourth graders were examined with only the mathematics and reading and language arts sections of the TCAP used in this research. The State means were calculated using data collected from TCAP mathematics and reading and language arts tests in 222 public and private school systems across Tennessee. The concept that nutrition, eating breakfast in particular, played an integral role in cognition has been considered for years. Student assessments are now measured using standardized tests. A school system that featured a universal breakfast program and TCAP scores provided a connection between the 2 areas. Four research questions guided the study. One null hypothesis was generated from each of these questions for a total of 4 null hypotheses. Four one-sample t tests were computed to evaluate the data. The results of the one-sample t tests were that there were no statistically significant differences between the Unicoi County and State TCAP score means in third grade mathematics and reading and language arts. However, there was a statistically significant increase between the Unicoi County and State TCAP score means in fourth grade mathematics and reading and language arts. From the results of the study, it was suggested that school administrators consider implementing school breakfast and universal breakfast programs.

The purpose of this study was to determine if students scored significantly higher on the ACT after taking precalculus than they had scored on the ACT prior to taking precalculus. The researcher investigated whether there is an increase, not only in ACT composite scores, but also in ACT math subtest scores after high school students completed a precalculus course. The researcher also investigated differences regarding gender, socio-economic status, and race. Five Tennessee high schools from four counties and five different districts were used in this study. The study involved 208 participants and covered a span of three years. The findings indicated a significant difference in mean ACT composite and mathematics subtest scores for students after completing precalculus. The data were also compared by gender, race, and socioeconomic status for students who completed precalculus. The data indicated a significant difference in ACT composite scores for students completing a precalculus course regardless of gender or socioeconomic status.

The present study was conducted to investigate two English Language Learner programs in one Florida county and their implications for student achievement. The literature review showed that, as students progress through the educational system, the academic content becomes more and more abstract, forcing students to rely more heavily on their oral and written communication skills in English. Significant achievement gaps, sometimes extremely large, were also identified between English-only students and English Language Learner students. One study highlighted a 46% gap on the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). The present study was designed to investigate 23 middle schools in one Florida county. The focus of the study was on two English Language Learner programs: Language Arts/ESOL and One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education. A total of 13 schools were identified that had implemented the Language Arts/ESOL program, and 10 middle schools were identified that had implemented the One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education program. The 2007 FCAT reading mean scale scores for the schools' 7th-grade English Language Learners were compared to those of standard curriculum students. For both English Language Learner programs, a statistical significance was found using t-tests. In addition, FCAT reading Levels 1-5 were investigated. At FCAT Levels 1-3, the Language Arts/ESOL program out-performed the One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education program. At FCAT Levels 4 and 5, the One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education program out-performed the Language Arts/ESOL program.

[pt] Este artigo estuda disparidades de gênero no desempenho e na aversão ao risco sob competição. Utilizamos dados do Exame Anpec, exame de seleção nacional de candidatos aos cursos de mestrado (e doutorado) em Economia no Brasil. Este exame específico atribui pontos negativos a respostas incorretas, o que pode fazer com que os alunos mais avessos ao risco deixem mais perguntas sem resposta e possivelmente obtenham notas mais baixas. Mostramos que as mulheres tendem a omitir mais perguntas em comparação com os homens e estão consistentemente sub-representadas no topo dos rankings. Utilizando o Modelo Rasch derivamos probabilidades de cada aluno responder cada questão corretamente e mostramos que tanto homens como mulheres se desviam da estratégia ótima que maximiza a nota esperada. Investigamos também o cenário onde todos os alunos chutam as questões anteriormente deixadas em branco, após recalcular as notas esperadas e novas classificações neste cenário mostramos que em média o efeito para as mulheres que já estavam no topo da distribuição é muito pequeno, e as mulheres que estavam com classificação mais baixa se beneficiam mais. / [en] This paper studies gender disparities in performance and risk aversion under competition. We use data from the Anpec Exam, the Brazilian national exam for students applying for Graduate Programs in Economics. This particular exam assigns negative points to incorrect answers, which could lead to the more risk-averse students leaving more questions unanswered and possibly getting lower grades. We show that women tend to omit more questions compared to men and are consistently under represented at the top of the rankings. Using the Rasch Model we derive probabilities of answering each question correctly for each student and show that both men and women deviate from the optimal strategy that maximizes their expected score. We also investigate the scenario where all students guess the questions previously left unanswered, after recalculating the expected scores and new rankings in this scenario we find that on average the effect for women that were already at the top of the distribution is very small, and women that were closer to the bottom of the ranking benefit more.

Block scheduling is a newer school scheduling structure, first appearing at the middle school level in the mid-1990's (Juvonen, Le, Kagenoff, Augustine, & Constant, 2004). Middle school advocates have supported block scheduling because research shows it meets the social-emotional and developmental needs of middle school children. Yet, little research on the impact of block scheduling on middle school standardized test scores currently exists. Using a sample of classrooms from a suburban public school in New Jersey, this study sought to compare standardized test scores in math, language arts literacy, and science of 8th grade students before and after the implementation of the block schedule. Twenty-seven one-way ANOVAs (accounting for subject, gender, and special education population) were conducted to assess for significant differences between testing years. Post hoc analyses were also conducted when differences were found. Overall, the study found no significant differences in standardized test scores in the area of science. A planned comparison of pre and post block scheduling standardized test scores revealed statistically significant decreases in mathematics and language arts literacy scores, but a second planned comparison which used data from fewer years revealed only significant decreases in language arts literacy scores which is believed to be a result of the 50% decrease in language arts literacy class time. Varied results by gender were also found. In contrast, special education students' test scores remained the same in all content areas over the seven years. While there are many limitations to the generalizability of these results, it is clear that further research on block scheduling at the middle school level could inform educational practice in these times of high stakes testing. / School Psychology