There is a perceived crisis concerning public education in the United States. This has led to an increase in the use of standardized tests for the purpose of measuring school effectiveness. However, the use of standardized tests for this purpose is problematic. Among these problems is the concern that standardized tests may not measure what parents believe are the most important attributes of an effective school. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of empirical evidence regarding parent beliefs in this area. The purpose of this research was to answer the following four questions. 1. What do parents of school-aged children in Utah feel are the most important attributes of an effective school? 2. Are there statistical and practical differences between levels of respondents' association with public schools and their responses to question #1? 3. Are there statistical and practical differences between levels of respondents' level of education and their responses to question #1? 4. Are there statistical and practical significant differences between respondents' gender and their responses to research question #1? A mail survey of 800 randomly selected Utah parents of school-aged children was conducted to address these questions. To answer research question #1, the method of paired comparisons was used to derive a parent ranking of eight attributes of an effective school. To answer research questions #2, #3, and #4, a chi-square analysis of association was conducted. The practical significance of these results was assessed through the calculation of the effect size w. In total, 199 usable surveys were returned. Results indicated that parents believed that providing students with a balanced curriculum that encourages a wide range of learning experiences and providing students with the skills necessary to become a productive and useful citizen were more important attributes of an effective school than providing students with a good understanding of basic academic skills. This result is important because it indicates parent support for two attributes of an effective school-wide range of learning experiences and skills to become a productive and useful citizen-that are difficult to measure through the use of standardized tests.

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This study evaluated after school program participation on student academic achievement as a way of helping schools meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act. After school programs were divided into academic after school programs and traditional after school programs. Student achievement was measured through Criterion Referenced Tests in Language Arts and Mathematics. This study took place in a small urban school district located in the Intermountain West. Students in after school programs were matched with students not participating in the programs on several background characteristics including socioeconomic status, English language proficiency status, school area, race, gender, and guardianship. Hierarchical cross-classified modeling was then used to assess the impact of participation in an after school program on student test scores. This study found that participation in an after school program was associated with a decrease in Language Arts test scores and found no difference on Mathematics test scores. As well, academic after school program participants test scores were not considerably different from traditional program participants. This study shows that after school programs are not an effective way at raising student achievement and thus helping schools to meet AYP.

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions that central Florida public high school principals had regarding the Florida School Indicators Report (FSIR) and its usefulness. The FSIR, published by the Florida Education, was designed to be a comprehensive, single source document for parents, lawmakers, and school administrators to compare key performance indicators to similar schools or districts state wide. It provided information on 74 different indicators of school or district performance. A total of 70 public high school principals from 13 central Florida school districts responded to a postal survey and provided their perceptions regarding the importance of indicators in the FSIR, how they used the FSIR at their schools, and what barriers they felt affected the ability of their administrative staffs to collect and analyze data on the FSIR indicators. Eighteen of the 70 principals participated in follow-up telephone interviews. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the postal surveys and interviews revealed the principals perceived FSIR indicators related to Florida's mandated Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) as the most important indictors in the FSIR. The indicators FCAT Results and FCAT Writes were ranked first and second respectively in priority by the participating principals. This finding demonstrated the importance that principals placed on the state's high-stakes test. Other categories of FSIR indicators are were also ranked in the findings reported in this study, along with how the principals used the FSIR at their schools. The data collected from the postal survey revealed there was a statistically significant relationship between the priority principals assigned to the FSIR indicators and their ability to collect and analyze data related to them. In addition, survey data allowed development of multiple regression models that could be used to predict the priority principals assigned to several FSIR categories of indicators based on the ability to collect and analyze data. The study findings indicated that principals perceived lack of time for data analysis as the biggest barrier they faced when evaluating the FSIR indicators. After the lack of time, principals rated lack of administrator training in data analysis as the second biggest obstacle to using the FSIR. The findings indicated that principals felt the availability of data and technology were not significant barriers to their staff's ability to conduct data analysis on the FSIR. The conclusions drawn from the study were that central Florida high school principals perceived the results on the state's mandated Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) to be the most important indicators in the FSIR. In addition, the research identified that the lack of time was the single greatest barrier principals encountered when it came to collecting and analyzing data on the FSIR. A lack of training programs in data collection and analysis for administrators was also noted in the findings.

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Standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT claim to predict students' success in college. Colleges and universities place a considerable emphasis on these test scores when reviewing and deciding on applicants. However, over the years, institutional leaders and academic researchers have questioned whether the SAT/ACT tests truly measure the skills needed for success in college and throughout life. This study uses non-cognitive variables to focus to what students with strong high-school grade point averages (HSGPAs), low SAT/ACT test scores (under 1000 on the 1600 point scale for the SAT, or 21 or lower on the ACT), and who completed college in four years with an overall 3.5 or higher college GPA, attributed or perceived their abilities for college success. The study also investigated these students' perceptions and beliefs about these tests (have they hindered their abilities or potential for college success), and how these students thought non-cognitive factors should be considered in the admission's process. In addition, the study compares this group of students to the rest of the incoming freshman class. / Educational Administration

This study examines the relationships among student socioeconomic status, school district enrollment, minority enrollment, district expenditure per pupil, and the teaching experience of faculty as these variables influence the achievement scores of secondary students in Texas. Data from a total of 1,061 Texas school districts were used to determine the effects of the indicated district-level predictor variables on three criterion variables: reading, mathematics, and writing scores for the 11th-grade Texas Education Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS). The study led to the following conclusions: 1. Low socioeconomic status of students in Texas, as in the rest of the United States, insures that test scores will be lower if all other variables are held constant. 2. Large minority populations are strong predictors of low test scores, especially in mathematics and reading. 3. Students in districts whose faculty had a high average of years of teaching experience also scored high in achievement tests, especially in mathematics and writing. 4. High average district expenditure per pupil predicts high test scores, especially in reading. 5. School district size or enrollment has low predictive value of test scores. Among several specific recommendations, this study advises that further study be done concerning the most effective ways to educate minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged student populations. The study also recommends that better ways be found to retain experienced teachers in the classroom, including monetary compensation, extra allowances for staff development, and additional resources. The study cautions against simply adding money to a district's budget to increase student achievement scores, asserting that districts should make thorough studies before higher expenditures per pupil are alone used to increase test scores.

Large-scale assessment results for schools, school boards/districts, and entire provinces or states are commonly reported as the percentage of students achieving a standard – that is, the percentage of students scoring above the cut score that defines the standard on the assessment scale. Recent research has shown that this method of reporting is sensitive to small changes in the cut score, especially when comparing results across years or between groups. This study extends that work by investigating the effects of reporting group size on the stability of results. For each of ten group sizes, 1000 samples with replacement were drawn from the May 2009 Ontario Grade 6 Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics. The results showed that for small group sizes – analogous to small schools – there is little confidence and that extreme caution must be taken when interpreting differences observed between years or groups.

Large-scale assessment results for schools, school boards/districts, and entire provinces or states are commonly reported as the percentage of students achieving a standard – that is, the percentage of students scoring above the cut score that defines the standard on the assessment scale. Recent research has shown that this method of reporting is sensitive to small changes in the cut score, especially when comparing results across years or between groups. This study extends that work by investigating the effects of reporting group size on the stability of results. For each of ten group sizes, 1000 samples with replacement were drawn from the May 2009 Ontario Grade 6 Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics. The results showed that for small group sizes – analogous to small schools – there is little confidence and that extreme caution must be taken when interpreting differences observed between years or groups.