No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are Federal educational policies that have evoked criticism from teachers and administrators. Both policies extended the federal government’s reach into local education by tying federal funds to a school’s student growth and teacher effectiveness. With an increasing emphasis on economic mechanisms such as choice and competition, teachers’ effectiveness is now determined by standardized and quantifiable measurements. These policies have created a data driven and high stakes accountability culture within each school. Teachers are finding themselves in a new balancing act of recording quantifiable yearly progress for all students while trying to work against environmental factors that are out of their control. The rising trend to utilize a “no zero” homework policy under these new pressures merits investigation into its role within teacher culture and these current tensions. The recent call for anthropology to re-enter the classroom as a cultural site allows the researcher to provide context to the fluid relationships that often lead to the reproduction of or resistance against dominant ideology. Using the case study method, this ethnography employs the critical theory framework to examine policy impact on teacher culture and gain an understanding for how and why trends such as the “no zero” homework become a part of school policy. By looking at a “school of choice” and a traditional “feeder middle school,” this thesis gives context to how the local trends illuminate larger cultural shifts

The ability to read is highly valued in American society and important for social and economic advancement. One of the best strategies to prevent reading difficulties is to build basic literacy skills, thereby ensuring that all children are readers early in their educational careers. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between third-grade students' oral reading rate and scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. The present study examined the relationship between the independent variables of Curriculum-Based Measurement Reading (R-CBM), ethnicity and socioeconomic status and the dependent variable of performance on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in 215 third-grade students. The data presented in this study were collected by the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) as part of a larger assessment battery across three school districts and nine elementary schools in Florida. Student demographic variables as well as performance on three different types of oral reading probes (generic, content, and FCAT passages) were investigated in relation to each student's performance on the reading portion of the FCAT. Results of the current study were similar to investigations in other states; the correlations among the R-CBM probes and between all R-CBM probes and FCAT scores were high and statistically significant. These results indicate that student performance on any or all R-CBM probe types can be used to predict FCAT score. Ethnicity and SES were not significant predictors of FCAT score above R-CBM score. Implications for educators and specifically school psychologists are discussed including opportunities for school psychologists to train educational personnel in the use of R-CBM. As evidenced by the current study, R-CBM may help identify students who are at-risk for reading failure and FCAT failure so that intensive interventions can be implemented early and student progress frequently monitored.

This study discussed the need for a broader public discourse on high-stakes accountability-based school reform that underscores teachers' perspectives. Also, the study discussed the need for fuller disclosure of the possible undesirable classroom effects of the reform. To address these needs, the study described teachers' perspectives on the Standards of Learning (SOL) school reform in Virginia, focusing upon teachers' views on the reform's classroom effects. The domains of interest were (1) the adequacy of curriculum and the diversity of teachers' instructional strategies, (2) the quality of student learning, (3) teachers' sense of professional autonomy and level of teacher tension, and (4) school quality. The study examined whether there are differences in teachers' views based the income level of the school locale where teachers teach (low-, middle-, or high-income), the school type (elementary, middle, or high school) in which they teach, and teachers' status on whether they teach a SOL-tested subject (yes/no). The participants of the study included 360 randomly selected teachers who were listed as members of Virginia Education Association (VEA). A survey research design was employed. The instrument included 80 Likert-type items, eight demographic items, and three open-ended questions. Inferential and descriptive statistics were reported for eight scales of the survey as were thematic trends in the qualitative data. The study's results suggested that the SOL program contributes to a hurried, high-pressure classroom culture that depletes the potentiality of the very ends of education the program is intended to achieve. Teachers tended to report (1) an inadequacy of the SOL content standards, (2) a reduction of teachers' use of diverse instructional strategies and an inability of the SOL program to meet diverse student needs, (3) arbitrary SOL test cut-scores, (4) an inadequacy of the SOL pass rates to represent school quality, (5) a lack of diagnostic usefulness of SOL test scores, (6) an inadequacy of SOL testing and SOL test scores to hold schools accountable, (7) teachers' sense of diminished professional autonomy, and (8) teachers' mounting tension in the classroom. These results were juxtaposed to the views of policymakers and business leaders, the public at large, parents, and scholars in the field of education concerning the issue of high-stakes accountability-based school reform. Finally, the study discussed a conflict related to the purpose of public schooling between a prevailing narrative of many policymakers and business leaders and what have been the marginalized views of classroom teachers. / Ph. D.