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"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) has generated considerable attention within the education world. The purpose of this thesis is to question how local governments, i.e., local Boards of Education, have reacted to the current involvement and demands of the federal government. NCLB has only started to have an impact on local schools in the last few years as they have begun to fall into various categories of being "in need of improvement" based on failing to meet established goals. School boards are put in a position to rethink their programs and reevaluate their own efforts as they attempt to insure students are meeting the benchmarks established by the federal and state governments and that Highly Qualified Teachers are in every child's classroom. This thesis looks at the actions of six districts in southern New Jersey that are not meeting these mandates and the actions of the Boards of Education towards student achievement and hiring teachers. Demands and requirements of federal and state legislation and policies are narrowing the areas in which school boards can take action. Those actions that are being taken appear to be led by the district Superintendent. This lack of leadership by the elected officials may eventually lead to school boards that are more and more community advisory boards and less and less governing bodies. / Master of Arts

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Marjorie R. Hancock / With the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (PL 107-110), Kansas state reading standards, benchmarks and indicators have been aligned to meet the recommendation of the National Reading Panel (2000). The components that are aligned with the Kansas reading standards are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. High stakes testing and test scores disaggregated by race creates accountability in meeting instructional reading indicators for all students, specifically African American students. With increased pressures to meet and exceed the reading standards and close the achievement gap between Black and White students, schools are searching for instructional factors supportive of to meeting No Child Left Behind requirements. This mixed method study was conducted in three urban school districts in the state of Kansas. The quantitative study was conducted by analyzing African American fifth grade state reading assessment scores before and during implementation of No Child Left Behind to determine whether No Child Left Behind is positively impacting test scores. Data analysis revealed that African Americans increased in being at or above the standard, while decreasing the number below the standard. Out of the 180 schools in the three districts, six high performing schools were identified based on the percentage of African American students in the school, average mean scores before and during No Child Left Behind , and percentage of students at or above the standard from 2000-2007. Data were collected through detailed observational field notes and interviews with fifth grade teachers and principals in order to determine their perceptions of the instructional factors impacting reading scores. Data analysis revealed the following instructional factors impacting reading scores: analysis of data, quality professional development, teacher collaboration, high expectations, and parental involvement. Instructional reading indicators were coded throughout the observation of fifth grade classrooms. Observed indicators taught were phonics, vocabulary, comprehension of text types and text structures. This study provided perspectives of instructional strategies essential to increasing the reading strategies, skills and test scores of African American students while closing the literacy achievement gap between Black and White students in Kansas schools.

<p>In this dissertation, I explore the impact of several public policies on civic participation. Using a unique combination of school administrative and public–use voter files and methods for causal inference, I evaluate the impact of three new, as of yet unexplored, policies: one informational, one institutional, and one skill–based. Chapter 2 examines the causal effect of No Child Left Behind’s performance-based accountability school failure signals on turnout in school board elections and on individuals’ use of exit. I find that failure signals mobilize citizens both at the ballot box and by encouraging them to vote with their feet. However, these increases in voice and exit come primarily from citizens who already active—thus exacerbating inequalities in both forms of participation. Chapter 3 examines the causal effect of preregistration—an electoral reform that allows young citizens to enroll in the electoral system before turning 18, while also providing them with various in-school supports. Using data from the Current Population Survey and Florida Voter Files and multiple methods for causal inference, I (with my coauthor listed below) show that preregistration mobilizes and does so for a diverse set of citizens. Finally, Chapter 4 examines the impact of psychosocial or so called non-cognitive skills on voter turnout. Using information from the Fast Track intervention, I show that early– childhood investments in psychosocial skills have large, long-run spillovers on civic participation. These gains are widely distributed, being especially large for those least likely to participate. These chapters provide clear insights that reach across disciplinary boundaries and speak to current policy debates. In placing specific attention not only on whether these programs mobilize, but also on who they mobilize, I provide scholars and practitioners with new ways of thinking about how to address stubbornly low and unequal rates of citizen engagement.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-Smith / This practitioner research longitudinal study examines the effects of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law and the Race To The Top (RTTT) initiative on a high performing middle school in Massachusetts between 2003 and 2013. Utilizing a theoretical framework that combines Cochran-Smith and Lytles (2009) "inquiry as stance" and Ball's concept of (1990b) "policy cycles," the study analyzes the programmatic and structural changes enacted in response to NCLB, RTTT and their effects on special education and low income students, their teachers, parents, and the principal. The study's findings show that federal mandates and related state regulations placed unrealistic, unfair and unreasonable demands on students, teachers and the school. Staff often felt as if we were riding on a rollercoaster. Massachusetts' rating of "High" and "Very High" performance on the state test contrasted with the NCLB school report cards that labeled the school as in need of "improvement," "corrective action," and eventually "restructuring" because of the failure of special education or low income students to meet constantly rising targets. NCLB's and RTTT's requirements caused the school to prioritize courses providing remediation in tested subjects--English language arts and mathematics--reducing the availability of related arts classes and thereby narrowing the curriculum. The school's obsessive focus on the annual state tests produced an atmosphere of anxiety for all stakeholders. Unwanted changes in the school culture eventually generated a schoolwide movement to resist the obsession with testing, reduce anxiety and expand interdisciplinary learning. The study concludes with recommendations for further research of the effects of federal mandates on "good" schools across the US. It recommends that policymakers recognize that "one size fits all" school reform is detrimental to public schools and calls for the recognition of local knowledge in the making of policy. A further recommendation encourages school leaders to study their own practice, becoming practitioner researchers for the benefit of their schools. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the standards-based accountability (SBA) provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on the retention of teachers of color. I am interested in this impact, given the growing body of evidence suggesting a more diverse teacher workforce would benefit all students, particularly students of color (Villegas & Irvine, 2010); however, the teacher workforce is becoming increasingly homogenous and white, in part, due to the declining retention of teachers of color. Overall, I hypothesize that the widespread introduction of SBA as prescribed by NCLB has changed teachers’ instructional practices, thereby changing teachers’ experiences of their job and ultimately their employment decisions. Further, I posit that those changes in teachers’ experience, particularly reductions in perceptions of classroom autonomy, disproportionately impacts the employment decisions of teachers of color (Ingersoll & May, 2011). In this study, I answer three research questions: (1) How have trends in teacher retention changed over time and, how does that vary by teacher race/ethnicity? (2) What teacher-, school-, and organizational-factors influence teacher retention, and how do those vary by teacher race/ethnicity? (3) How has the widespread introduction of SBA through NCLB influenced teacher retention, and how does that vary by teacher race/ethnicity? I use the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and its accompanying Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS) to answer my three research questions. Overall, I confirm an increasing decline in the retention of black and Hispanic teachers and decreasing perceptions of classroom autonomy, which coincides with the widespread introduction of SBA through the signing of NCLB in 2002. However, that decline in retention is only significant for black teachers and not for Hispanic teachers by 2007-08. Additionally, using a linear probability model, I found that the relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention varies by teacher race/ethnicity, and that there is a significant relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention for black teachers in 2007. However, I did not find that relationship for Hispanic teachers or white teachers. Ultimately, using a difference-in-difference (DD) model, I only found a significant decline in retention for Hispanic teachers as result of the SBA provisions of NCLB; however, it is unclear how the SBA provisions of NCLB is driving that decline, since I did not find a meaningful relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention for Hispanic teachers. In that DD model, I did not find a similar decline for black teachers. On the contrary, I found that black teachers in 2007 in states that had previously adopted SBA provisions similar to those in NCLB (Prior states) experienced a significant decline retention and perceptions of classroom autonomy, despite previous exposures to those SBA provisions. These counterintuitive results lead me to reinterpret my results applying institutional theory. Using institutional theory, I concluded that Prior states were able to implement the SBA provisions of NCLB with greater fidelity and, therefore, the impact of NCLB on perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention was greatest for black teachers in those states. Based on these results, I offer future research and policy recommendations to improve the diversity of the teacher workforce.

This quantitative study was designed to determine the extent to which the language of testing in reading and math had a positive effect on 50/50 dual language program Hispanic students' reading and math achievement level as measured by a standardized achievement test. The research questions in this study include: 1. Is there a statistical difference in reading achievement for Hispanic 50/50 English- Spanish dual language program students when testing data is disaggregated linguistically? 2. Is there a statistical difference in math achievement for Hispanic 50/50 English- Spanish dual language program students when testing data is disaggregated linguistically? This study examined the reading and math standardized achievement results for students in grades 2-12 in a school district in Iowa serving students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 that chooses to offer 50/50 dual language Two-Way Immersion (TWI) (Spanish/English) instruction to its students. The district uses the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED), both presented in English, and the Spanish test Logramos to evaluate student achievement. The reading and math results of 157 Hispanic students enrolled in the dual language program are compared in this study to determine if the Hispanic students, on average, achieve at higher levels as measured by national grade equivalency (NGE) and percentage proficient when testing in Spanish versus English in math and in reading. There was, on average, a two-year gap in reading performance by Hispanic students when testing in English compared to testing in Spanish. The students performed about two years above grade level in Spanish in reading, but rarely performed even at grade level in English as measured by NGE and percentage proficient results. Over the three- to five-year testing window, the reading gap stayed constant at about two years. When comparing English and Spanish math results for the same students by grade level, the students scored at a higher level in Spanish over 97% of the time compared to the English math results. The results show that for the eight graduating cohorts, the average percent proficient is 72% overall when taking the math test in Spanish, but for the math test in English the average percent proficient is only 50.2% proficient. Linguists have argued that Hispanic students' progress in attaining proficiency on standardized reading and math assessments is possible after five to seven years of learning English. This study demonstrates that not all Hispanic students progress to that level of proficiency and that further programming options or interventions might be needed within the TWI program model. Additionally, this study shows that the rate toward proficiency in reading and math on the English and Spanish versions differs over time and that students generally attain proficiency in math prior to reading on both the English and Spanish assessments. Balancing the language acquisition process through models like dual language is supported in research, but implementing a TWI program model and utilizing native language assessments like Logramos must be carefully studied, monitored, and enacted with community support and ongoing professional development for all involved. Dual language programs and native language assessments are a means to address issues presented by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in relation to Hispanics' and English Language Learners' (EL) academic achievement, but further studies must address other subgroups within the dual language programs.

Title I federal funds are provided to schools with high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all students meet academic standards. Despite this and other efforts by the federal government to assist low-income families with the problems associated with poverty, the minimum proficiency levels required by the No Child Left Behind Act have not been met by all students. Little research has been conducted to assess performance of South Dakota schools receiving federal funding under Title 1 to alleviate these deficits in academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Title 1 had an effect on low socioeconomic schools by determining if Schoolwide Title 1 elementary schools in South Dakota demonstrated significant student gains in math and reading as measured by state standardized assessments. This nonexperimental quantitative study, guided by Bourdieu's theory of social and cultural reproduction, used archived school report card data to examine standardized testing results in math and reading during the school years of 2008-2009 through 2012-2013 for the 48 elementary Schoolwide Title 1 schools in South Dakota having complete data for these years. The results of the one-way repeated measures ANOVA followed by a Bonferroni post hoc test indicated no significant difference over time on standardized test scores in Schoolwide Title 1 elementary schools for reading, but there was a significant increase for math. The positive social change implications include providing data to inform school and state administrators of the effect of Title 1 of the ESEA on student achievement, and the need to reevaluate Title 1 programs to improve student achievement.