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The Impact of Louisiana's School and District Accountability System on Students' Performance on the State Mandated Criterion Referenced Test

This study is aimed at determining the impact of Louisianas School and District Accountability System on students performance on the state mandated criterion-referenced test (LEAP 21). The study was designed to determine the extent to which teachers in Title I schools in a large urban district in southwest Louisiana have turned to instructionally unsound practices in response to a high-stakes accountability system.
The specific objectives addressed in this study were to:
1) Explore if test scores have changed beyond what would be expected given the cohort design of the accountability model.
2) Explore if test scores have changed and determine why?
3) Determine where there has been improved learning and identify those practices teachers use to obtain the positive results.
For the qualitative analyses, data were collected from interviews, surveys and observations with 4th grade teachers and principals in the selected school district. Specifically, this study attempted to determine if a measurable increase in student performance on the state-mandated test in grade 4 and determine to what sources the positive change could be attributed.
The results of this study indicated that Louisianas accountability system has impacted each Title I school in various ways. There was not only a variation in how these schools perceived accountability, but also a variation in the perceptions of teachers and principals with regard to strategies that are being used to prepare students for high stakes testing.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-0123103-194128
Date27 January 2003
CreatorsTolbert, Linda B.
ContributorsEarl Cheek, Louis Harrison, Jr., David Culbert, Janice Hinson, Eugene Kennedy
PublisherLSU
Source SetsLouisiana State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-0123103-194128/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University Libraries in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation.

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