Background/context: In recent years, opposition to accountability policies and associated testing has manifested in widespread boycotts of annual tests--mobilized as the "opt-out movement." A central challenge facing any movement is the need to recruit and mobilize participants. Key to this process is framing--a discursive tactic in…

At a time of bitter national polarization, there is a critical need for leaders who can help us better communicate with one another. In "A Search for Common Ground," Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera, who have often fallen on opposing sides of the ideological aisle over the past couple of decades, candidly talk through their differences on…

Background/Context: Opt-out is a national movement based on local efforts as most notably expressed in New York. While studies have addressed opt-out demographics and local impact, fewer studies address the political activism that extends beyond the act of refusing specific tests to changing standardized testing policy. Purpose/Objective/Research…

This study aimed to determine the relationship between the cultural structure of schools and the political behaviors that teachers exhibit within the school. The study group of this study that employed a relational screening model consisted of 489 teachers working in pre-school, elementary, and middle schools in Tokat city center in 2019. The data…

Background/Context: Recent movements to "opt out" of state assessments have brought together a broad and diverse group of activists. While many activists foreground concerns of equity and justice, opting out has been concentrated in affluent suburban communities (Pizmony-Levy & Green Saraisky, 2016). These differences highlight…

In this post-truth era, public education--and education more generally--appears to be under attack. In the US, the numbers who forsake a public education for either home schooling, or for for-profit or charter schools, are increasing. Public schools are closing with more rapidity, especially in the urban areas of the US. Conservative legislators…

This article aims to understand how new accountability instruments in the context of the French-speaking Belgian educational system are appropriated by schools. After having characterised the specific nature of those instruments in the context of a traditionally highly decentralised system involved in a significant process of centralisation, we…

Last spring's sudden shift to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted K-12 education in an unprecedented way. Upon Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's waiver of federally mandated state testing for spring 2020, it also triggered the first nationwide break in state testing in half a century. With students returning to school…

During the decision-making process, finding two or more ethically correct alternative solutions is known as facing an ethical dilemma. The current study aimed to determine ethical dilemmas faced by teachers in high schools in Turkey. The study uses a qualitative research method. The data was collected through a semi-structured interview technique.…

In a radical school choice reform in 1992, Sweden's education system was opened to private competition from independent for-profit and non-profit schools funded by vouchers. Competition was expected to produce higher-quality education at lower cost, in both independent and public schools. This two-pronged study first examines to what extent the…

This article looks at the changes made to examinations in England over recent decades and asks about the politics behind the changes. It considers how increasingly centralised the assessment regime has become, moving from a system where teachers could have a say in how pupils are assessed to a regime dominated by government approved tests. It…

This qualitative inquiry explores the narratives of rural superintendents regarding their roles as moral agents in the politics of public school settings and how they view their moral and political advocacy as grassroots activism for student and community rights. Insights from superintendent narratives provided themes about the history, practice,…

This handbook brings together contributors from the United States, Australasia and Europe who use theoretical insights and empirical data to examine current practices as well as possible future directions of postgraduate education. A full range of postgraduate study options are explored, including PhD and professional doctorates, masters awards,…

Legislation leading to the mandating of accountability testing in schools was chronicled between the publication of "A Nation at Risk" (1983) to the conclusion of No Child Left Behind (2016). Involvement in education by the federal government increased throughout the educational legislation during this time period. The Omnibus Trade and…

What does it mean to hold schools accountable? How do we measure school performance? Why do we care? We convened focus groups of K-12 stakeholders to wrestle with these tough questions and help us better understand the current accountability landscape--where we've been as well as where we're headed. We've compiled what those focus group…