The United States is unique with it non-governmental peer-review based accreditation system for oversight of higher education for quality assurance and improvement. In a triad relationship with federal and state governments for accountability, accreditation associations are the designated gatekeeper for federal financial assistance. Therefore,…

In 1999, California was among the first schools in the nation to initiate an accountability model for public education using a method for system measurement of academic improvement constructed on the bedrock of standards-based education. The State also included a new twist...sanctions. Schools that failed to make expected progress, as measured…

This study examined the Academic Performance Index (API) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) achievement trends between 2004 and 2006 of 58 California public elementary schools after exiting state monitoring and investigated practices for sustaining consistent achievement growth. Statistical methods were used to analyze statewide achievement trends…

Public schools are currently operating in a pressure-cooker of accountability systems in which they must teach students to high standards and meet ever increasing targets for student proficiency, or face increasingly severe sanctions. Into this mix is thrown educational technology and the funding for that technology. The literature espouses the…

Implementation of the curriculum-centered, standards-based federally mandated reform, No Child Left Behind, has placed pressure on teachers, particularly those working in schools comprised of highly diverse and impoverished students, to have their students attain predetermined levels on high stakes, standardized tests. When schools have not met…