This quantitative study focused on the Algebra 1 End-Of-Course Exam Program (EOCEP) exam that students must complete if they are enrolled in beginning algebra classes. The research focused on one school, the high schools within this school's district, and South Carolina. The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a relationship between…

This quantitative research study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of quarterly assessments administered quarterly to students in a large school district in the northeastern United States and their impact on students' subject-specific corresponding Regents Examination Scores. The study aims to determine if a correlational relationship exists…

Using narrow test scores as the only means of accountability does not serve students, teachers, or schools. Jonathan E. Collins writes that policy makers and educators should consider accountability as an education system designed to be accountable to the best version of students. This means assessing outcomes that policy makers too easily…

We conducted an inductive analysis of 166 interviews from a longitudinal study of 26 Chicago Public School principals. Test-based accountability pressures played a visible role in principals' views of and relations with parents. Some principals reported banning parents from classrooms based on the need to protect instructional time to raise test…

Beginning in 2002, researchers developed, implemented, and evaluated the efficacy of an English reading intervention for first-grade English learners using multiple randomized control trials (RCTs). As a result of this efficacy work, researchers successfully competed for an IES Goal 4 effectiveness study using the same intervention. Unlike the…

The purpose of our study was twofold: (1) to review the literature on high-stakes accountability testing and English learners (ELs) in the USA, applying qualitative systematic review methodology, and (2) to draw substantive conclusions about the impact of high-stakes accountability testing on ELs, reported in studies published between 2001 and…

This paper investigates how accountability pressures under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) may have affected students' rate of overweight. Schools facing pressure to improve academic outcomes may reallocate their efforts in ways that have unintended consequences for children's health. To examine the impact of school accountability, we create a unique…

In the service of educational accountability, student achievement tests are being used to measure constructs quite unlike those envisioned by test developers. Scores are compared to cut points to create classifications like "proficient"; scores are combined over time to measure growth; student scores are aggregated to measure the…

The use of test scores as a performance measure in high-stakes educational accountability has become increasingly popular since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), which imposed sanctions such as the threat of losing federal funds unless a state implemented a school accountability system that measures student progress…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed into law in 2015, explicitly prohibits the federal government from creating incentives to set national standards. The law represents a major departure from recent federal initiatives, such as Race to the Top, which beginning in 2009 encouraged the adoption of uniform content standards and expectations…

School turnaround has emerged as a predominant strategy to improve chronically low-performing schools, although the approach remains controversial. This meta-analysis synthesizes results from 35 studies to examine the relationship between school turnaround and various student outcomes. We find that school turnaround is associated with improved…

There has been much debate by and among federal and state education agencies, state legislatures, courts, and educators regarding the identification of school district expenditures that best facilitate effective and efficient schools. The issue of equitable funding is far from being resolved (Education Week, 2017). Contradictory studies associated…

After the passage of "No Child Left Behind," and especially after Obama-era Race to the Top initiatives, rising accountability for improved achievement and widespread dissatisfaction with the instructional value of statewide test reports led many school districts to purchase computer-adaptive "interim" testing systems. A common…

Recent advocacy and legislation across states calls for stricter accountability measures and closure of low-performing charter schools. As charter schools try to meet the multiple accountability standards they face from federal, state, local authorities, and their own associations, it is important to understand how these numerous frameworks…

In this study we investigated the internal factor structure of a large-scale K--12 assessment of English language proficiency (ELP) using samples of fourth- and eighth-grade English learners (ELs) in one state. While U.S. schools are mandated to measure students' ELP in four language domains (listening, reading, speaking, and writing), some ELP…