Since the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the education system has seen immense shifts in its approach to schooling. Previously, students were taught using an extant curriculum with the instructional methods of the teachers at the school; there was little systematic modification to curriculum and methods; and the variable underlying…

The literature base on teacher effectiveness has rapidly expanded in the past decade. Once dominated by social scientists, the literature is now heavily influenced by economists. Utilizing value-added modeling, economists have mainstreamed attempts to isolate the effect that a teacher has on student achievement. Findings from these attempts,…

The study was a qualitative case study on engagement in work in four schools in Suffolk County, New York. The purpose of this researcher was to investigate how school systems and educators engage students and adults in 21st Century education. The levels of engagement were examined using patterns of instruction, organization, governance, and…

This study focuses on the capacity of colleges and universities to minimize educational inequalities experienced by undocumented students. It analyzes the role of student activism in prompting institutional accountability and successful practices used by institutional allies, such as faculty and administrators, in order to create a model for…

Military veterans preparing for new careers in the civilian world are pursuing higher educational degrees to fulfill career goals. The real-life experiences of veterans in the military are beneficial tools that can effectively enhance student veterans' academic performance and success. As veterans' enrollment continues to rise, veteran's academic…

A book that explores the problematic connection between education policy and practice while pointing in the direction of a more fruitful relationship, "Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice" is a provocative culminating statement from one of America's most insightful education scholars and leaders. "Inside the Black Box of…

Alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) are designed to measure the academic achievement of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities (SWSCDs). AA-AAS present unique measurement challenges because of the inherent need for individualization in item presentation and response, combined with expectations…

Student college loan default rates have nearly doubled in recent years. The three-year default rate exceeds 13 percent nationally. Tracking and reporting default rates is a crucial means of monitoring how well higher education dollars are spent. Yet, the way default data is gathered, measured, and reported by the federal government clouds…

Background: Much is still unknown or unclear about how and where validity issues arise in high stakes testing situations in education, and ways by which we can rectify validity problems in practice and policy contexts. Purpose: This paper is the Foreword to the Special Section in the "Teachers College Record," titled, "When…

This study investigated ways to improve the quality of music performance evaluation in an effort to address the accountability imperative in tertiary music education. An enhanced scientific methodology was employed incorporating ecological validity and using recognized qualitative methods involving grounded theory and quantitative methods…

The concept of teacher accountability assumes teachers will use data-driven decision making to plan and deliver appropriate and effective instruction to their students. In order to do so, teachers must be able to accurately interpret the data that is given to them, and that requires the knowledge of some basic concepts of assessment and…

Assessing treatment integrity is vital to ensure an intervention is implemented as planned and to appropriately evaluate student outcomes. Performance feedback, an empirically supported method to increase low treatment integrity levels, has been evaluated primarily with school personnel. Homework is a widely used and effective school practice,…

This qualitative interpretivist research study focused on understanding perceived superintendent self-efficacy and instructional leadership in school districts that have persistently failed to serve students of color and that also may have contributed to persistent student achievement inequities and achievement gaps. This study yielded three…

Policies increasing the amount of time allocated to reading instruction are popular initiatives to meet the demands of accountability testing. Research suggests that time on instruction and children's approaches to learning (ATL), which generally includes measures of attention, persistence, motivation, and flexibility, are positively associated…

Indiana English learners (ELs) constitute a rapidly growing portion of the state's school-aged population, and those classified as limited English proficient are low performers on the state test. The purpose of this embedded mixed methods study was to understand how school personnel respond to accountability mandates, interpret test scores, and…