Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)
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Testing Times: A School Case Study
Ivor Goodson and Martha Foote
A highly successful, innovative and creative alternative to traditional education is confronted by the demands of contemporary standardized accountability. The account here is a chronicle of the resistance of a particular school, the Durant School, to the global changes that would destroy its local ecology—a school whose fight against the imposition of state standards and mandated tests has been a fight to preserve its integrity, its mission, and its autonomy.
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School Segregation of Children who Migrate to the United States from Puerto Rico
Luis M. Laosa
This study examined patterns of school segregation (ethnic/racial, linguistic, and socioeconomic) and other ecological characteristics of the schools that preadolescent children who migrate from Puerto Rico to the United States (New Jersey) attend in this country during the first two years following their arrival (N = 89 schools). ...
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The Use of Logic in Educational Research and Policy Making
Rick Garlikov
While educational research is an empirical enterprise, there is significant place in it for logical reasoning and anecdotal evidence. An analysis of the article by Scott C. Bauer, "Should Achievement Tests be Used to Judge School Quality?" (Education Policy Analysis Archives, 8(46). Available: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8n46.html) is used to illustrate this point.
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Apoyo a la participación de padres en las escuelas primarias: Un estudio etnográfico sobre un grupo latinoamericano en Canadá
Judith K. Bernhard, Marlinda Freire, and Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw
This article describes how a group of Latin American parents became more effective in their dealings with their children’s schools, a mainstream Canadian institution. Ethnicity, along with race, gender, and social class, is a critical determinant in of the interactions between schools and any group of newcomers to a society, particularly when those newcomers are an ethnic minority. ...
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Findings from the Teaching, Learning, and Computing Survey: Is Larry Cuban Right?
Harry Jay Becker
Cuban (1986; 2000) has argued that computers are largely incompatible with the requirements of teaching, and that, for the most part, teachers will continue to reject their use as instruments of student work during class. Using data from a nationally representative survey of 4th through 12th grade teachers, this paper demonstrates that although Cuban correctly characterizes frequent use of computers in academic subject classes as a teaching practice of a small and distinct minority, certain conditions make a big difference in the likelihood of a teacher having her students use computers frequently during class time. ...
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Student Evaluation of Teaching: A Methodological Critique of Conventional Practices
Robert Sproule
The purpose of the present work is twofold. The first is to outline two arguments that challenge those who would advocate a continuation of the exclusive use of raw SET data in the determination of "teaching effectiveness" in the "summative" function. The second purpose is to answer this question: "In the face of such challenges, why do university administrators continue to use these data exclusively in the determination of 'teaching effectiveness'?" ...
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What Do Test Scores in Texas Tell Us?
Stephen P. Klein, Laura S. Hamilton, Daniel F. McCaffrey, and Brian M. Stecher
We examine the results on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), the highest-profile state testing program and one that has recorded extraordinary recent gains in math and reading scores. To investigate whether the dramatic math and reading gains on the TAAS represent actual academic progress, we have compared these gains to score changes in Texas on another test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). ...
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"Put Teaching on the Same Footing as Research?" Teaching and Learning Policy Review in Hong Kong and the U.S.
Orlan Lee
The Research Assessment Exercises (RAEs) in hugely expanded universities in Britain and Hong Kong attempt mammoth scale ratings of "quality of research." If peer review on that scale is feasible for "quality of research," is it less so for "quality of teaching"? The lessons of the Hong Kong Teaching and Learning Quality Process Reviews (TLQPRs), of recent studies on the influence of grade expectation and workload on student ratings, of attempts to employ agency theory both to improve teaching quality and raise student ratings, and of institutional attempts to refine the peer review process, all suggest that we can "put teaching on the same footing as research" and include professional regard for teaching content and objectives, as well as student ratings of effectiveness and personality appeal, in the process.
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Teacher Supply and Demand: Surprises from Primary Research
Andrew J. Wayne
An investigation of primary research studies on public school teacher supply and demand revealed four surprises. Projections show that enrollments are leveling off. Relatedly, annual hiring increases should be only about two or three percent over the next few years. Results from studies of teacher attrition also yield unexpected results. Excluding retirements, only about one in 20 teachers leaves each year, and the novice teachers who quit mainly cite personal and family reasons, not job dissatisfaction. Each of these findings broadens policy makers' options for teacher supply.
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Should Achievement Tests be Used to Judge School Quality?
Scott C. Bauer
This study provides empirical evidence to answer the question whether student scores on standardized achievement tests represent reasonable measures of instructional quality. Using a research protocol designed by Popham and the local study directors, individual test items from a nationally-marketed standardized achievement test were rated by educators and parents to determine the degree to which raters felt that the items reflect important content that is actually taught in schools, and the degree to which raters felt that students' answers to the questions would be likely to be unduly influenced by confounded causality....
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The Social Construction of School Failure: Leadership's Limitations
Merylann J. Schuttloffel
A case study highlights barriers encountered by an urban school principal in implementing reforms within the context of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act. By comparing the competing expectations of Miller's (1995) five capitals and Ianneconne and Lutz's (1970) dissatisfaction theory, the case study dramatizes that Site-Based Decision-Making councils exemplify a policy decision that ignores the practical realities of distressed schools. The lack of congruence between policies and the school reality makes implementation of school reform predictably unsuccessful.
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Information Needs in the 21st Century: Will ERIC Be Ready?
Lawrence M. Rudner
Ubiquitous for 35 years, the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is known for its database and recently for its range of web-based information services. I contend that federal policy with regard to ERIC must change and that ERIC will need massive restructuring in order to continue to meet the information needs of the education community. ...
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Texas Gains on NAEP: Points of Light?
Gregory Camilli
The 1992-1996 gain in mathematics scores on NAEP from 4th to 8th grades in Texas is placed in perspective. The "miracle" in Texas looks much like the median elsewhere. Of 35 states and two districts (Guam and D.C.), the 52-point gain of Texas was good enough to earn Texas a rank of 17th or about the 46th percentile. Taking into consideration the wealth of states, Texas stands in the middle of the pack - no worse than most other states in delivering educational services to students.
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Consistency of Findings Across International Surveys of Mathematics and Science Achievement: A Comparison of IAEP2 and TIMSS
Michael O'Leary, Thomas Kellaghan, George F. Madaus, and Albert F. Beaton
The investigation reported in here was prompted by discrepancies between the performance of Irish students on two international tests of science achievement: the Second International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP2) administered in 1991 and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) administered in 1995. While average science achievement for Irish 13-year-olds was reported to be at the low end of the distribution representing the 20 participating countries in IAEP2, it was around the middle of the distribution representing the 40 or so countries that participated in TIMSS at grades 7 and 8. An examination of the effect sizes associated with mean differences in performance on IAEP2 and TIMSS indicated that the largest differences are associated with the performance of students in France, Ireland and Switzerland. ...
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The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education
Walt Haney
I summarize the recent history of education reform and statewide testing in Texas, which led to introduction of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) in 1990-91. A variety of evidence in the late 1990s led a number of observers to conclude that the state of Texas had made near miraculous progress in reducing dropouts and increasing achievement. The passing scores on TAAS tests were arbitrary and discriminatory. Analyses comparing TAAS reading, writing and math scores with one another and with relevant high school grades raise doubts about the reliability and validity of TAAS scores. ...
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Advanced Placement: Access Not Exclusion
Wayne Camara, Neil J. Dorans, Rick Morgan, and Carol Myford
Lichten (2000) argues that increased access to AP courses in high schools has led to a decline in AP quality. He uses a mix of actual data, inaccurate data, and fabricated data to support this hypothesis. A logical consequence of his argument is that a reduction in the availability of AP courses will lead to an improvement in AP quality. In this paper, we maintain that his thesis is flawed because he confounds quality with scarcity. ...
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The Arizona Education Tax Credit and Hidden Considerations of Justice: Why We Ought to Fight Poverty, Not Taxes
Michele S. Moses
The current debate over market-based ideas for educational reform is examined, focusing specifically on the recent movement toward education tax credits. Viewing the Arizona education tax credit law as a voucher plan in sheep's clothing, I argue that the concept of justice underlying the law is a crucial issue largely missing from the school choice debate. ...
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Moral Considerations Regarding the Arizona Tax Credit Law: Some Comments
Anthony G. Rud Jr.
I begin by commenting on the language used, both by the Arizona tax credit law, and by our commentators, and then turn to a discussion of a factor I believe fuels the impetus for sectarian education. I end with a consideration of questions related to the social, cognitive, and moral costs of such privatization, in contrast to a democratic commitment to education.
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Effect on Funding Equity of the Arizona Tax Credit Law
Glen Y. Wilson
This article examines the results from the first year (1998) of the Arizona Education Tax Credit program. The tax credit law allows individuals a dollar- for-dollar tax credit of $500 for donations to private schools and a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of $200 for donations to public schools. Although one justification for this statute was that it would help lower income students, the primary beneficiaries of this program tend to be the relatively well off. The author concludes that Arizona's tax credit law increases educational funding inequity in Arizona. Data for 1999, only recently made available, show a 159.1 percent increase in total contributions and an exacerbation of the trends noted here.
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Taxing the Establishment Clause: The Revolutionary Decision of the Arizona Supreme Court in Kotterman v. Killian
Kevin G. Welner
This article explores the nature and implications of a 1999 decision of the Arizona Supreme Court, upholding the constitutionality of a state tax credit statute. The statute offers a $500 tax credit to taxpayers who donate money to non-profit organizations which, in turn, donate the money in grants to students in order to help defray the costs of attending private and parochial schools. The author concludes that the Arizona decision elevates cleverness in devising a statutory scheme above the substance of long-established constitutional doctrine.
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State Standards, Socio-fiscal Context and Opportunity to Learn in New Jersey
William A. Firestone, Gregory Camilli, Michele Yurecko, Lora Monfils, and David Mayrowetz
A survey of 245 New Jersey teachers provides a baseline for examining how the introduction of state standards and assessments affects the teaching of math and science in the 4th grade. These policies are promoting teaching of additional topics in both areas. The changes in the delivery of professional development have not yet been sufficient to lead to substantial changes in instructional practice. ...
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Implementation of the Kentucky Nongraded Primary Program
Patricia J. Kannapel, Lola Aagaard, Pamelia Coe, and Cynthia A. Reeves
We examine the development of the Kentucky nongraded primary program at the state level, and in six rural elementary schools from 1991 through 1998. …
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Economic Perspectives on Investments in Teacher Quality: Lessons Learned from Research on Productivity and Human Resource Development
Margaret L. Plecki
This article reviews and critiques the ways in which researchers have used both productivity theory and human capital theory in efforts to measure the returns on investments in improving teacher quality. ...
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Student Assessment as a Political Construction: The Case of Uruguay
Luis Benveniste
This article reveals the interplay between assessment policies in Uruguay and the nature of State-societal relations. The central State has been historically a staunch defender of public education and has championed the cause of equalizing opportunities for the most disadvantaged sectors of society. The national evaluation system of student performance has been constructed as an expression of this tradition. ...
