Showing papers in "Education Policy Analysis Archives in 2007"

Hugging the Middle: Teaching in an Era of Testing and Accountability, 1980-2005.

Abstract: In the last quarter-century and especially the last decade, testing and accountability have come to dominate education policy at the state and national levels. The common concern about the effects of such testing is that it reshapes teaching in the classroom. But such claims do not look at the evidence of deeper classroom structures (the mix of teacher-centered and student-centered practices) in historical context. This article extends historical research in How Teachers Taught (Cuban, 1993) to the present in three metropolitan school districts. While testing and accountability have become more obvious concerns of teachers, the hybridized classroom environment documented in How Teachers Taught have become more pervasive. This article documents this continuing ubiquity and addresses the apparent inconsistency between evidence of a hybridized classroom environment and the unintended consequences of testing and accountability.

Responding to the Education Reform Agenda: A Study of School Superintendents' Instructional Leadership.

Abstract: Education reforms have affected schools and the educators who work in them. Using state-wide survey data from 1993 and 2003, this study examines how the work of school superintendents has been affected over a ten-year period by these reform initiatives, especially increased demands for accountability. The general message from our data is that superintendents are interested in curriculum and instruction and believe these are important tasks, but the daily realities of their work often subvert even the most committed professional. Further, the data indicate that superintendents may be able to use external accountability mechanisms as levers to move the internal accountability systems to support improved teaching and learning.

Making use of what teachers know and can do: Policy, practice, and national board certification.

Abstract: This paper is the culmination of a three-year study that sought to frame an initial answer to the question, "What are the circumstances and conditions under which National Board Certified teachers (NBCTs) can have a positive impact on low-performing schools?" The study, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, was part of the National Board's more comprehensive effort to answer a number of research questions about the impacts of board certification and board certified teachers in schools and districts across the country.

Digital Equity in Education: A Multilevel Examination of Differences in and Relationships between Computer Access, Computer Use and State-Level Technology Policies.

Abstract: Using data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) state assessment and a survey of state-level technology policies, this study examined digital equity in education as a multilevel organizational phenomenon with data from 70,382 students in 3,479 schools and 40 states. Students in rural schools or schools with higher percentages of African American students were likely to have less access to computers. With respect to computer use, girls and students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch were more likely to use computers more frequently when computers are available in the classroom. With respect to relationships between computer access and computer use, having computers available in a lab increases the likelihood of higher levels of computer use. The results suggested that no more than 5% of the variance in computer access can be attributed to state factors, and less than 1% of the variance in computer use was between states. The findings suggested that where student technology standards are integrated into subject-area standards, computer use was likely lower than in other states. In states where pre-service teachers must meet technology-related requirements to receive their teaching credential and states where funds earmarked for technology are distributed as competitive grants, computer use was likely to be higher.

Examining the Streams of a Retention Policy To Understand the Politics of High-Stakes Reform

Abstract: Using John Kingdon's (2003) multiple streams approach to agenda setting, I analyze how key actors within the state of Wisconsin understood the need to construct and implement the state's No Social Promotion statutes to improve students' academic performance. Policymakers within the state focused their standards-based reforms on the issue of improving students' academic performance through increasing accountability. In doing so, they did not see these high-stakes policies as a form of punishment for those who fail, but rather, as a tool to focus the education establishment on improving the academic skills and knowledge of all their students. Thus, the retained student is not the primary concern of the policymaker, but rather, the retained student demonstrates the state's system of accountability works. Raising the question as to whether those who support or oppose high-stakes policies such as these should focus their efforts on the agenda setting process rather than analyzing effects of such policies. I contend that while evaluating a policy's effects is important, education stakeholders must pay attention to all three streams of the agenda setting process as they promote particular reforms to improve students' academic performance.

Hugging the Middle

Abstract: In the last quarter-century and especially the last decade, testing and accountability have come to dominate education policy at the state and national levels The common concern about the effects of such testing is that it reshapes teaching in the classroom But such claims do not look at the evidence of deeper classroom structures (the mix of teacher-centered and student-centered practices) in historical context This article extends historical research in How Teachers Taught (Cuban, 1993) to the present in three metropolitan school districts While testing and accountability have become more obvious concerns of teachers, the hybridized classroom environment documented in How Teachers Taught have become more pervasive This article documents this continuing ubiquity and addresses the apparent inconsistency between evidence of a hybridized classroom environment and the unintended consequences of testing and accountability

Financing Secondary Education in Kenya: Cost Reduction and Financing Options

Abstract: The paper examines the financing status of secondary education in Kenya and explores possible cost reduction and financing options in the long term. Educational needs for secondary education in Kenya are on the increase since the introduction of Free Primary Education in 2003. Financing of secondary education continues to be a challenge to the government, parents and communities at large. Identifying sustainable financing options that maximize on cost-effectiveness in resource utilization is therefore critical. The study utilized secondary data obtained from education trend statistics, the 2003 Kenya school census, and the Teachers Service Commission. The education simulation and financial projection tool provided the basis for projecting both growth in secondary enrollments, resource needs, and financial implications of various policy options. Some of the insights from the study show that expenditure on secondary education as a proportion of GDP and the total education public budget averaged 1.6% and 22%, respectively. Public financing is predominantly recurrent, while non-recurrent expenditures are estimated at 6%. High-income quintiles benefit more from public provision and financing of secondary education compared to the low-income quintiles. Feasible financing options would therefore include increasing secondary education revenue and fiscal allocation on non-salary expenditures. Cost reduction measures should target the expansion of quality day schools, efficiency utilization of teachers, and streamlined procurements. The paper provides research findings and makes objective projections with a view to informing researchers, education managers and policy makers.

Teacher Community in Elementary Charter Schools

Abstract: The organizational context of charter schools may facilitate the formation of a strong teacher community. In particular, a focused school mission and increased control over teacher hiring may lead to stronger teacher professional communities. This paper uses the 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey to compare the level of teacher community in charter public and traditional public schools. It also estimates the effect of various charter policy variables and domains of school autonomy on teacher community. Charter school teachers report higher levels of teacher community than traditional public school teachers do, although this effect is less than one-tenth of a standard deviation and is dwarfed by the effect of a supportive principal, teacher decision-making influence, and school size. Charter public schools authorized by universities showed lower levels of teacher community than those authorized by local school districts. Teachers in charter schools that have flexibility over tenure requirements and the school budget report higher levels of teacher community. This study reveals that charter schools do facilitate the formation of strong teacher communities, although the effect is small. The analysis also suggests that the institutional origin of the charter school and specific areas of policy flexibility may influence teacher community.

Bureaucratic discretion and alternative teacher certification: understanding program variation in Missouri.

Abstract: Alternative teacher certification literature has contributed significantly to our understanding of this approach to teacher preparation. However, this literature has more often than not treated alternative teacher certification programs (ATCPs) as a black box, thus ignoring program heterogeneity. The present study examines how and why five ATCPs in Missouri have evolved in different ways. To understand this variation and its potential significance for researchers and practitioners, we use political science literature on bureaucratic discretion to understand programs’ varied responses within the same state policy context. Using a multiple case study design, we present two key findings. First, external factors such as the state’s regulatory approach, programs’ relationships with school districts, and programs’ relationship with external partners shape program coordinators’ perceptions of their discretionary authority. Second, within an environment of limited regulation, programs responded to these external factors in ways that shaped programs in

Fissures in standards formulation: The role of neoconservative and neoliberal discourses in justifying standards development in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Abstract: An analysis of English/language arts standards development in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the late 1990s and early 2000s shows a process of compromise between neoliberal and neoconservative factions involved in promoting and writing standards, with the voices of educators conspicuously absent. Interpretive and critical discourse analyses of versions of English/language arts standards at the high school level and of public documents related to standards promotion reveal initial conflicts between neoconservative and neoliberal discourses, which over time were integrated in final standards documents. The content standards finally released for use in guiding curriculum in each state were bland and incoherent documents that reflected neither a deep knowledge of the field nor an acknowledgement of what is likely to engage young learners. The study suggests the need for looking more critically at standards as political documents, and a greater consideration of educators' expertise in the process of their future development and revision.

From Policy Design to Campus: Implementation of a Tuition Decentralization Policy

Abstract: This study analyzes the implementation of a tuition decentralization policy in North Carolina. Concepts of organizational culture served as a guiding framework for an interpretive analysis. Qualitative case study data for the research was collected from interviews with key policy makers within the University of North Carolina as well as an extensive collection of documents. The findings demonstrate the importance of shared norms and beliefs in achieving successful policy implementation through a case study where incongruence of stakeholder values, beliefs, and goals created institutional conflict.

School commitment and alcohol use: The moderating role of race and ethnicity.

Abstract: Research indicates that lower levels of school commitment may be one potential outcome of policy initiatives such as high-stakes testing and exit exams. Such outcomes may lead these policy initiatives to have unintended consequences for students, particularly racial or ethnic minority students. This study examines whether race or ethnicity moderate the relationship between school commitment and alcohol use or binge drinking among a sample of Florida public middle and high-school students who were surveyed as part of the 2002 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. Low school commitment was found to be associated with a greater likelihood of alcohol use in the past 30 days and a greater likelihood of binge drinking during the past two weeks for Black, Hispanic, and White students. Both the higher average levels of school commitment among Black and Hispanic than among white students and the greater association between low school commitment and the two alcohol use outcomes for Black and Hispanic students compared to White students account for some of the difference in alcohol use and binge drinking among the different groups. 1 Financial assistance for this study was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (grant number R01 AA13167) and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (grant number R01 DA018645-01A1). We gratefully acknowledge Michael French and members of the Health Economics Research Group (HERG) for their research suggestions and William Russell for editorial assistance. The authors are entirely responsible for the research and results reported in this paper, and their position or opinions do not necessarily represent those of NIAAA or NIDA.

Heterogeneidad en el Acceso a la Educación Media y el Trabajo Infantil

Abstract: En este documento se presenta una forma novedosa de analizar los efectos del trabajo infantil sobre el acceso al sistema educativo. Los resultados muestran que el analisis integrado del logro en el sistema educativo permite identificar mas adecuadamente las heterogeneidades en el acceso al mismo. Para esto se construye un indice de categorias ordenadas que permite dar cuenta de algunos de los diversos matices que puede adoptar la forma en que se relacionan los individuos con el sistema. El analisis se basa en microdatos provenientes de la Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida (ECV) de 2001 para la Argentina. Se muestra que el trabajo infantil es una variable significativa al momento de explicar porque algunos individuos no se encuentran en el nivel educativo correspondiente a su edad; ademas, las interacciones de la condicion de ocupacion con las variables edad, genero y pobreza revelan que este efecto se agrava especialmente a partir de los 15 anos entre los hombres pobres. Son las caracteristicas observables individuales como la edad y el sexo las que marcan diferencias en las probabilidades de acceso a la educacion; y por lo tanto, se convierten en instrumentos relevantes para las politicas publicas. Ademas, este resultado sugiere que una politica de transferir la misma cantidad de dinero a todos los estudiantes que asisten al nivel medio, sin considerar su edad y genero, no pareciera ser la mejor respuesta para resolver el problema de desempeno en este nivel. Se requiere de un estudio en mayor profundidad para poder evaluar la simultaneidad de las decisiones de trabajo y estudio y la relacion de ellas con los recursos monetarios disponibles en el hogar.

Contextual effects of socioeconomic level on academic achievement in obligatory secondary education in the Basque Autonomous Community (Spain). Differential study about socioeconomic level of families and school centers.

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the contextual effect of the socioeconomic status (SES) on the academic achievement in Mathematics and Language in Compulsory Secondary Education at the Basque Autonomous Community (Spain). We have carried out a differential study taking into account family SES and school SES in a multi-level study context. First, via tested hierarchical models, the hypothesis of the contextual effects (i.e., double jeopardy) is accepted, showing that the academic achievement of students from low SES families tend to worsen when they attend low SES schools. In order to illustrate the different effect of both SES, a new variable is generated so that, for each student, it combines the values of the previously categorized family and school SES. Using statistical segmentation techniques (regression and classification trees, CART), the present study has found that low family SES students attending high SES schools obtain the best academic achievement results, only outperformed by high family SES students who are studying at high SES schools, and also, even better than the sample subgroups who were expected to get much better scores. The study ends with some explanatory hypotheses about the findings and with some suggestions for further research.

Do the Policies and Practices of Teacher Education Serve to Improve Education? A Response Based on the Analysis of the Social Construction of Teaching

Abstract: Few people would deny that initial and continuing teacher education are crucial factors in the improvement of education. Nevertheless, one must adopt a certain reservation before offering categorical and knee-jerk responses to the question which heads this article. This is not only a result of the ambiguity of the available evidence, so much the worse if one were to succumb to the temptation of establishing monocausal relationships, but also due to the very complexity of a question whose explicit and implicit terms (?improvement? and its conditions, the ?object? and the ?subject? of the same, the approach to professional preparation, etc.) are all debatable. Moreover, there needs to be some caution in examining the belief that it is feasible to determine empirically the body of knowledge, skills and commitments which would be required by teachers in order to guarantee ?effective? and successful teaching. Given the socio-political nature of institutionalised education, whatever teacher education project must be open to supra-empirical consideration and, for this reason, should be expected to defend itself in accord with general principles. However, these principles or values are proposed; they are not discovered. It follows, therefore, that one inevitably enters into the world of ?discourse?, which tries to persuade by means of arguments and not through the proposal of predictions. On the other hand, in no way does this mean that the problem is reduced to a mere doctrinal choice. The arguments presented neither can nor ought to be divorced from the best knowledge available to us. Precisely for this reason, the authors seek to make a modest contribution to this debate, drawing attention to a body of research which focuses on how professional practice is ?constituted? de facto. It is a body of research too often passed over within this field, despite the fact that it seems fundamental to us in weighing up the possibilities and limitations of teacher education. Its consideration will give us cause to rethink some of the immediate challenges, and to revise (in the light of our findings) the reforms presently being imposed in an effort to redefine professionalism in teaching.

The Democratization of the Educational Administration in Argentina: A Comparison of Provincial Policies

Abstract: This article analyses some of the main school management reforms implemented at the provincial level from the mid-1980s in Argentina, and relates them to the national policies and to global trends regarding the governance of educational systems. It is argued that democratic and participatory proposals, which responded to a great extent to the return of the country to political democracy, began to give ground as the provinces focused on administrative rationalization and as the national government promoted a concept of school autonomy based on educational quality and efficiency criteria defined at the central level. On the other hand, participatory policies and programs faced various obstacles that originated in a context of social inequality, the prevailing institutional cultures, and the lack of a clear idea about the requirements and implications of implementing democratic practices at schools.

Levels and Profiles of Functionality as Dimensions of University Quality: An Empirical Study of Universidad Complutense

Abstract: This study comes out as a step forward in a research line focused on validating empirically a systemic model of university quality. The article defines university quality in terms of three dimensions: functionality, effectiveness and efficiency. The focus of the article is on the analysis of the dimension of functionality as a starting point in the process of identifying and validating indicators for the evaluation of university quality. The core of the article integrates the presentation of the level and profile of functionality of the university for the total sample and for three audiences: faculty, students and employers. For each audience the study emphasizes the evaluation of the extent to which the university accomplishes its functions as a whole institution (level) and for each separate function (profile), as well as the differences among different strata of each audience. Finally, the study points out the differences in the profiles of functionality of the university observed by the different audiences, both as a whole institution and for each function. In the conclusions, a global vision of the level of functionality of the university, evaluated by the three audiences, is established.

Teacher Teams in Compulsory Secondary Education: Possibilities and Uncertainties

Abstract: This paper is about the constitution of teacher teams in the Educacion Secundaria , something proposed in the Ley Organica de Educacion (LOE, 2006). First, a discussion of the disadvantages of organizing high schools by academic departments is presented, namely, the tendency of teachers to communicate mainly with those colleagues working in the same curricular area, the difficulties involved in the development of curricular projects that translate into globally coherent school experiences meaningful and relevant for the students, and the repercussions of such structures on the caring and support for students. Against this background, it is suggested that one of the alternatives to counteract the effects of departmentalization entails the creation of teacher teams. The new possibilities of coordination offered by teams are then commented, as they are seen as appropriate instruments to articulate the work and reflection of their members on cross curricular issues. Finally, some uncertainties and complexities of this new structure are discussed, namely, the possibility of it being applied only at a formal level, the difficulties involved in the coexistence of teams and departments, or the risk of overlooking the ”instituto” as a globally oriented educational institution.

Decentralization, Local Powers and Social Participation in Education in Bolivia: The Cases of Tarabuco and La Paz (1997-2003)

Abstract: Since the Declaration of ministers of education of iberoamerican countries held in Santa Fe de Bogota, November 4-6, 1992, the decentralization of education has been a recurrent subject of educational reforms in Latin American countries, where in some of them the experiences of decentralization have preceded said Declaration while in others they have followed it. The educational reforms that have come about within the last years associate the decentralization of education with social participation and improvements in the quality of education, among other subjects. This article discusses these topics, questioning what type of decentralization would be effective in Bolivia, which would be the characteristics of social participation and how it is affecting the quality of education. The analysis is done using a micropolitical approach and its emphasis is on the social practices of the actors (i.e., local authorities, teachers and parents), grounding its methodology in two case studies: La Paz and Tarabuco (Bolivia). It is suggested that policies of education decentralization and theoretical social sciences approaches have not been successful in explaining the phenomenon of social relations of power at the local level that affects the nature of any decentralization process, because at the core of State power there is a hegemonic dominance of the managerial approach and a vision of education that is essentially bureaucratic.

A Pedagogical Model in a Non-Formal Educational Context: The Museum

Abstract: Our proposal is to present a model of educational planning for museums. The school cannot be assumed to render all the education that a person needs. Therefore other social institutions are called upon to complement a person?s training. We begin by justifying the interest of including non-formal education in this context. Subsequently, we focus our study on an educational model that can be used as a planning tool in museums, thus expanding its use as a formative institution as well.