Revisiting the Impact of NCLB High-Stakes School Accountability, Capacity, and Resources

Abstract

This study examines the impact of high-stakes school accountability, capacity, and resources under NCLB on reading and math achievement outcomes through comparative interrupted time-series analyses of 1990–2009 NAEP state assessment data. Through hierarchical linear modeling latent variable regression with inverse probability of treatment weighting, the study addresses pre-NCLB differences in state characteristics and trends to account for variations in post-NCLB gains. While the states’ progress was uneven among different grades, subjects, and subgroups, NCLB did not yet evidence sustainable and generalizable high-stakes accountability policy effects. Improving average achievement as well as narrowing achievement gaps was associated with long-term statewide instructional capacity and teacher resources rather than short-term NCLB implementation fidelity, rigor of standards, and state agency’s capacity for data tracking and intervention.

Distributive Justice Antecedents of Race and Gender Disparities in First-Year College Performance

“…As the name of the law implies, the expectation was that assessment and reporting of progress would give educators more incentive to help disadvantaged and struggling students to boost their achievement. Although progress toward that goal has been more apparent in math than in reading (Dee & Jacob, 2011;Mickelson, Giersch, Stearns, & Moller, 2013b;Nichols, Glass, & Berliner, 2012) and achievement gaps have persisted (Lee & Reeves, 2012;Mickelson, Bottia, & Lambert, 2013a), the effort by legislators and, in turn, those involved in executing the law, illustrates the widespread interest in finding ways to make educational opportunity more equitable. Like elsewhere in the US, North Carolina's local school districts assigned students to high schools largely based on their family's residence.…”

Antecedents of Teachers’ Educational Beliefs about Mathematics and Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching among In-Service Teachers in High Poverty Urban Schools

“…Given that a significant portion of the LMT assesses knowledge of mathematical content, research related to racial differences in mathematics achievement tests may also inform current findings. There are several explanations provided by researchers for the mathematics achievement gap between Black and White students including the lower quality of mathematics instruction that Black students tend to receive as well as the greater frequency of testing (which tends to promote procedural skills over conceptual understanding) of Black students (Lee & Reeves, 2012;Lubienski, 2002). These findings highlight the need for professional development programs to consider not only teachers' post-secondary educational background in the domain they teach, but also their school's socioeconomic environments and teachers' own K-12 mathematics educational experiences when employing interventions aimed to enhance MKT and adaptive educational beliefs.…”

Evaluating the impact of NCLB school interventions in New York State: Does one size fit all?

“…1 Although NCLB provides a federal mandate for states to develop statewide systems of support intended to build the capacity of underperforming districts and schools, this new expectation for an enhanced role of state education agencies in school improvement has faced serious challenges due to limitations associated with the state agencies' own fiscal, administrative, and technical capacities (Center on Education Policy, 2007c;McClure, 2005;Rhim, Hassel, & Redding, 2008). Moreover, the policy impact on student achievement depends on long-term statewide funding for school resources rather than short-term state agency support for data tracking and interventions (Lee & Reeves, 2012).…”

“…However, evidence for the effects of pre-NCLB high-stakes testing and test-driven accountability on student achievement has been mixed (Lee, 2008). Similarly, recent studies on post-NCLB academic progress and the policy impact were mixed and inconclusive (see Dee & Jacob, 2009;Lee & Reeves, 2012;National Research Council, 2011;Wong, Cook, & Steiner, 2009). While these previous studies examined overall national policy impact across states, it is important to examine the effects of statespecific interventions at the school level as well.…”