Adequate Yearly Progress Research Articles

The importance of community in public school success: Community engagement and high school performance in Florida

ABSTRACT This research examines whether extensive community engagement activities are associated with increased institutional-level public high-school performance controlling for contextual factors and any regional nesting effect. Analyzing community-level data for 302 traditional Florida public high schools, three multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses are performed for dependent variables representing standardized testing-related metrics (FCAT factors score), non-standardized testing-related metrics (Non-FCAT factors score), and adequate yearly progress (AYP). For each analysis, community-level socioeconomic factors are significantly associated with institutional-level performance, however county-level nesting effect only shows a small significant association with the FCAT factors score. Achieving the Florida Five Star School award, which recognizes a wide range of family and community engagement criteria, is found to have a significant positive association with both the FCAT factors score and Non-FCAT factors score, controlling for socioeconomic and other contextual factors. Despite no significant association found with the final performance indicator, AYP, the results suggest that intensive community engagement practices may improve institutional-level academic performance.

The Effects of a Site-based Teacher Professional Development Program on Student Learning

This study investigates, through a mixed method design, the effectiveness of a professional development program on teacher knowledge and student learning in order to systematically improve student achievement in elementary literacy. A large urban school district partnered with a local university to provide intervention in a Title 1, low-performing elementary school. Measures included teacher knowledge and practices based on surveys, classroom observation, and student achievement data. Teachers self-reported their perspectives on school-based teacher training in terms of its significance, requirements, challenges, and possible solutions to teacher training. Schools were selected based on their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in reading/ language arts’ status. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to results on standardized tests. The collaboration effort involved supporting the school’s goal of enhancing reading, language arts, and math achievement of students by providing interventions targeted towards grades 4 and 5.

New evidence concerning school accountability and mathematics instructional quality in the no child left behind era

Using longitudinal data from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) era, I applied regression techniques and found a positive association between school failure to reach “adequate yearly progress” in mathematics and subsequent changes in the quality of middle grades mathematics instruction in districts where district leaders adopted robust theories of action for improving mathematics instruction. The positive association was robust to multiple sensitivity tests and may reflect a causal relationship. The evidence suggests that educational leaders in similar contexts can use school failure to reach accountability standards as measured by standardized assessments to promote instructional quality in mathematics.

Washington’s High-Ability Programs During the No Child Left Behind Era

This study used historical data to find associations between changes in policies, funding, and accountability stemming from No Child Left Behind and the provision of services offered to students identified as gifted in the state of Washington. Descriptive statistics and a regression model are used to examine the change in gifted programs by school districts from 2006 to 2007 up until the point where the state received a waiver (2012–2013). Initial results suggest that, during this time frame, the number of districts reporting having gifted programs declined from 77% to 62% of school districts. Furthermore, the regression results provide evidence that school districts that did not make adequate yearly progress were more likely to no longer report having a gifted program as time progressed (β = −0.29, SE = .11). Those districts that retained gifted programs expanded program options.

Principal Turnover under No Child Left behind Accountability Pressure

Background/Context The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was a performance-based accountability policy designed to motivate educators and administrators to change their behaviors and improve school and student outcomes. The simple logic behind this accountability policy was that they would change their behaviors to avoid sanctions. Many studies have investigated the impact of NCLB on students and teachers; however, little research has examined its impact on school principals even though they were a prime target of NCLB. Purpose/Objective This study fills the gap in the literature and investigates the impact of NCLB sanctions on principal turnover. It answers whether NCLB's informal and formal sanctions influenced principal turnover behaviors and whether the influence was moderated by principal and school characteristics. It also examines patterns in principal transfers and position changes. Research Design This study uses longitudinal administrative data and detailed school-level assessment data obtained from Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from 2001–02 to 2009–10. It constructs a distance variable to the adequate yearly progress threshold and uses it as a key matching variable in propensity score matching to identify comparable schools not facing NCLB sanctions. Postmatching logistic regression models identify the impact of NCLB sanctions. Findings/Results Although I find no evidence that informal sanction affected principal turnover, the impact is significantly moderated by principals’ job experience, Title I school status, and the percent of non-White students. The first-year NCLB sanction does not appear to have affected principal turnover. However, this finding needs to be interpreted with caution because of the way the NCLB sanction system is structured and the small sample sizes. A descriptive analysis of the relationship between the second-year NCLB sanction and beyond, and principal turnover suggests that principals tend to leave their schools when they face NCLB sanctions. Finally, I find that principals transfer away from Title I schools, transfer to schools with a smaller number of high-needs students, and take positions at district central offices, regardless of whether they face NCLB sanctions. Collectively, NCLB sanctions appear to have impacted principal turnover. Conclusions/Recommendations The results from this study have policy implications. They suggest that policy makers should provide professional support and adequate resources for principals, especially inexperienced principals, who work at low-performing schools and face sanctions. Moreover, policy makers should develop and embed a policy in new accountability systems that addresses inequity in the distribution of principal quality.

Adequate Yearly Progress in Small Rural Schools and Rural Low-Income Schools

Adequate yearly progress (AYP) on No Child Left Behind criteria was examined for a randomly selected sample of districts that qualify for the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). The sample involved 10% of districts that were eligible for the Small Rural Schools Achievement (SRSA) program and 10% that were eligible for the Rural and Low-income Schools (RLIS) program. Based on district reports, nearly 80% of SRSA schools made AYP, 11% failed, and 11% did not have adequate data. For schools in the RLIS program, districts reported that 65% made AYP, 29% failed, and 6% did not report adequate data. The SRSA and RLIS samples had different patterns for the categories of students that did not make AYP. Also, SRSA and RLIS districts were differentially distributed across the United States. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Recommendations from the North Star State

Administrators in America’s rural school districts are uniquely challenged to meet increased achievement expectations despite decreasing resources. Mandated reform initiatives, population decline, and the complex formulas used to distribute tax-based funding have disproportionately affected rural schools. In this mixed-methods study, researchers first surveyed K-12 administrators and then conducted focus groups across six regions in Minnesota to determine the nature of the challenges specific to rural administrators and to document their perceived needs for interventions, training, and policy changes. The study identified two categories of common concern: student achievement and fiscal management. Within the category of student achievement, administrators identified four areas of need for assistance: testing and adequate yearly progress, achievement for all, staff and professional development, and data analysis. Within the category of fiscal management, needs for assistance included balancing budgets and transportation/sparsity policy. Analysis of the data gathered indicates statewide implications for professional development and policy review.

Weighted multiple testing procedure for grouped hypotheses with k-FWER control

In this paper, k-FWER (generalized familywise error rate) control for grouped hypotheses testing is considered. We offer the weights for the p-values in each group, by maximizing an objective function, which is the expectation of the proportion of rejected hypotheses. This objective function utilizes not only the information of the proportion of true null hypotheses, but also the null and non-null distributions of the p-values in each group. When this information is known prior, our weighted testing procedure controls k-FWER for arbitrarily dependent p-values. When this information is unknown, and is estimated from the data, our procedure asymptotically controls k-FWER under the weak dependence assumption of the p-values in each group. The new procedure is shown to be more powerful than some existing procedures both in theory and simulations. For illustration, the proposed procedure is applied to analyse the adequate yearly progress data.

Principals’ Working Conditions, Job Stress, and Turnover Behaviors Under NCLB Accountability Pressure

Purpose: Many studies have investigated the impact of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and its sanctions on students and teachers. Little research, however, has systematically examined the relationship between NCLB and its sanctions and school principals. Given the importance of school leadership and the accountability systems implemented at different levels of government, there has been a need for research that examines how school leaders behave under the accountability pressure. Research Method: Using the Schools and Staffing Survey data, the Principal Follow-up Survey data, and detailed school-level adequate yearly progress (AYP) and assessment data systematically collected from 45 states, I investigate the association between NCLB sanctions and principals’ working conditions, job stress level, and turnover behaviors. I use a distance variable as a key matching variable in propensity score matching and estimate the association. Findings: I find strong evidence that NCLB sanctions are associated with a higher level of principals’ job stress and a higher turnover rate. These findings hold even after controlling for the influence of state accountability systems. I do not find evidence that these associations are moderated by principal or school characteristics. I also find little evidence that job stress is a mediator of the relationship between NCLB sanctions and principal turnover. Implications: Sanction-based accountability pressure appears to make the principalship more stressful and lead to turnover. Policy makers currently redesigning state and local accountability systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act may include support programs for school leaders to reduce their job stress level and retain them for a longer period of time.

Assessing the Influence of No Child Left Behind on Gifted Education Funding in Texas: A Descriptive Study

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has defined the past 15 years of public K-12 education. An incentive structure built around adequate yearly progress created an environment that was not aligned with gifted education. Texas, with over 11% of the total identified gifted population in the United States, state funding for gifted, and incentivized identification policies, made an ideal case study to analyze the ramifications of NCLB on gifted education. This article explores how Texas responded to NCLB and that response’s influence on district-level funding for gifted education. In total, 16 years of financial and enrollment data were analyzed for the 1,025 public school districts in Texas using the frame work of a longitudinal mixed model. Results indicated that there was an annual decline in the percentage of budget allocated to gifted education of 0.04 percentage points for rural school districts, 0.08 for suburban, 0.07 for town, and 0.05 for urban.

Orienting Schools Toward Equity: Subgroup Accountability Pressure and School-Level Responses

This article examines school-level responses to subgroup accountability pressure through an ethnographic case study of a school cited for failing to make adequate yearly progress for student subgroups. Concerns about the calculations and measures used to derive the citation and reservations about acting on accountability data delegitimized the citation and rendered the identified subgroups irrelevant to daily practice. Under district guidance, compliance with subgroup accountability was independent of the school's internal efforts to promote equity.

Accountability pressure: Regression discontinuity estimates of how No Child Left Behind influenced student behavior

In this paper we examine how failing to make adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the accountability pressure that ensues, affects various non-achievement student behaviors. Using administrative data from North Carolina and leveraging a discontinuity in the determination of school failure, we examine the causal impact of this form of accountability pressure both on student behaviors that are incentivized by NCLB and on those that are not. We find evidence that, as NCLB intends, pressure encourages students to show up at school and to do so on time. Accountability pressure also appears to have the unintended effect, however, of increasing the number of student misbehaviors. Further, we find some evidence that this negative response is most pronounced among minorities and low performing students: those who are the most likely to be left behind.

Like Driving From “the Back Seat”: Teaching English as a Second Language in Commodified Curricular Terrains

Contemporary K–12 standards‐based educational reform has emerged as a central focus of scholarship in TESOL, with robust discussions (practical and theoretical) addressing the shift from ESL as a subject matter unto itself to teaching standards‐based content in English (and the standardized assessment of students' achievement across those content areas, including literacy and reading). However, relatively few studies have examined how veteran ESL professionals understand themselves and what their work accomplishes in instructional contexts where literacy and literacy test scores have emerged as the gold standard of adequate yearly progress. In this qualitative narrative, the researchers draw from a 7‐month study of an ESL teacher and her first‐grade colleagues' negotiation of a balanced literacy program. Analysis reveals that for this teacher the schoolwide adoption of “balanced literacy” created tensions between what she was expected to do and who she wanted to be or even was capable of being. It was only with great reluctance and even sadness that she realized that if she were to stay at her school and enact her professional functions with any degree of credibility, she would have to reconsider what teaching ESL could encompass. The authors conclude with implications for TESOL preservice and in‐service teacher education.

University−Urban High School Partnership: Math and Science Professional Learning Communities

This study focused on science and math professional learning communities (PLCs) that were implemented through a university‐urban high school partnership. These PLCs were part of mandated school‐wide, content‐based PLCs implemented as part of the reform efforts initiated in an urban school to address the school's failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for four years consecutively and low graduation rate (less than 25%) for male students. The key issues were (a) students had continually earned low test scores; (b) there was continuous principal turnover; (c) faculty morale was at an all‐time low, and the quality of teaching was very poor; and (d) the students were not effectively disciplined. The study examined the impact that university faculty‐led mandated PLCs have on teachers' practices and students' learning and achievement. Analysis of data revealed practices that were effective in developing and implementing these successful math and science PLCs. Three themes emerged: ethics of care, teacher agency, and aesthetics of professional interactions. Each theme contained key features that appeared to contribute to the implementation of a successful PLC.

School Accountability and Residential Location Patterns: Evaluating the Unintended Consequences of No Child Left Behind

The 2002 to 2015 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is often considered the most significant federal intervention into education in the United States since 1965 with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. There is growing evidence that holding schools accountable is leading to some improved educational outcomes for students. There is in contrast very little work examining whether these sweeping reforms have unintended consequences for the communities which these schools are serving. As school attendance, particularly at the elementary school level, is closely tied to one’s residence, placing sanctions on a school could have negative repercussions for neighborhoods if it provides new information on school failure. In contrast, if these sanctions also bring new resources, including financial resources or school choice, they could spark additional demand within a neighborhood. Through the use of restricted access census data, which includes local housing values, rents and individual residential choices in combination with the use of a boundary discontinuity identification strategy, this paper seeks to examine how failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the key enforcement mechanism of NCLB, is shaping local housing markets and residential choices in five diverse urban school districts: New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit and Tucson.

An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (a): Superintendent Pamela Moran

The superintendent's A case has Pamela Moran concerned about losing one of her up-and-coming administrative stars, who had accepted the position of principalship at Greer two years earlier. Moran had also heard whispers that she may lose a former TFA educator and a seasoned principal in a middle-class school because of his desire to lead in a more challenging environment. What should she do about the principal who was struggling and the principal who was bored? Would it make sense to offer the at-risk school leadership position to the ex-TFA principal? And if he accepted, what expectations would she set for him? And what about the school? What level of support should Moran provide Greer relative to the other 27 schools in the district? This case has been taught in an executive education school turnaround program for district administrators and principals. It could also be used in a first-year MBA leadership and organizational behavior course as an introduction on creating value through people-management and design. Excerpt UVA-OB-1006 August 30, 2010 AN ENTREPRENEUR IN THE EDUCATIONAL WORLD (A): SUPERINTENDENT PAMELA MORAN The irony, that Mary C. Greer Elementary in Charlottesville Virginia was named after a woman of color who devoted her life to educating youth, and that economically disadvantaged students at the school, many of whom were also of color, consistently failed to achieve ratings necessary to pass the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks in either reading and mathematics or both, was not lost on Albemarle County School Superintendent Pamela Moran. Nor was the staffing problem she found herself thinking about during the spring of 2007. One of her most passionate, well-liked, and promising administrative stars had accepted the position of principalship at Greer two years earlier, and Moran was worried she was going to lose her because of that experience. In addition, Moran had heard whispers that she may also lose a former Teach for America (TFA) educator and a seasoned principal in a middle-class school because of his desire to lead in a more challenging environment. What should she do about the principal who was struggling and the principal who was bored? Would it make sense to offer the at-risk school leadership position to the ex-TFA principal? And if he accepted, what expectations would she set for him? And what about the school? What level of support should Moran provide Greer relative to the other 27 schools in the district? . . .

Has NCLB Encouraged Educational Triage? Accountability and the Distribution of Achievement Gains

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has been criticized for encouraging schools to neglect students whose performance exceeds the proficiency threshold or lies so far below it that there is no reasonable prospect of closing the gap during the current year. We examine this hypothesis using longitudinal data from 2002–03 through 2005–06. Our identification strategy relies on the fact that as NCLB was phased in, states had some latitude in designating which grades were to count for purposes of a school making adequate yearly progress. We compare the mathematics achievement distribution in a grade before and after it became a high-stakes grade. We find in general no evidence that gains were concentrated on students near the proficiency standard at the expense of students scoring much lower, though there are inconsistent signs of a trade-off with students at the upper end of the distribution.

A Grant Project to Initiate School Counselors’ Development of a Multi-Tiered System of Supports Based on Social-Emotional Data

This article reports on an Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program (ESSCP) grant project designed to build an elementary school counseling program in a district that previously had not employed school counselors at that level. The new school counseling program was organized around an innovative shift in the district's multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) model that expanded to integrate social-emotional and behavioral data with academic indicators. School counselors used the new social-emotional data to help answer the question of why students were struggling academically when scholastic deficiencies were not the primary cause. The grant project also focused on developing strong data literacy skills among elementary school counselors so they could serve as leaders in data-based discussions. These complementary grant goals transformed the data team process as school counselors, teachers and administrators began to use data to better understand the complex relationship between social-emotional factors and academic achievement. These practices resulted in systemic changes throughout the district as data-driven elements of the elementary school counseling program were adopted at the secondary level. The purpose of this article is to: (a) highlight the importance of engaging in data-based decision making regarding students' social-emotional needs in schools, (b) provide an overview of the specific elements that comprised the new MTSS model in the school district as a part of this grant-funded project, and (c) underscore the importance of building human capacity to enable school-based data teams to meaningfully integrate academic and social-emotional data to promote improved student outcomes. Limitations of this project, directions for future research and implications for school counselors also are discussed.School Counselors and Social-Emotional DataSchool counselors are often advised to adopt a data-based decision-making model as part of their practice (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2012; Dimmitt, Carey, & Hatch, 2007). Accountability mandates require school counselors to use data to demonstrate the impact of their work and to link their interventions to academic achievement (Dahir & Stone, 2009: Isaacs, 2003; Sink & Stroh, 2003.) Moreover, data use also is central to the transformed model of school counseling, which positions school counselors as advocates in educational reform efforts such as closing the achievement gap and carrying out school improvement initiatives (Dahir, 2004; Hayes, Nelson, Tabin, Pearson, & Worthy, 2002; House & Hayes, 2002). However, institutional factors can limit the role of the school counselor in data-based decision making. Typically, data teams primarily (or even exclusively) consider academic indicators, and schools often lack the infrastructure to systematically collect the social-emotional data that more directly aligns with the work of the school counselor.Accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; 2002) have strongly influenced schools' approaches to data-based decision making (Mandinach, Honey, & Light, 2006; Marsh, Pane, & Hamilton, 2006). The pressure to demonstrate adequate yearly progress (AYP) has prioritized state standardized tests scores and other academic benchmark assessments in data-driven discussions. A tremendous amount of achievement data were routinely collected and housed by school districts to fulfill reporting demands of NCLB; these data will continue to be gathered under the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; 2015). School staff can access these data to guide instructional practices and measure student progress. However, these data are more directly linked to teachers' work with students and primarily measure academic achievement and cognitive ability (Heckman & Rubinstein, 2001).The role of the school counselor encompasses not only students' academic achievement but also their social-emotional development (ASCA, 2012). …

Performance Standards and Employee Effort: Evidence From Teacher Absences

AbstractThe 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) increased accountability pressure in U.S. public schools by threatening to impose sanctions on Title‐1 schools that failed to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) in consecutive years. Difference‐in‐difference estimates of the effect of failing AYP in the first year of NCLB on teacher effort in the subsequent year suggest that on average, teacher absences in North Carolina fell by about 10 percent. The probability of being frequently absent similarly decreased. These reductions in teacher absences were driven by within‐teacher increases in effort and by teachers in the bottom half of the effectiveness distribution. On average, only a modest amount of the achievement gains attributable to the increased accountability pressure are explained by the corresponding decline in teacher absences.

School Choice and Afrocentric Charter Schools: a Review and Critique of Evaluation Outcomes

In the context of twenty-first century educational reform efforts, school choice options have led to an increase in the number of Afrocentric charter schools. As a school choice option, charter schools that incorporate an Afrocentric approach are more prevalent in large urban school systems disproportionately populated by African-American children and youth. This study examined available data on the performance of Afrocentric charter schools based on their standardized statewide adequate yearly progress (AYP) status. Using systematic research methodology, a keyword search of research databases and internet search engines, 27 Afrocentric charter schools in the USA were identified. Twenty three of the schools met the criteria for analysis, and only 34 % of those schools achieved or exceeded statewide standards in testing and met their state’s AYP goals. Implications for future studies are discussed. The research team contends that Afrocentric charter schools must gain greater legitimacy, using standardized accountability measures, in order to become a credible school choice option to failing urban public schools.