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High Stakes Accountability

Implications for Resources and Capacity

Edited by:
Jennifer King Rice, University of Maryland
Christopher Roellke, Stetson University

A volume in the series: Research in Education Fiscal Policy and Practice. Editor(s): Kieran M. Killeen, University of Vermont. Thomas Downes, Tufts University.

Published 2009

In this third volume of Research in Education Fiscal Policy and Practice, editors Jennifer King Rice and Christopher Roellke have assembled a diversity of research studies focused on the current policy environment of high stakes accountability and how this context has impacted educators and students at multiple levels of the system. This effort to leverage student performance through high stakes reform has accelerated and intensified considerably since the 2002 reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly referred to as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).In order for high stakes accountability reforms to realize their stated aims, targeted schools must have or acquire the resources and capacity to meet prescribed performance standards (Hess, 1999; Malen & Rice, 2005; Mintrop, 2003, 2004; Wong, et al., 1999), yet little systematic research has been assembled to document the implications of high stakes accountability systems on the resources and capacity of schools and school systems. This book aims to fill that gap.

With this in mind, authors were asked to pay specific attention to challenges school systems confront as a result of NCLB and other high stakes reforms. The contributing authors were asked to think of policymakers and practitioners at local, state, and national levels as the intended audiences for their work. Our contributors responded with a collection of studies examining the relationship between high stakes reform and school district staffing, the recruitment and distribution of high quality teachers, curriculum making, and the provision of supplemental educational services to children. Our book is organized into three sections. The first provides a framework for assessing the impact of high stakes accountability policy on school capacity and also addresses implementation challenges at both state and local levels. The second section focuses on the impact of federal and state policymaking on teacher staffing and workplace conditions. The final section includes three chapters that provide a range of critiques on federal policymaking, including legal challenges to NCLB.

CONTENTS
About the Contributors. Introduction. Leveraging Student Performance through High Stakes Reform , Jennifer King Rice and Christopher Roellke. Part I: Capacity for Implementing High Stakes Accountability Policies. A Framework for Assessing the Impact of Education Reforms on School Capacity: Insights from Studies of High-stakes Accountability Initiatives, Betty Malen and Jennifer King Rice. No Child Left Behind Reforms and the State Administrative Response, Gail Sunderman and Gary Orfield. The Road to Supplemental Services: Challenges to Implementation, Christine Padilla. Part II: Teachers and High Stakes Accountability. Are We There Yet? The Distribution of Highly Qualified Teachers Post-NCLB, Tammy Kolbe and Jennifer King Rice. Bolstering Capacity for Heightened State and Federal Standards? An Exploration of National, State, and School District Staffing Trends, 1986-2003, John Sipple. Teacher Quality vs. Teacher Qualifications: The Impact of NCLB, Jennifer King Rice and Christopher Roellke. Part III: Accountability Tension Across the System: Balancing Federal, State and Local Interests. Federal Curriculum Policy in the States, Dalia Hochman. After Five Years: Revisiting the Cost of No Child Left Behind, William Mathis. Legal challenges to NCLB: The Connecticut Case, Deborah Temkin and Christopher Roellke. Conclusion. High Stakes Accountability: Lessons Learned and Implications for Research, Jennifer King Rice and Christopher Roellke.

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