Synopses & Reviews
Examines the impact of high stakes testing in four different statesShows how emphasis on math and English has affected subjects not traditionally tested, such as music and art
Synopsis
High schools are now the key institution in the schooling process. For low-income young people, these can be "make or break" years. Students who excel have the chance to continue on to elite universities, which increases their chances of future financial security. Educational reformers trying to increase and improve what high school students learn face stiff opposition from entrenched administration, swamped students, and teachers who have seen reforms come and go.
"The New Accountability" explores the current wave of school accountability reforms, wherein schools that perform poorly on standardized tests may face reorganization, a new principal, or even financial sanction. This important new study looks at the data behind "high-stakes testing" in Texas, New York, Kentucky and Vermont, and comes to some very important conclusions. It shifts the focus of the debate from how well high school graduates are prepared for college or work to the larger question of how many students are graduating in the first place, and how these stringent testing measures may affect those students on the edge.
Synopsis
Standard-based accountability has become a consistent buzzword emanating from the mouths of hopeful politicians-liberal and conservative-for almost twenty years. But does accountability work? The New Accountability explores the current wave of assessment-based school accountability reforms, which combine two traditions in American education-public accountability and student testing.
Table of Contents
Conditions and characteristics of assessment and accountability : the case of four states /Diana Rhoten ... et al. --Internal alignment and external pressure : high school responses in four state contexts /Elizabeth DeBray,Gail Parson,Salvador Avila --Outside the core : accountability in tested and untested subjects /Leslie Santee Siskin --Leadership and the demands of standards-based accountability /Richard Lemons,Thomas F. Luschei,Leslie Santee Siskin --Listening to talk from and about students on accountability /Melissa Chabrâan --The impact of accountability policies in Texas high schools /Martin Carnoy,Susanna Loeb,Tiffany L. Smith --When an irresistable force meets an immovable object : core lessons about high schools and accountability /Leslie Santee Siskin --Accountability and capacity /Richard Elmore.