Power and Control at State and National Levels: Political Party Platforms and High- Stakes Testing Chapter 9 ©2012 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights

Power and Control at State and National

Levels:Political Party Platforms and High-

Stakes Testing

Chapter 9

©2012 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

9-2

The federal government exerts indirect influence over education by:

• Providing federal money to support a particular educational program (categorical aid);

• Attaching federal regulations to federal programs;

• Using federal agents to influence educational practices or to create model programs;

• Forcing schools to comply with civil rights legislation to receive federal funding;

• Funding only select educational research.

©2012 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

9-3

The National Defense Education Act (NDEA):

• Major Cold War education legislation which targeted funds for specific purposes, such as improving mathematics, science, and foreign language instruction


9-4

The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA):

• Tied education to the War on Poverty by targeting funds for reading and arithmetic programs that would supposedly provide equality of educational opportunities for students from low-income families


9-5

State-level functions regarding education:

• Establishing academic standards and curriculum guidelines for local school districts

• Testing students for achievement of academic standards

• Testing teachers as part of the licensing procedure• Licensing of teachers• Enacting laws that affect the content of instruction• Providing funds to local school districts


9-6

Major Parties’ Political Platforms

• Republicanso Review of federal role in educationo Promote school choiceo Disregard collective bargaining agreements

• Democratso Oppose choice plans that include religious schoolso Recognition of collective bargaining agreementso Expansion of federally funded preschool programs


9-7

President Obama's "Race to the Top"

• States must meet the following criteria to get federal funds from the 2009 stimulus package:o Adopt internationally-benchmarked standards and

assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace

o Recruit, develop, retain, and reward effective teachers and principals

o Build data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices

o Turn around lowest-performing schools


9-8

No Child Left Behind mandates:

• Schedule, target populations, and reporting procedures for high-stakes testing and academic standards

• Determination of schools’ adequate yearly progress based on test data

• Schools not making adequate yearly progress can receive funds for improvement; parents of children at those schools are to be allowed school choice


9-9

High-stakes testing affects:

• Teacher compensation• Real estate prices• Classroom instructional time• Profits for test-making companies• Nationalization of public schools


9-10

Motivational theory behind high-stakes testing:

• Fear of failure will cause students to study.• Worried about their evaluations by school administrators,

teachers will focus on instruction to keep their students from performing poorly on high-stakes tests.

• Worried about their evaluations, principals will work to ensure that teachers prepare students for high-stakes tests.

• Worried about their jobs and public images, superintendents will work to ensure that each school receives high test scores.


9-11

NCLB: Testing Students with Disabilities

• States must make adaptations and accommodations for students with disabilities necessary to measure academic achievement relative to state standards

• 2005 guidelines allow states to use modified standards and tests for students with disabilities


9-12

NCLB: Testing English-language Learners

• Provisions allow for reasonable accommodations for limited English proficient students, including testing in students’ native languages for their first three years in the U.S.

• Some schools unable to offer native-language tests claim this endangers the average annual progress measurements of their schools


9-13

Nichols, Glass and Berliner on High-Stakes Testing

• Problems of high-stakes testing will disproportionately affect minority students

• High-stakes testing is negatively associated with 8th and 10th graders continuing to 12th grade

• Increases in testing pressure are related to more students being held back or dropping out

• Increased testing pressure produced no gains in reading scores at the 4th or 8th grade level

• Prior increases in testing pressure were weakly linked to increases in math achievement for 4th graders


9-14

Cheating on High-Stakes Tests under NCLB

• School administrators erase incorrect responses on students’ answer sheets and substitute correct answers

• Teachers allow more time than test instructions require

• Teachers supply students with hints about which answers are correct

• Test preparation sessions use actual test items


9-15

Goodman: Ten Alarming Facts About No Child Left Behind

1. The long- and short-term effects of NCLB will be devastating … the ultimate goal is to privatize American education.

2. Within a neoconservative movement to privatize all aspects of American society, a heavily funded and well-organized campaign has created NCLB to destroy public education…

3. NCLB is driving both students and teachers out of education.4. NCLB centralizes control of every aspect of American education.5. NCLB defines what is and isn’t science.6. NCLB makes scores on mandatory tests the basis of all major

decision-making in the schools.7. The law requires busing of pupils, at district expense, from non-

improved schools to other schools.8. NCLB controls who may teach and not teach.9. Enforcement of NCLB employs blacklists.10.NCLB violates the Constitution, which leaves education to the

states.


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Power and Control at State and National Levels: Political Party Platforms and High- Stakes Testing Chapter 9 ©2012 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights