Source Note: “Standards-Based Accountability under No Child Left Behind”

March 1, 2009 in Research Project

Title: “Standards-Based Accountability Under No Child Left Behind”

Summary: The Rand Corporation’s study of standards-based accountability reveals plenty of motivation and effort to meet federal proficiency and accountability requirements, but also a lack of of understanding and logistical support.

Topic: Should the Obama Administration reform the No Child Left Behind Act?

Category: Institutional; For-Profit Think Tank; Research Study

Publication Information: Rand Corporation, 2007

Author: Laura S. Hamilton, Brian M. Stecher, Julie A. Marsh, Jennifer Sloan McCombs, Abby Robyn, Jennifer Lin Russell, Scott Naftel, Heather Barney

Location: Rand.org

Accessed: February 2nd, 2009

Support: 

● National Assessment of Title I, March 2005: The assessment confirmed that states have been actively attempting to meet federal requirements for standards-based accountability, with all states with schools having been identified as in need of improvement having implemented some framework to support those schools. 

● California results of 2004 Implementing Standards-Based Accountability survey: The survey revealed overwhelming dissatisfaction with the proficiency requirements of NCLB. 81% of elementary school teachers and 85% of middle school teachers in the state of California felt that the state and federal standards required more material than they could adequately cover. 52% of elementary school teachers and 55% of middle school teachers also stated that the accountability guidelines imposed by the state under federal requirements were simply too difficult to understand.

Audience and Agenda: The Rand Corporation is a private think-tank that is often contracted by the U.S. federal government to conduct research and analysis of public policy. Traditionally, a large portion of the Rand Corporation’s research has been in the area of defense and foreign relations, causing it to be typecast as a center-right/conservative institution. The Quantcast audience profile for Rand.org indicates a gender split of 50/50 in readership, with 42% having a college education and 26% holding a graduate degree. Other websites commonly viewed by readers of Rand.org include those of conservative think tanks such as the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation, as well as academic publishing firms such as Oxford Journals and Sage Publications.

Usefulness: The Rand Corporation’s study of standards-based accountability illustrates how the difficulties public educators are experiencing meeting the federally-mandated, state-imposed requirements are occurring even as their respective states have implemented compliance-assistance mechanisms. This can be used as a refutation to the argument that failure to meet federal goals under NCLB is primarily due to a lack of state support in administrative areas.

Works cited:

“rand.org – Quantcast Audience Profile,” http://www.quantcast.com/rand.org

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