Source Note: “Methodological issues in achieving school accountability”

March 6, 2009 in Research Project

Title: “Methodological issues in achieving school accountability”

Summary: Analysis of growth models and performance on assessments leads education analysts that performance under accountability requirements may not directly correlate to the quality of the schools being evaluated.

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

Category: Academic; Journal article

Publication Information: Journal of Curriculum Studies, December 2008, Volume 40, Issue 6, p699-711

Author: Robert L. Linn

Location: EBSCOhost; Janus

Accessed: March 4, 2009

Support:

• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): Linn asserts that since “proficiency” is determined by the state, and not the federal government, no relationship can be discerned between the requirements themselves and students performance on the assessment, which utilizes a common set of standards regardless of the state.
• Adequate Yearly Progress: Linn argues that even though a year-to-year increase in performance for a given grade level obviously indicates improvement, there’s no basis for identifying the change as “growth.” Since the students in a specific grade level are different in any given year, there’s no way to isolate a constant study group which to track.

Audience and Agenda: The Journal of Curriculum Studies, published by Routledge (UK), is an international peer-reviewed academic journal with a focus on changes and innovation in educational curriculum. Due to it’s international scope, the journal regularly addresses education issues in the United States related to curriculum requirements and changes in instructional focus. 

Usefulness: Linn’s article addresses two of the widely cited benefits of NCLB–stringent curriculum requirements and tracking of educational growth. While Linn readily admits that stringent curriculum requirements can track improvement, he clearly demonstrates the disparity between year-to-year gains in performance and actual growth within a population. This provides support for the the argument that the requirements of No Child Left Behind are not in fact directly leading to cross-spectrum growth in academic proficiency.

Works cited:

“Journal of Curriculum Studies,” http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

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