This paper explores the ways in which music educators have allowed others outside of music education to name who and how they are in the world. Often comfortable with voicing advocacy and purpose from the status of second class citizen, music educators are complicit in the very processes of reproduction they wish to challenge. Seeking to address…

It is generally thought that evaluation originated with the civil service exams that were administered in ancient China. However, modern evaluation and, of particular importance to this article, evaluation standards, originated in the United States. Why this occurred is part of a larger question about the development of social and educational…

This paper contributes to the debate over how the federal government can best help state and local authorities improve student achievement by providing examples from other countries of innovations in the role of the national government. The authors believe that the degree to which foreign policy structures parallel those of the United States are…

Policymakers and educators around the nation are wrestling with an important challenge--how to raise expectations for high school achievement, while increasing relevance and engagement in learning to keep students in school. Career and technical education (CTE) is receiving renewed attention as a strategy for increasing school engagement and rigor…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) requires states and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) to define and determine whether schools are making adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward meeting the goal of 100 percent academic proficiency. To address tribes' needs for cultural preservation, NCLBA allows tribal groups to…

Studies generally undergo an evaluation process before they are accepted for publication in an academic journal, presented at a conference, or released by a think tank. This article discusses the release of unreviewed research that sparks debate over the need for tighter peer-review mechanisms. Researchers from two of the nation's most eminent…

Recently, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) revised its standards for annual gifts and campaigns. The purpose was to erase ambiguities, establish tighter definitions for certain types of gifts, and ensure greater clarity about best management practices. In addition, the effort created a reliable database of campaign…

The current school reform era has moved through a series of phases, coupling state centralization with a focus on school-level change at each step. Yet this era of reform also has a deeper history. Its deeper history reveals the dynamics that would plague the school reform era until the present day. While the school reform era seemed to focus on…

Background/Context: The nationwide preoccupation with accountability continues to grow, with teacher credentialing programs facing growing scrutiny through state-mandated accountability systems. In response to Senate Bill 2042 passed by the California state legislature in 1998, the California Commission for Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) established…

Using John Kingdon's (2003) multiple streams approach to agenda setting, I analyze how key actors within the state of Wisconsin understood the need to construct and implement the state's No Social Promotion statutes to improve students' academic performance. Policymakers within the state focused their standards-based reforms on the issue of…

The purpose of this report is to help in the evolution of these systems by examining the measures used, including, but not limited to, tests. The author asks: Are these the best measures? Are they used right? Are there other measures that should be employed? It is the model of reform itself that is examined, and the report does not address…

In the early 1990s, states began establishing standards in academic subjects backed by test-based accountability systems to see that the standards were met. Incentives were implemented for schools and students based on pupil test scores. These early accountability systems paved the way for passage of landmark federal legislation, the No Child Left…

The Educational Policy Reform Research Institute (EPRRI) and the US Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) held a policy symposium entitled "Ensuring Accountability for All Children in an Era of Standards-Based Reform: Alternate Achievement Standards" February 4-6, 2004 at the Crystal City Marriott in Arlington,…

Characterizing this special "Kappan" section on test-based accountability as a cautionary plea, this article sees five themes: tests seldom measure what matters; standardization gets confused with standards; tests constitute a limited reform lever; test-based accountability plans often misplace trust and protection; and the…

Standards, designed to identify and measure the "value added of schooling," are instrumental, not an end in themselves. Every school district needs an academic audit, a systematic way to examine and analyze academic performance by relevant categories. Its purpose is to improve the allocation of district resources to increase academic…