ERIC Number: EJ1015322
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Jan-30
Pages: 36
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1068-2341
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Ecologies of Education Quality
Graue, M. Elizabeth; Delaney, Katherine K.; Karch, Anne S.
Education Policy Analysis Archives, v21 n8 Jan 2013
Accountability in education has prompted policy makers and practitioners to focus on data use for instructional and organizational decision-making. The popular media have seized on Value Added (VA) measures as a key type of data use for reforming U.S. schools. Among education researchers, however, there are both critics and proponents. We examined data use by the district leaders and staff members of 12 schools in a large urban district, with attention to the role VA metrics play in their decisions and their conceptions of themselves. VA is only one of many types of data that can be used to portray quality. While there was a soft relationship between VA and classroom quality measured by CLASS, we found that understanding the schools' contexts, particularly the use of resources and the coherence of actions to improve student achievement, greatly enhanced the power of our descriptions. As a result, we suggest that policies promoting multidimensional approaches to quality will better capture the complexity of education. (Contains 2 figures and 12 tables.)
Descriptors: Data, Decision Making, Educational Quality, Teacher Effectiveness, Achievement Gains, Academic Achievement, Urban Schools, School Districts, Classroom Environment, Elementary School Teachers, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Principals, Observation, Outcome Measures, Correlation, Educational Environment, Disadvantaged Schools, Mixed Methods Research, Semi Structured Interviews
Colleges of Education at Arizona State University and the University of South Florida. c/o Editor, USF EDU162, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620-5650. Tel: 813-974-3400; Fax: 813-974-3826; Web site: http://epaa.asu.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 3; Grade 4; Grade 5
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
IES Cited: ED552484
Author Affiliations: N/A