Over the past few years the state of Florida has achieved several notable accomplishments that some say are a result of recent education reforms.  Florida has recently moved from 11th to 6th in the nation for educational quality.  Florida is considered seventh in the nation for K-12 student achievement.  Not only has Florida improved graduation rates for Hispanic students, they are ranked number one in the nation.  Florida ranks second in the nation for participation in AP assessments and fifth in the nation in performance on those assessments.  Additionally, they have increased enrollment in accelerated science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM) courses by 46 percent (Florida Department of Education, 2014).  With data such as this, are education and policy leaders validated in making even more strenuous accountability rules and regulations that may present additional stresses on districts, principals, teachers, and students?

 

Recent reforms and decisions made by education and policy leaders in Florida, particularly high stakes testing and the accountability that accompanies them, have placed undesired stress on school leaders, teachers, and students.  Are theses decisions justified in making more strenuous accountability measures that place more regulations on those that are responsible for educating Florida’s youth?  Are students better off now than they were before high-stakes testing?  If Florida education and policy leaders are going to make appropriate, data driven decisions on education reform, those decisions should be based on longitudinal evidence that reflect positive outcomes for students.  More regulations and accountability may be what is best for students, it may not be, but how to determine that may be determined by conducting research that is based on student achievement.

 

Despite ones view on education reform, it is clear that measures still need to be made by education and policy leaders to make informed decisions on what should be done to move teaching and learning forward.  The questions remain, are recent reforms and decisions made by educational and policy leaders in Florida, particularly high stakes testing, correlated to African American student achievement in Florida?  Are theses decisions justified in making more strenuous accountability measures that place more regulations on districts, principals, teachers, and students?  Should new education reforms be more stringent, regulatory, and high-stakes?  Should teachers, administrators, and school districts have more accountability measures placed on them by education and policy leaders?  In the realm of accountability, high-stakes testing, and education reform, Florida is considered a leader.  Many states are looking to Florida to implement similar education reforms at scale in their school districts.  Because of the state’s size, which includes 72 school districts, 190,000 teachers and over 2.6 million students, Florida is an ideal testing ground for education reform.  Additionally, Florida has a unique population that includes rural, urban, and suburban school districts that cater to students with various education obstacles including culture, diversity, and poverty.  This literature review has been divided into four sections:  education reform, education policy, leadership and standardized testing.

 

Education Reform

 

According to James, Pate, Leech, Martin, Brockmeier, and Dees (2011), state department of educations are faced with the reality of diminished financial resources.  Policy, and decision makers need to know if spending in one area influences student achievement more than spending in another area.  After reviewing Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) financial analysis reports by system and student achievement data from 180 school systems for two years, totaling 360 cases, James et al (2011) determined that teacher salaries and benefits was the only predictor variable that had a significant positive effect on student achievement.

           

According to Ebersol (2010), America does not have the workforce it needs for the economy that it has. That was a conclusion of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education in 2006.  The Commission went on to note that if current trends are not reversed, the US economy and per capita income will actually decrease over the next 15 years, for the first time in US history.  Ebersol (2010) reported that America once led the world in the percentage of adult workers age 25-64 who have a degree, in 2006 the United States ranked 17th among those with a bachelor’s degree and is tied for 11th overall.  President Obama has set a national goal of increasing undergraduate degree completion by 60% by 2025.  According to the National Center for Higher Education Measurement Systems (NCHEMS), this level of degree production is necessary to maintain America’s competitive position within the knowledge-based global economy (Ebersole, 2010).  To address this emerging concern, many universities have begun to create degree completion programs focused at students who began college and were close to graduation but never finished.  In 2009, the Florida Legislature changed the name from the Florida Community College System to the Florida College System, reflecting the fact that some of its member institutions now offer four-year bachelors degrees.  Florida Senate bill 2682 defines the terms “Florida College” and “community college” by specifying the counties served by each Florida College and provides that Florida colleges may offer specified baccalaureate degree programs through agreements with regionally accredited postsecondary educational institutions.  Ebersole (2010) further reports that open-access colleges, such as those in the Florida College System, are responsible for the greatest gains in graduation rates over the past decade.

           

Lad (2008) reports that cross-cultural and international understanding and awareness on the part of Americans will be vital to effective United States leadership, national security, prosperity, and competitiveness in this century.  However, in spite of our current laws, the US lacks a coordinated, coherent, operational policy for educating students (Lad, 2008).  Further reports claim that it is necessary to establish educational policy as the basis for creating leadership preparation programs that ensure emerging school leaders possess the skills and dispositions necessary to be successful in a global economy and community (Lad, 2008).

           

Palmer (2011) stresses that policy changes should be made to influence the concept of flexible education.  The aspects and approaches to flexible education include but are not limited to flexibility in time, content, access and entry requirements, instructional design and approach, and delivery.  There are multiple rationales for wanting policy changes to accommodate non-conventional program delivery.  It has been argued that to be effective in a world based on capitalist and competitive economic productions systems, higher education needs to restructure its work practices and relationships to reflect this environment (Nunan, 1996).  Other rationales for flexibility include catering to students in a crowded higher-education marketplace, responding to the needs of industry and employers needing a more educated work force, and response to government reductions in education funding.  Other recommendations for policy pertaining to flexibility include pace, place, content, learning styles, assessment, collaboration, and staffing.

           

Simon (2010) proposes alternatives to current school an state level policies in order to ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn the Florida standards.  Simon (2010) reports that Florida schools consistently fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress. Title I schools which serve poor and predominately students of color comprise the majority of schools designated as needing improvement in Florida.  Black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, and English language learners overwhelmingly perform below grade level on Florida's high stakes assessment, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). 

 

Many oppose high stakes tests because of assumptions that these tests promote narrowing the curriculum (Barksdale-Ladd & Thomas, 2000). Test preparation and ancillary activities often result in reduced time for academic learning at high levels.  The author proposes alternatives to current school and state level policies in order to ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn the state curriculum.  Furthermore, the author places the burden of change that will meet the needs of Florida's children with the most need squarely on the shoulders of school leaders, including both teachers and administrators.  Major assumptions driving opposition to high stakes testing are that these assessments result in less time for teaching and learning as well as narrowing of the curriculum as teachers spend valuable instructional time focusing on test-preparation activities and content included on the test (Amrein and Berliner, 2002).  Simon (2010) recommends policy changes in assessment guidelines, reporting guidelines, and flexibility in assessment schedules.  Students in failing schools cannot afford to wait for changes in statewide policies.  Local educators must take immediate action to reform school structures and capacity on behalf of needy students (Simon, 2010).

 

Bodman, Taylor, and Morris (2012) argue that tensions exist between political, societal, and personal expectations about what teachers are expected to know and be able to do, leading to contested ideas about teachers’ professional roles.  According to Bodman et al (2012), there is a worldwide interest in the Finnish education system as both politicians and educators look for successful models.  What cannot be ignored about Finland is their investment in teachers.  Teachers have a seven-year course of study, having to attain a Master’s degree to be accredited, and are respected decision-makers with autonomy to adapt a loose national curriculum to suit the local needs of students.  They have dedicated time in the school schedule to collaborate with colleagues and also have access to continuing education classes throughout their careers.  According to Bodman et al (2012), internationally, the work of teachers and the range of skills and knowledge required are similar, although the particular needs of children are highly individual.  Bodman et al (2012) argue that the pathway to teachers re-claiming trust and respect and a capacity for developing and using professional knowledge is possible through coherent approaches to continuing professional learning.  Models of professional learning, which aim to build teachers’ interpretive and associative knowledge and privilege a conceptual rather than a linear approach, can equip teachers with well-informed educational practices.  This in turn enables greater agency and creativity on the part of the teacher and more effective learning outcomes for all pupils.  If American politician and education leaders want a model similar to Finland’s, substantial education reform and policies will have to take place in Florida.

           

After examining education policy and practice from the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965 to the present, McMurey (2013) stressed that never before has America been faced with a population group on the verge of becoming the majority that is also the lowest performing academically and that perhaps now is a good time to start looking at a well-rounded education reform as a basic civil right.  McMurey (2013) stresses the need for education reform by focusing on the economic costs of dropping out.  Students who drop out cost America more than $260 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity in their lifetimes.  The United States would save $41.8 billion dollars in health care costs if the 600,000 young people who dropped out in 2004 were to complete just one additional year of education.  Lastly, if only one third of high school dropouts were to earn a high school diploma, federal savings in reduced costs of food stamps, housing, assistance, and temporary assistance for needy families would amount to 10.8 billion annually.  McMurey (2013) further reports that there is a high school dropout crisis far beyond the imagination of most Americans, concentrated in urban schools and relegating many thousands of minority children to a life of failure.  This is a significant problem that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable populations in our country.  It is unacceptable that students dropping out of school should be allowed to continue as it is, without consistent and effective policies to guide students back into the system.  Although schools an districts are undertaking efforts to address the dropout crisis, there is a noticeable lack of state and federal polices aimed at reducing the dropout rate by any meaningful proportion in the near or distant future (McMurey, 2013).

           

Berryhill, Linney, and Fromewick (2009) focused on the need for policy changes in education because of the effects of education accountability on teachers.  Berryhill et al (2009) recommend policies that include a dramatic alteration of time and resources that create schools of professional practice in which there are opportunities for activities such as teacher study groups to discuss areas of professional interest and peer observations to critique strengths and weaknesses.  Berryhill et al (2009) recommends the possibility of accountability policies resulting in diminished job engagement has implications that policymakers should consider.  Principally, if teachers become emotionally exhausted, the long-term outcome may be leaving the profession or decreased commitment and enthusiasm.  Either result is unlikely to lead to what accountability policies seek: better-prepared students.  Making changes in individuals when the system is part of the problem leaves basic structures intact and is unlikely to affect the problem.  Therefore, policymakers should consider making changes for teachers rather than in teachers.  Teachers in the Berryhill et al (2009) study suggested having more opportunities to interact with legislators about education and policy.  State officials must provide an invitation and process in which teachers can provide input.  If they do not, they risk mistrusting the people they most need to make their policies work.  Giving teachers a means to have more policy input also makes policies more consistent. 

           

In their report, Levin, Gaskell, and Pollock (2007) focused on the three factors that shape inner-city education policy in Canada; the diminishing role of school boards, increasing population diversity education in schools, and the importance of unique and sometimes unexpected local events such as political party implications.  Since 1990, Canadian provinces have begun to reduce the number of school boards and they are moving from local governance of education to provincially controlled systems.  America has seen similar movements form increased state control to a unified movement of common standards across states.  Parallel to Canada’s provincial political scene, there are implications in Florida to education policy that will be dependent on which political party wins the upcoming gubernatorial election.  In 2010, the Southeast Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) provided in depth scans of state responses to the recent budge crisis in the area of education policy.  According to REL, Florida has continued to see fluctuations in the total appropriation for K-12 education with increases in 2009 and 2012- 2014; a factor that has not been widely advertised or discussed in Florida’s recent election.

 

Value Added Model

 

The State of Florida has committed to using value-added methods as a component of its teacher evaluation system as required by the Student Success Act (Senate Bill 736) as well as its Race to the Top proposal (RTTT). The value-added model (VAM) is applied to the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) in reading and mathematics across grades 3 through 10.  The Act and the RTTT application both require the use of student achievement test score data as one element of a teacher evaluation system. The role of the VAM is to differentiate teacher performance by using statistical models to measure student-learning growth and attribute this growth to specific teachers (FLDOE, 2012). Value-added modeling with educational test score data is the process of statistically analyzing student level test scores collected over a period of time with the intent of separating factors unique to students and schools from factors unique to a classroom teacher to attribute growth in student achievement to teachers and schools (FLDOE, 2012).

 

Much of the literature and research on VAM pertains to the statistical validity of the models themselves.  Amrein-Beardsley (2008) discovered flaws in the validity and methodology associated with education value-added assessment system (EVAAS).  This research suggested that the flaws must be addressed before widespread adoption of VAM systems.  In Tennessee, the VAM accounts for student background, however Ballou, Sanders & Wright (2004) research suggests a student’s history of test performance should be substituted for background variables. 

 

Ehlert, Koedel, Parsons & Podgursky (2014) research shows how VAM models that are less aggressive in controlling for student-background and schooling-environment information systematically assign higher rankings to more-advantaged schools, and to individuals who teach at these schools, furthering the argument of the validity of value added models.

         

The intended proposed research is a longitudinal analysis of a covariate adjusted linear regression value added model and its correlation to the socio-economic and ethnographic status of Florida schools.  This researchers concern is not with the validity of Florida’s value-added model but yet whether it accurately evaluates teachers who are employed at ethnically and economic diverse schools.

 

Education Policy

 

According to an updated analyses with the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) data on high-stakes testing and student achievement, there are strong positive correlations between the pressure index and NAEP performance in fourth grade math and weaker connections between pressure and fourth and eighth grade reading performance (Nichols, Glass, and Berliner, 2012).  The Accountability Pressure Index (APR) was used as a measure of state-level policy pressure for performance on standardized tests.  The research on the impact of high-stakes testing policies and student achievement was relatively inconclusive.  The overall correlation reveals that pressure is more connected with math achievement than with reading, but when it comes to math, pressure has no relationship to NAEP changes over time (Nichols et al (2012).  Transversely, pressure is positively associated with some student group gain scores in reading.  Nichols et al suggests a policy approach that focuses on the ways test-based instructional practices affected by accountability pressures impact students’ development, motivation, and achievement. 

 

Standardized Testing

 

Since 1994, a significant amount of research has been conducted on the impact of high-stakes testing and how they are used for accountability purposes.  Huddleston (2014) reports that there are some beneficial outcomes of high-stakes testing.  These benefits include more time teaching newer curriculum elements in math, identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses and attaining additional resources for students, extended school days including Saturdays for low-performing students, and using data for decision making.  Other benefits include teachers being encouraged by high-stakes testing to improve their instructional practice by working harder, trying new teaching approaches, and participating in professional development.  Teachers also were motivated to raise test scores because of their professional status and individual goals for their students (Finnigan and Gross, 2007).  The research documenting unintended consequences of high-stakes testing was just as widespread suggesting refinements in education policy.

           

To give an opposing view to education reform Hurley (2013) reports that numerous scholars claim that this is the worst of times for US public education and that the current corporate, accountability, and testing movement is disfiguring and disparaging public education.  However, even with this negative view on education reform, Hurley (2013) insists that schools’ problems could be addressed with additional policy reforms.  Even though Hurley (2013), in an extremist way, compares education to religious fundamentalism, he encourages true dialogue between administrators, state agencies, and parents.  Hurley (2013) also refers to the Finnish model as transformational and could guide conversation between educational fundamentalists and their opponents who advocate for a more philosophically grounded system.