EVIDENCE IN
THE NEWS
Report examines
research on design-
based school
improvement
DESIGN-BASED SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
tends to work best when extensive
supports are used to help teachers learn
well-specifi ed practices, according to a
report from the Consortium for Policy
Research in Education (CPRE).
The aim of CPRE’s research was to
understand the impact of design-based
school improvement on instruction and
student achievement. To accomplish this
goal, researchers followed three widely-
disseminated comprehensive school
reform programs (Accelerated Schools,
America’s Choice, and Success for All) for
four years. During the course of the study,
data – including program documents and
survey responses – were collected in 115
elementary schools in every region of the
United States. More than 5,300 teachers,
800 school leaders, and 7,500 students
and their families participated in the study.
No Child Left Behind
Accelerated Schools was described in
the study as non-prescriptive in nature.
For example, the study notes that the
Act linked to increased
program did not provide teachers with
a great deal of explicit guidance about
curriculum or teaching strategies. While
teachers in this program were most
math scores
likely to feel a sense of autonomy and
trust among faculty, the approach was THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT (NCLB) has sources, including previous studies, were
not found to produce any real changes increased math achievement, but there is used to categorize pre-NCLB accountability
in instruction. In turn, the study’s no evidence to suggest that is has done the policies across states.
preliminary analyses suggest that the same for reading achievement, according
program had very little effect on students’ to a study from the National Bureau of
Findings of the study showed
reading achievement. Economic Research.
The other two programs in the study To conduct the study, researchers
that NCLB generated large
were characterized by signifi cant examined student test score data from and statistically signifi cant
amounts of instructional guidance. the National Assessment of Educational
increases in the math
Teachers in America’s Choice received a Progress. Specifi cally, the impact of NCLB
curriculum guide and were taught a set was evaluated by comparing test-score
performance of 4th graders
of recommended instructional routines changes of a control group (states that
for teaching writing. Success for All gave already had school-accountability polices The sample size for the study included 39
schools a clear and well-defi ned reading in place prior to NCLB) to a treatment group states for 4th grade math, 38 states for 8th
curriculum that provided teachers with a (states that did not already have school- grade math, 37 states for 4th grade reading,
weekly lesson sequence and guidance on accountability policies in place). and 34 states for 8th grade reading.
teaching activities. Results of the study In order to be included in the control Findings of the study showed that NCLB
showed that these programs appeared group, a state’s pre-NCLB accountability generated large and statistically signifi cant
to change schools in ways that did system had to closely resemble polices increases in the math performance of
promote instructional change. As a result, subsequently shaped by NCLB. For example, 4th graders. There was also evidence of
the different instructional patterns led before the implementation of NCLB, states moderate positive effects in 8th grade math
to different, more successful student- in the control group had to be reporting achievement. On the contrary, no evidence
achievement patterns. on school performance data and attaching was found that NCLB increased reading
Consortium for Policy Research in the possibility of sanctions to school achievement in either 4th or 8th grade.
Education, August 2009 performance (e.g., ratings, takeover, closure, National Bureau of Economic Research,
www.sii.soe.umich.edu reconstitution, replacing the principal, November 2009
and/or allowing student mobility). Various www.nber.org
winter 2010 Better: Evidence-based Education 25
Better(US)Win10 pp24-25 News.indd 25 23/2/10 17:08:39
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