Student Achievement in High Poverty Schools : A Grounded Theory on School Success on Achievement Tests

ISBN-13: 9783639097900 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 180 str.

Chris Urso

Opis

An atmosphere of accountability and standardizationexists within public schools in the United States. The politically powerful have created a schoolingenvironment where curriculum, pedagogy and assessmentare exceedingly homogeneous. The logic thatunderpins this movement is framed in rhetoric thatacknowledges that many children have beenhistorically left behind within public education. The intent of this research project was to analyzeachievement tests results from schools located inhigh poverty communities. The first goal was toquantify the number of high poverty schools thatfound success on achievement tests. The secondpurpose was to develop a grounded theory that offeredinsights as to how success was attained. A third, andequally important focus of this research was tobetter understand how teachers and principalsinterpreted student success on achievement tests.What did success on achievement tests mean forstudents and their opportunity to realize theAmerican Dream? By utilizing social theory to groundthis research, the intent was to offer insights intosocial phenomena related to democracy, social justiceand student learning.