STANDARDS AND ACCOUNTABILITY POLICY
OVERVIEW
CEPEG researchers are national leaders in studying the design, implementation, and effects of standards and accountability policies. Co-Director Morgan Polikoff is currently co-Principal Investigator on the Institute of Education Sciences-funded Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning, where he is leading work to develop and validate measures of teachers’ instruction. He is also leading a series of studies on the adoption and effects of curriculum materials, key levers for improving standards-aligned instruction. This follows on his decade of work studying the alignment of state assessments with standards, the quality of state tests and accountability policies, and teachers’ instructional responses to standards-based reform policies (including the equity implications of those responses). Co-Director Julie Marsh is leading work to understand California’s new Local Control Funding Formula and accountability and improvement efforts of the CORE districts, and has extensively studied policies targeting low-performing schools, such as school turnaround and performance-based incentive reforms.
A list of recent publications and projects is available below.
Accountability
Bingham, A, & Burch, P. (2017). Navigating Middle of the Road Reforms through Collaborative Community. Democracy and Education, 23(2), 1-10.
Burch, P and Good, A. (2014). Equal Scrutiny: Privatization and Accountability in Digital Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Burch, P. and Heinrich, C. (2016). Mixed Methods Research for Policy and Program Evaluation: Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Doorey, N. & Polikoff, M. (2016). Evaluating the Content and Quality of Next Generation Assessments. Retrieved from Thomas Fordham Institute website: https://edexcellence.net/publications/evaluating-the-content-and-quality-of-next-generation-assessments.
Marsh, J. (2012). The Micropolitics of Implementing a School-Based Bonus Policy: The case of New York City’s compensation committees. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 34(2): 164-184.
Marsh, J., Bush-Mecenas, S., & Hough, H. (2017). Learning from early adopters in the new accountability era: Insights from California’s CORE waiver districts. Educational Administration Quarterly, 53(3), 327-364.
Marsh, J. A., Farrell, C. C., Bertrand, M. (2016). Trickle-Down Accountability: How Middle School Teachers Engage Students in Data Use, Educational Policy, 30(2), 243-280.
McEachin, A., & Polikoff, M. S. (2012). We are the 5%: Which schools would be held accountable under a proposed revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act? Educational Researcher, 41(7), 243-251.
Polikoff, M., & Korn, S. (2019). School accountability. In J. G. Dwyer (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of children and the law. Published online before print.
Polikoff, M. S., Korn, S., & McFall, R. (2018). In need of improvement? Assessing the California Dashboard after one year. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University.
Polikoff, M. S., McEachin, A., Wrabel, S. L., & Duque, M. (2014). The waive of the future? School accountability in the waiver era. Educational Researcher, 43(1), 45-54.
Polikoff, M. S., & Wrabel, S. L. (2013). When is 100% not 100%? The use of safe harbor to make Adequate Yearly Progress. Education Finance and Policy, 8(2), 251-270.
Quinn, D.M., & Cooc, N. (2015, October 6). Science Test Score Gaps by Gender and Race/Ethnicity in Elementary and Middle School: Trends and Predictors [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.edpolicyinca.org/blog/science-test-score-gaps-gender-and-raceethnicity-elementary-and-middle-school-trends-and-predictors
Curriculum Materials
Burch, P., Good, A., Heinrich, C. J., & Wagner, C. (2014). Schools are Racing to Adopt Digital Tools Without Solid Evidence that They Boost Student Achievement. Retrieved from http://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/brief/schools-are-racing-adopt-digital-tools-without-solid-evidence-they-boost-student-achievement
Koedel, C., Li, D., Polikoff, M.S., Hardaway, T., & Wrabel, S. (2017). Mathematics Curriculum Effects on Student Achievement in California. AERA Open, 3(1), 1-22.
Polikoff, M. S. (2018). The challenges of curriculum materials as a reform lever. Brookings Evidence Speaks Reports, 2(58), 1-11.
Polikoff, M. S. (2015). How well aligned are textbooks to the Common Core Standards in mathematics? American Educational Research Journal, 52(6), 1185-1211.
Polikoff, M. S., Campbell, S. E., & Korn, S. A. (2018). Using quantitative and qualitative methods to study the content and effects of curriculum materials. In C. R. Lochmiller (Ed.), Complementary research methods for educational leadership (pp. 193-212). New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Polikoff, M. S., Zhou, N., & Campbell, S. E. (2015). Methodological choices in the content analysis of textbooks for measuring alignment with standards. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 34(3), 10-17.
Standards
Burch, P. (2014). The Role of Vendors in the Implementation of CCSS: A First Look, Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 11(1), 37-40.
Polikoff, M. S. (2013). Teacher education, experience, and the practice of aligned instruction. Journal of Teacher Education, 64(3), 212-225.
Polikoff, M. S. (2012). The association of state policy attributes with teachers’ instructional alignment. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 34(3), 278-294.
Polikoff, M.S. (2012). Instructional alignment under No Child Left Behind. American Journal of Education, 118(3), 341-368.
Polikoff, M. S., Hardaway, T., Marsh, J., & Plank, D. (2016). Who is opposed to Common Core and why? Educational Researcher, 45(4), 263-266.
Polikoff, M. S., & Porter, A. C. (2014). Instructional alignment as a measure of teaching quality. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36(4), 399-416.
Polikoff, M. S., Porter, A. C., & Smithson, J. (2011). How Well Aligned Are State Assessments of Student Achievement with State Content Standards?, American Educational Research Journal, 48(4), 965-995.
Accountability
Implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula. William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Stuart Foundation, and Kabcenell Foundation. Co-Principal Investigator Julie Marsh, 2016-2019. This project is documenting the implementation of LCFF in California, drawing on case studies of local school systems and surveys. The research has focused on how resource allocation decisions are made at the local level, how funds are used to address the needs of target student groups and advance equity goals, how community stakeholders are engaged in the development of local accountability plans, and the extent to which LCFF is advancing the implementation of state standards.
Never Judge a Book By Its Cover, Use Student Achievement Instead. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Co-Principal Investigator Morgan Polikoff (Principal Investigator Jon Fullerton), 2016-2018. This project investigates the implementation and effects of elementary mathematics in two ways. First, state-representative surveys of teachers are collecting data on teachers’ use of textbooks and supplementary curriculum materials. Second, value-added methods are used to investigate the impact of particular textbooks on student achievement in elementary mathematics.
PACE-CORE Accountability System Evaluation. Bechtel Foundation. Co-Principal Investigator Julie Marsh (with Heather Hough). 2015 – 2018. This project is part of a partnership between Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) and the CORE Districts and is focused on producing research that informs continuous improvement in the CORE Districts and policy in California and beyond. The research has examined the CORE District activities, including the implementation of CORE’s performance measures and collaborative capacity building efforts, policies and practices that support high levels of reported social-emotional learning and positive culture/climate for students, and the use of improvement science in networked improvement communities.
Curriculum Materials
Complex Equations: Algebra Instruction in the Common Core Era. WT Grant Foundation. Principal Investigator Morgan Polikoff (Co-Principal Investigator Thurston Domina), 2014-2017. This three-year project investigates the instructional changes happening in middle school mathematics during the Common Core transition. There are three main activities: 1) interviews of 8th grade mathematics teachers in 32 randomly-selected California districts to understand their standards implementation, 2) quasi-experimental analyses of the student achievement effects of middle school math textbooks, and 3) content analyses of 8th grade mathematics textbook before and after the Common Core.
Standards
Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL). Institute of Education Sciences, R&D Center on Standards in Schools. Co-Principal Investigator Morgan Polikoff (Principal Investigator Andrew C. Porter), 2015-2020. This five-year project investigates the implementation and effects of “college-and-career-ready standards” across the nation. USC researchers are leading a measurement study to design and test survey measures of teachers’ instruction. The broader project includes state-representative surveys of teachers’ implementation of standards and an experimental impact study of an intervention designed to improve the alignment of teachers’ instruction with standards.
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