The Rhode to Turnaround? The Impact of Being Just Labeled as Low-Performing Under No Child Left Behind Waivers

• In Event: 52.085 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: 52.085-4 - Accountability Policies at the Local, State, and National Levels

Abstract

While earlier papers have investigated the impact of accountability policies that did not provide a prescriptive approach to school improvement, new requirements under the federal governments’ waivers to the requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), provide a novel setting in which to evaluate the impact of accountability policy. Using student- and school-level data from Rhode Island, we compare the subsequent performance and behavior of students in school just below and above the threshold used to require prescriptive interventions to estimate the impact of facing such interventions. We find that the subsequent performance students at the lowest end of the performance distribution suffers under these interventions, with no clear effects on the average student.

Authors

• Shaun Michael Dougherty, University of Connecticut

• Jennie Weiner, University of Connecticut