AUGUST 2007 HOT TOPICS

No Child Left Behind: Assessing the Impact of Educational Options for Title I Schools

When Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001, it established a bold goal that all children in U.S. public schools be proficient in reading and math by 2014, and created accountability mechanisms for states, school districts and schools intended to steer those institutions toward progress. NCLB also created two new educational options for parents whose children attend schools receiving Title I assistance that are identified for improvement through the new accountability systems. Schools are identified for improvement if they have not made adequate yearly progress toward meeting state standards for two or more years.

The first option, available to parents if the child's school is in year 1 or later of identified-for-improvement status, is to transfer the child to a school that has not been identified for improvement. The second option, available to parents if the child's school is in year 2 or beyond of such status, is to allow low-income parents to enroll their child in supplemental educational services—such as tutoring, remediation, or other academic instruction—offered by a state-approved provider.

As part of a federally funded study of NCLB's effects, RAND researchers, in collaboration with others, analyzed who chose to participate in each option and how each option affected student achievement in nine large, urban school districts across the country.

They found that supplemental educational services—Option 2—had a statistically significant positive effect on student achievement in both reading and math in most districts.

However, researchers did not find an achievement effect associated with participating in Title I school choice—Option 1—but the number of participants in most districts was quite small. This suggests the need for caution in interpreting the absence of observed effect—that participation rates might still be too low for effects to be identified.

Finally, the researchers found that users of these two options largely came from the low-achieving or disadvantaged populations that the options are intended to serve. In particular, among racial and ethnic groups, African-American students had the highest rates of participation in supplemental services. Hispanic students had higher participation rates than did white students in supplemental services but lower participation rates in school choice. Students with limited English proficiency and those with disabilities had relatively high participation rates in supplemental educational services and relatively low participation rates in school choice.

READ THE REPORT:
State and Local Implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act: Volume I—Title I School Choice, Supplemental Educational Services, and Student Achievement

READ THE RESEARCH BRIEF:
Do Title I School Choice and Supplemental Educational Services Affect Student Achievement?

Assessing the K–12 School System in Qatar

Like that of many other countries, the leadership of the nation of Qatar views education as the key to achieving future economic, political, and social progress. Many have concluded that a country's ability to compete in the global economy and enable its citizens to take full advantage of technological advances relies on upgrading the quality of the schooling provided and ensuring that what is taught is aligned with national priorities and international developments.

Given these beliefs, Qatar's leadership asked the RAND Corporation in the summer of 2001 to examine the nation's K–12 school system. The study found that the K–12 education system lacked a vision for high-quality education and structures to support it; that system reform focused on curriculum standards, new organizational structures, and a clear implementation plan; and that creating new, independent schools based on principles of autonomy, accountability, variety, and choice was critical to the reform effort.

Since 200l, standards have been developed, almost all students have been tested, and a growing number of Qatar's children have enrolled in learner-centered schools with improved facilities where better-prepared and better-trained teachers guide them in accordance with internationally benchmarked standards.

Based on their experience in Qatar, as well as a more general knowledge of reform efforts elsewhere, the RAND team offered four recommendations for strengthening the reform as it moves forward: (1) build more local capacity to manage the reform; (2) continue to promote the principles of the reform (autonomy, accountability, variety, and choice); (3) expand the supply of high-quality schools; and (4) integrate education policy with broader social policies, such as social welfare policies and a civil service system that will ensure employment for most Qataris.

READ THE REPORT:
K–12 Education Reform in Qatar

READ THE RESEARCH BRIEF:
A New System for K–12 Education in Qatar

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