LEAP-ing Toward Accountability? Ideology, Practice, and the Voices of Louisiana Educators

Authors

Jim Horn, Monmouth UniversityFollow

Abstract

Louisiana educators at an urban K-5 school participated in a two-year study to share their experiences related to the implementation of a state high-stakes testing program (LEAP 21) that is used to make promotion decisions in grades 4 and 8. Observations, document analysis, and interviews were used to study the development of attitudes, perceptions, and practices related to the use of and consequences emanating from this testing practice. It was found that the state test has far-reaching effects on teaching, curriculum, school climate, students, parents, and school administration. The ideology of testing as a positive reform idea and the practice of testing as a constant and tangible threat, form the two poles of an experiential field that these educators encounter as figure and ground. The avoidance of failure and the threat of failure push these educators toward an ideological commitment to testing.

Keywords

High Stakes Tests, Accountability, Testing Programs, Academic Achievement, Student Evaluation, and Teacher Attitudes

Publication Date

6-1-2003

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2003.1889

Recommended APA Citation

Horn, J. (2003). LEAP-ing Toward Accountability? Ideology, Practice, and the Voices of Louisiana Educators. The Qualitative Report, 8(2), 224-250. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2003.1889