Examining differential gains in English language arts

Reallocation of instructional resources is among common responses to educational accountability under NCLB. To "game" the system, schools may reallocate resources among subjects, skills, formats, and students. In this thesis, I examined state test results to evaluate whether score patterns were consistent with reallocation to focus on standards heavily featured on state tests, open-response items, or students near the threshold of a performance level (i.e., "bubble students"). In the first study, I explored whether gains were larger on standards heavily sampled on the Massachusetts grade 10 English language arts (ELA) test, overall and in disadvantaged schools and schools facing strong accountability pressure. Using five years of data, I found no statistically significant evidence that gains on standards heavily sampled were larger than expected for schools with relatively large gains on these standards, given the schools' gains on standards lightly sampled. In contrast, disadvantaged schools and schools under accountability pressure showed differentially large gains on heavily sampled standards.

In the second study, I examined whether gains on open-response (OR) items were larger than gains on multiple-choice items and writing on the Massachusetts grade 10 ELA test over the same five years, overall and in disadvantaged schools.