| The purpose of this study was to explore the association of NCLB/accountability with educational output and input for New York State, collectively. Focusing on ELA and Math achievement in 4th and 8th grades, this study demonstrated the association of accountability outcomes in three ways: accountability design, school proficiency level, and NCLB_highly qualified teachers. This study focused on all public schools in New York State, while the 'Big5' city schools were used to address educational equity for urban settings which compared to 'the other schools' (Suburban, Urban-NonBig5; and Rural). Firstly, this study focused on school accountability design, which is one of the main elements to determine accountability under the NCLB program. This study explored how New York has changed school accountability design by applying a document analysis method based on the three elements of school accountability. Secondly, this study defined the '2005--2006' academic year as an important time period, and examined the association of NCLB/accountability policy with school proficiency level, by comparing the academic growth between pre- and post-NCLB/accountability policy. Thirdly, along with emphasizing highly qualified teachers in the classroom under NCLB, this study examined increase or decrease in 'highly qualified teachers' in all public schools and explored whether there was a significant difference of the 'highly qualified teachers' between 'Big5' and 'the other schools'. As a comprehensive approach, this study explored how accountability design and NCLB_HQT affected school achievements finally. This study concluded that while the elements of accountability design change were expected to provide a more equitable accountability design, the change did not make a significant positive effect on school proficiency levels, particularly for the 'Big5' city schools. The federal NCLB/accountability had a positive effect on increasing the number of highly qualified teachers for all schools. The study, however, suggested no significant positive effect of the NCLB/accountability on the school achievement improvements for all schools; in addition, the policy could not make equitable output for 'Big5' city schools. Based on the findings and conclusions, this study suggested important policy implications. School accountability should not be measured by a single educational output, in particular, only with academic achievement. Maintaining equal attention to input, process, and output is crucial, and hence the accountability measurement must focus on various elements of school resources. |
