HIGH STAKES TESTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY MANDATES: IMPACT ON CENTRAL OFFICE LEADERSHIP A dissertation submitted to the Kent State University College of Education, Health and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy by Susan D. Carver December, 2008 © Copyright by Susan D. Carver 2008 All Rights Reserved A dissertation written by Susan D. Carver B.A., John Carroll University, 1994 M.Ed., Cleveland State University, 1996 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2008 Approved by _________________________, Director, Doctoral Anita M. Varrati, Ed.D. Dissertation Committee _________________________, Member, Doctoral Catherine E. Hackney Ph.D. Dissertation Committee _________________________, Member, Doctoral Diane L. Schnelker, Ph.D. Dissertation Committee Accepted by _________________________, Chairperson, Department of Teaching J. David Keller, Ph.D. Leadership and Curriculum Studies _________________________, Dean, College and Graduate School of Daniel F. Mahony, Ph.D. Education, Health, and Humans Services iii Carver, Susan D. Ph.D., December, 2008 K-12 Educational Administration HIGH STAKES TESTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY MANDATES: IMPACT ON CENTRAL OFFICE LEADERSHIP (252 pp.) Director of Dissertation: Anita M. Varrati, Ed.D. This qualitative study examined the ways in which K-12 central office administrators resolve the philosophical dilemma of maintaining democratic leadership strategies when federal mandates induce a more autocratic environment. Responses to two central research questions - how central office administrators are affected by the accountability and testing demands, and how they manage them - provided insight into efforts to resolve this dilemma. Interviews were conducted with four central office administrators from one school district in Ohio with a K-12 enrollment of 5,500 students. They included the superintendent, director of curriculum, director of elementary education and director of research and evaluation. The district was selected for study because it has operated at a state-defined ‘effective’ level since the 2000-01 academic year, and has maintained its highly-regarded academic reputation despite increasingly stringent federal and state accountability mandates and diverse student demographics. iv Educational administration leadership theorists have proposed four leadership competencies that help guide sustainable reform. These competencies, distributed leadership, development of professional learning communities, capacity building and sustainable leadership, were used as a framework to examine adaptation to federal mandates. An instrumental, multiple case study design was used and each participant was treated as a separate case due to their unique roles and responsibilities. Fourteen interviews of 45-120 minute duration were conducted in 2007-2008. Relevant district, state and federal documents were examined to cross-check and corroborate facts. The interview transcriptions, descriptive and reflective field notes, and documents, were transferred using NVivo7 Version 7.0.281.0 (QSR International, 2007) software for data storage, coding, organization and analysis. The results suggest that, while the identified leadership competencies were actively employed, noteworthy adaptations emerge. The administrators impart more directives, rely more heavily on formative and summative data to drive decisions, and adopt varying degrees of unenthusiastic attitudes toward the tests. Analysis of the results: 1) suggests that the modifications to the core competencies reflect the time pressure to meet federal and state mandates which initially displaces the consensus building aspect of the competencies, and 2) exposes the theories’ implicit assumption that educational reform is internally driven, not externally imposed. Implications for educational reform are discussed and directions for future research are proposed. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are numerous individuals to whom I wish to express my deepest appreciation for supporting me along this 12-year doctoral journey. Diane L. Schnelker I am extremely fortunate to have Diane in my life as a professor, my methodologist, overall dissertation guide, and as a dear friend. Diane taught the qualitative research courses at Kent State University during my graduate coursework. She sparked my interest and decision to embark on conducting the long, extensive instrumental case study research design for the final leg of the degree. She provided endless hours of discussion which led to a supportive switch of topic focus, help in creating the study, explanations of the intricacies of the design, and editing, restructuring, and rewriting. Whatever organization, detail and polish I have accomplished, I owe to her 10 years of never ending support and encouragement. Catherine E. Hackney It is Cathy who expanded my understanding and appreciation of educational leadership, women leaders, and the importance of leading school community members to educate students to become productive citizens in a democratic society. Cathy’s courses were stimulating, rigorous, and comprehensive. And throughout this lengthy doctoral journey, Cathy remained consistently upbeat, provided constructive advice, and was forever encouraging. Every conversation and email left me uplifted and with renewed energy to continue. I wish to express my sincere gratitude for her constant support and friendship. Anita M. Varrati I am very thankful for Dr. Anita Varrati’s willingness to become my dissertation director and undertake this dissertation study. Her experience and expertise in public school administration and the federal mandates was extraordinarily helpful. At every meeting, Dr. Varrati posed thought-provoking questions and provided excellent insights. She was always encouraging in our email correspondence and during our meetings. I am especially grateful and indebted to Dr. Varrati for her support in completing this dissertation. vi Rafa Kasim What a pleasure and honor to have Dr. Kasim as my graduate faculty representative for my oral defense. Although I was apprehensive at first to have a quantitative expert for a qualitative study, his questions and suggestions were insightful and very much appreciated. Any future doctoral student will be fortunate to have Dr. Kasim as a committee advisor or as an outside representative. Sally H. Wertheim Dr. Wertheim has sat on my board of “Career Planning” since I she was my freshman academic advisor at John Carroll University in the late 70s. For the past thirty years, Sally has remained my most stalwart supporter and cherished friend. I turned to Sally at my lowest motivational point and asked that she hold me accountable to my deadlines. All I had to do was submit to her my scheduled dates and my admiration and deepest respect for her had me working until midnight to meet them. It pushed me beyond that dearth of energy and enthusiasm to completion. I would not have completed it without her presence and encouragement in my life. Jill L. Proudfoot & Denise K. Davis I have two soulmates, Jill and Denise, who have remained faithfully by my side throughout this journey with endless hours of support. For approximately the last 18 months, I would call Jill daily to tell her my goals for the next several hours or day. She would help hold me accountable to be productive during the hours when I had NO desire to even look at the dissertation, yet knew I had to. Jill was uniquely critical to the successful completion of numerous stages of this study, and provided me with encouragement, guidance and love every day. Denise, having been through the doctoral quest, guided me on anything from peer debriefing to tightening my chapter organization to correcting grammatical errors. She consistently provided valuable insights regarding the process, my analysis, and the results. Denise edited chapter drafts and always wrote more positive comments than critical ones which left me encouraged to tackle the rewrite and improve the document. There are no words to describe the extraordinary and special friendship the three of us have for a lifetime to come. vii Ohio City School District (OCSD) Study Participants Central office administrators are extremely busy individuals, particularly in this era of accountability and testing. The time spent during the interviews with my OCSD administrators was extraordinarily generous, very much appreciated and extremely worthwhile. I am very grateful to my study participants for sharing with me their insights and experiences in their much beloved Ohio City School District. Cherished Friends They are not too numerous to name. They are all equally treasured and I have listed them in reverse alpha order because the people at the end of the alphabet always are last. Every person mentioned below has lived through this journey with me, known about it, and/or asked about my progress and the ever-changing deadlines. Many stated, “Good luck!”, “Keep up the hard work.” and finally, “When ARE you going to be done with it?” Adele & Henry Zucker, Maureen Weisblatt, Kelly & Tyler* Thomas, Troy Schwartz, The Shaw Family (Calvin, Charlotte & Ariel*), Laurel Shamakian, Mayor and Ed Rothschild, The Pollock Family (Jeff, Martha, Nora, Liza, Kate & James*), The Peterson Family (Dave, Christina, Cole*, Clare* & Luke*), JD Musengo, Tom Morgan, The MacCluskie-Paul Family (Kathie, David, Davey & Alex), The Levin Family (Nancy, Allie*, Clare* & Joey*), Sheryl Kingsberg & Chris Mrazik, Dan and Ilona Heintz, Linda Heuman DeCesare & Kenny DeCesare,