Current Research Projects/Funding

Impact of Mandated Student Assessment:
A five year study, funded by the National Science Foundation,of the impact of state mandated testing in three upstate New York school districts. This study involves naturalistic fieldwork in elementary and middle schools to explore how various stakeholders (teachers, administrators, parents, students) respond to and accommodate accountability demands in 4th and 8th grades.

The Nature of Resistance to Testing in Schools:
Based on interviews with resisters (school administrators, teacher, parents, students) we are seeking to understand why and how public school stakeholders resist centralized policy decisions and the consequences of this resistance on educational practice and policy.

The Meaning of Assessment in Schools:
This is a pilot study to examine how children and their families make sense of the experience of assessment, external and internal, in school.