Is “Whole Child” Education Obsolete? Public School Principals’ Educational Goal Priorities in the Era of Accountability

Abstract

Objectives: Working under the constraints of external accountability policy, public school principals are faced with challenges in prioritizing educational goals. Using the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data sets, this study examined the nature and sources of changes in principals’ educational goal priorities in the era of accountability, including the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Method: Difference-in-differences method was used to compare the national average trends of educational goal priorities between public and private schools during 1991–2012 period. Comparative interrupted time series method was also used to explore the impact of NCLB accountability policy on those trends across 50 states. At the school level, logistic regression was applied to examine the effect of NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress status on principals’ educational priorities. Results: While academic goals gained traction over the 1991–2012 period, there were setbacks for other goals of education, particularly personal growth and vocational skills. Notably, public schools’ priority changes were more drastic than private schools’ changes. The divergent trends largely persisted after NCLB across the states. On the other hand, public school principals who previously failed to meet NCLB targets gave more emphasis on basic skills and less emphasis on academic excellence and personal growth. Conclusion: Public school principal’s priorities on academic goals have been shaped by test-driven accountability measures, while other equally important goals have been possibly deprioritized. It gives implications for the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, in which educational leaders can redesign accountability systems and incorporate nonacademic measures for whole child education.

The Environment Education Policy in Behavior Commitment of Stakeholders for the Environmental Sustainability

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“…Unless schools are adequately prepared, they can encounter numerous challenges and complexities when attempting to align their practices with various educational policies. With limited resources and externally imposed accountability systems, school principals frequently encounter challenges in prioritizing instructional goals (Lee and Lee, 2020). Autonomy can help schools overcome these challenges (Grube and Anderson, 2018) because it increases the extent to which schools can adjust their various processes to align with the education policy guidelines.…”

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