A study of the influence of recent legislation on the behavior of schools and elementary school teachers (Michigan)

The purpose of this study was to describe current federal and state legislation and then describe and explain how those efforts may have influenced schools and elementary teacher behavior. The research examined the opportunity and transaction costs of recent legislative reform efforts (No Child Left Behind, Education YES!, and Public Act 25) on elementary schools and teacher behaviors, including additional time required for compliance.; A qualitative research design was employed to conduct semi-structured interviews with 24 elementary school teachers and 6 elementary principals from three different school districts in southeastern Michigan during the spring of 2004. Interviews questions were based upon four research questions: (1) What influence does legislative reforms such as NCLB, PA 25, and Education YES! have upon elementary teacher behavior? (2) What influence does legislative reforms such as NCLB, PA 25, and Education YES! have upon the school organization? (3) Has elementary teacher instruction changed fundamentally because of requirements mandated by NCLB, PA 25 and Education YES!? and (4) How do local district support, teacher practice, teacher professional learning and testing requirements work together to advance reform policy at the elementary school level? Interviews were tape-recorded, coded and transcribed to detail responses from study participants. The interviews were analyzed using the constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) to create rich narratives describing the ways in which the school organization and elementary teacher activity has been influenced by the legislative reforms being studied.; Analysis of the data collected from participant interviews demonstrated a convergence of legislative influence upon six primary areas of elementary school and teacher behaviors. Respondents indicated that recent legislation had influenced reform of elementary teacher instructional practices, student assessment practices, professional time usage behaviors, student record keeping, teacher professional development and administrative behaviors. From the narratives, a model (see Appendix E) was created to depict the influence of No Child Left Behind and Education YES! upon elementary school and teacher behaviors.; Study respondents reported that recent legislative mandates have influenced elementary teacher and principal behaviors and the manner in which schools operate. Conclusions concerning the influences of No Child Left Behind and Education YES! legislation are presented and discussed in a supportive and expansive manner. The conclusions discuss the issues studied in the research project. At the time of the study, No Child Left Behind and Education YES! mandates had been operating in Michigan elementary schools for approximately two years. Due to the short duration of the legislation's implementation, there may be aspects of the study that require future research to determine the lasting influences of Education YES! and No Child Left Behind on elementary schools and teacher behaviors.