Date of Award

6-10-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Amanda Nolen

Abstract

Warnings have been declared regarding the preparedness of a new generation of students arriving on college campuses across the United States. For the past twelve years, students have attended public schools under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, and the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence these policies have had on students' academic preparedness and college readiness. The study analyzed data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) to determine the extent to which the learning culture created by NCLB policies have impacted teachers' and students' non-cognitive characteristics and college readiness indicators. Research questions were answered using analyses of variance, linear regressions, and a Fisher's z test. For teacher's non-cognitive characteristics, the emphasis on learning objectives was found significant, F(1, 2030) = 64.50, p < .001, ç2 = .03, while the influences on instruction was not significant, F(1, 2030) = 2.94, p = .09, ç2 = .001. For students' college readiness indicators, the variable of college placement exam between the two cohorts was not significant, F(1, 4600) = .001, p = .98, ç2 = .001. Thus, two main constructs emerged from this study involving (1) the academic disconnect among secondary and postsecondary environments and (2) the lack of students' preparation for postsecondary expectations. The significant implications for K-16 stakeholders included curriculum design decisions, pedagogical practices, remediation opportunities, and development of college knowledge.

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