Investigating the Relationship between High School Technology Education and Test Scores for Algebra 1 and Geometry

The national report A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) sparked the standards based education reform movement in the United States. As a result of A Nation at Risk, the focus of education policy has shifted from school inputs to student outcomes, and from minimum competency to high proficiency standards (Lee &Wong, 2004). Accountability has become the focal point of these policy shifts. Many states have developed academic standards for students and relied on high stakes testing to measure and improve the quality of public education. The focus on accountability can be seen in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 2001, also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). NCLB places major emphasis on improving students’ achievement in the core academic areas of mathematics, science, language arts, and social studies, by demanding that all students make adequate yearly progress (AYP).