External Audiences for Test Ba: The Perspectives of Journalists and Foundations

Examines the perspectives of journalists and foundation program officers on the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and offers recommendations for improving the presentation and communication of information about student outcomes. Little has been written about the interaction of the No Child Left Behind Act with external audiences that have no formal connections with the schools. This study focuses on print journalists and foundation program officers, who frequently use data from schools and districts in their work. The authors summarize the data needs of the two groups and offer advice to producers of performance reports and analyses and to the external consumers of those reports on how to enhance the utility of the data.