|
|
 Accountability means holding key individuals and groups responsible for student achievement through the systematic collection, analysis, use and reporting of valid and reliable information. Accountability systems assume that educators, policymakers and others know how to act on the information to improve education.
The standards movement has allowed accountability systems to become performance-based. Once academic content standards are defined, and school and student progress measured against them, performance can be measured and evaluated. As a result, state leaders are closer to having a better picture of student, school and system performance as well as the ability to change and improve the way education policy and practice decisions are made.
Performance-based accountability systems are, however, highly complex and involve a range of interconnected design and technical issues from test reliability and validity, to incentives and interventions, to how data are collected, analyzed and reported. Policymakers must determine, among other things, whose performance should be judged, the level of performance expected, relevant measures of performance, what constitutes satisfactory progress toward established goals and what consequences will be imposed for superior and adequate performance as well as for failing to measure up. Furthermore, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has significant implications for state accountability systems in terms of student testing, reporting requirements and increasing interventions in persistently low-performing schools.
The ECS accountability staff strives to keep policymakers on the leading edge of what's happening to accountability systems in states by gathering, analyzing and disseminating information about current and emerging issues, trends and innovations in state educational accountability policy. This Issue Site and the related sub-issues offer a look at state policy and practice, along with research summaries, selected readings and a list of useful Web sites. For information about assessment, standards and other topics that influence or intersect with the issue of accountability, check the Related Issues box to the left. Check the Related ECS Projects box to learn about accountability projects and to contact staff regarding this work.
|
|
