50-State Comparison: School Accountability Systems

School accountability systems serve many purposes, including sharing information, measuring progress toward state and local goals, highlighting gaps in performance between student groups, and identifying schools for support and additional resources. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states were directed to update their school accountability systems to comply with federal law.

ESSA was viewed as an opportunity for additional flexibility for state leaders to measure priorities beyond achievement and growth as measured by state assessment results, including English language proficiency, graduation rates, college and career readiness, student engagement and school climate. Most states updated their existing state accountability systems to comply with ESSA, while others opted to maintain separate federal and state accountability systems relying on different measures and reporting mechanisms for each.

Since state ESSA plans were approved, COVID-19 pandemic school closures resulted in a two-year pause on state accountability. Additionally, states have amended their ESSA plans to account for shifting priorities and legislative changes, challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and implementation lessons.

This 50-State Comparison will offer comprehensive information on state systems for federal accountability — as captured in state ESSA plans and state education agency resources — and identify states that maintain a separate accountability system.  Each state’s accountability system is unique, so some nuances may not be represented in this 50-State Comparison.

Click on the questions below to access 50-State Comparisons for each of the data points or choose to view a specific state’s approach by going to the individual state profiles page.

1. Rating System
2. State-Identified Racial and Ethnic Groups
3. Additional Student Groups
4. N-Size
5. Indicators and Weights for Elementary/Middle School
6. Indicators and Weights for High School
7. Growth Measures
8. SQSS Measures
9. Grade 3-8 Assessments
10. High School Assessments
11. Does the state operate a separate state accountability system?
12. State Education Agency Resources
13. ESSA Plan
14. Report Card
15. All Data Points

Key Takeaways

• States most commonly rate school performance using Descriptive Ratings (13 states), Index Ratings (12 states and the District of Columbia) and Federal Tiers of Support (14 states). Six states use A-F ratings and four states use 1-5 star ratings.
• At least 22 states include student groups beyond those required by federal law in their accountability systems.
• Student Growth Percentiles are the most common growth measure used by states (24 states and the District of Columbia).
• At least 18 states use or allow districts to opt-in to using nationally recognized assessments for high school accountability.
• At least 37 states and the District of Columbia include a measure of college and career readiness in their accountability system.
• At least 36 states include chronic absenteeism in their accountability system.
• At least 16 states operate a separate state accountability system.

Related Resources

• Student Assessment 101: A Guide for State Leaders