Chapter Twenty-Eight

Making Accountability Decisions

Increasing Accountability

• Over the past 20 years, there has been an increasing demand for educational accountability

• Movement from focus on processes to focus on outcomes

Legal Requirements

• No Child Left Behind– States must have assessment and accountability

students– Must report on performance and progress of all

students

• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act– Students with disabilities must participate– Alternate assessments

• New legislation coming

Types of Accountability

• System accountability– States must set targets for adequate yearly

progress that include assessment participation and performance, graduation rates, and attendance

– Certain consequences occur if targets are not met

• Student accountability– Some states choose to set additional

consequences for individual students (i.e., grade promotion/retention, scholarships, etc.)

Types of Standards

• Content Standards• Achievement (performance) standards– Grade-level achievement standards– Alternate achievement standards– Modified achievement standards (controversial)

Alternate Assessment

• Developed by states to measure the achievement of students (particularly those with disabilities) who can not demonstrate skills and knowledge according to the regular assessment, even with accommodations

• Students with severe disabilities often participate

• Variation in format (portfolio, test, rating scales, etc.)

Important Considerations

• Typically, accountability tests are developed to measure performance of groups of students, and are not necessarily adequate for making individual decisions.

• It is important for students to be tested in the way that they can best demonstrate their skills and knowledge, which may require test accommodations for many students with disabilities

Best Practices