This is meant to support states who find they need additional flexibility beyond the three options listed in the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) February 2021 letter to state chiefs. This rationale accompanies the Assessment Flexibility Guidance (ED614803) posted by the Center for Assessment on March 9, 2021. State leaders should select and…

How and how much should students be tested? What information should schools and districts be required to collect and monitor? And what should be done when that information suggests a school is not meeting the expectations? Those questions are at the heart of Congressional discussions regarding the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines through four lines of study to determine how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

The Council of Chief State School Officers' "Accommodations Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate the Use of Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities" was first developed to establish guidelines for states to use for the selection, administration, and evaluation of accommodations for…

The purpose of this technical assistance paper is to provide a description of the procedures used to determine school grades for the 2014 school year. Florida's current school accountability system originated with state legislation passed in 1999 (the "A+ Plan") and has been revised periodically to reflect increased standards and…

Principals in urban settings serve elementary schools often densely populated with highly mobile, ethnically diverse, and economically disadvantaged students. Due to the changing landscape of increasing accountability issues required by the "No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)" (2001), principals must adjust the mission of the school…

This "Report Card to the Public" is published in accordance with Alaska Statute 14.03.120 for the school year 2011-2012. Under state law, each school district is required to report information about its plans and performance to its community. This report includes a statewide summary of performance results. It reports the status of public…

This multimedia package, which contains two audio CDs and a short informative booklet, examines the use of assessment to improve teaching and learning. The booklet contains the essay "Assessment-Driven Reform: A Leadership Approach" (Rhetta L. Detrich with Ed Janus and Sabrina W. M. Laine). It discusses the increasing importance of…

This document is designed to provide information to North Carolina administrators and teachers on policy issues related to students with disabilities. Policy letters from the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs and the Office of Civil Rights, as well as "Analysis of Comments and Changes" and "Notice of Interpretations on…

In this article, the authors explore the role of district and school leaders in reconceptualizing accountability policy by adapting and mediating it using three primary strategies. Specifically, they discuss how leaders cultivate relationships and interactions, reculture the district and schools, and integrate and align school and district…

Student assessment has long been a major component of the tasks that teachers perform. As such, it is important that school leaders consider teachers' assessment strategies as part of the normal supervisory process. In a political climate ruled by the No Child Left Behind Act, one important consideration is how well teachers' assessments prepare…

Most educators agree that the primary criterion of school success is the ongoing growth and achievement of every student even in the midst of constant debate about the state of the US education and conflicting opinions regarding the value of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Standardized tests have their place, but computerized adaptive testing aimed…

This document summarizes the criteria for Chapter 1 eligibility, discusses a step-by-step selection procedure, used in the Austin Independent School District, explains the laws and regulations concerning how students are to be selected, emphasizes that special testing should be administered to students whose scores are clearly discrepant from…

Responses to over 100 of the most frequently-asked questions about the education of language-minority students are presented for Maine school personnel. The book has 12 sections. The first lists and defines common acronyms, and the second addresses various aspects of student evaluation, including: identification of limited-English-proficient (LEP)…

The content of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act is described, its current interpretations are examined, and the implications for developing a responsible language and citizenship curriculum to conform to the legislation are discussed. Specific attention is focused on the law's requirement that illegal aliens applying for amnesty and…