According to Lorrie A. Shepard, claims that testing will serve equity very often are not true. From minimum competency tests in the '70s; basic-skills tests in the '80s; "tests worth teaching to" in the '90s; high-frequency, high-stakes tests in the '00s; and added layers of commercial interim tests in the '10s, it seems it has…

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education announced the "Raise the Bar: Lead the World" initiative to use decades of research and professional experience to transform public education and advance education equity. There are three focus areas: (1) Achieve Academic Excellence; (2) Boldly Improve Learning Conditions; and (3) Create Pathways…

Evidence-based instructional practices (ebips) have been associated with positive student outcomes; however, institutions struggle to catalyze widespread adoption of these practices in general education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) courses. Further, linking ebips with integrated learning assessment is rarely discussed…

With the federal government increasingly ceding authority to states in a revamped Every Student Succeeds Act, many states are looking for new ways to positively influence local work and take on greater leadership. States can--and should--play a more active role in fostering collaboration efforts if they are serious about ensuring quality public…

"Transforming Science Assessment: Systems for Innovation," is a series of resources designed to provide state education leaders with: (1) Information about how states are currently pursuing statewide assessment systems in science; (2) Analyses of what features influence different approaches, with an eye to supporting state leaders as…

"Transforming Science Assessment: Systems for Innovation," is a series of resources designed to provide state education leaders with: (1) Information about how states are currently pursuing statewide assessment systems in science; (2) Analyses of what features influence different approaches, with an eye to supporting state leaders as…

Systems of accountability are "second order" ways of using evidence of the standard to which "first order" tasks are carried out for a great variety of purposes. However, more accountability is not always better, and processes of holding to account can impose high costs without securing substantial benefits. At their worst,…

As Congress debates how to structure the next iteration of federal school accountability, a new national study has raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of test-based incentives to improve education. A blue-ribbon committee of the National Academies' National Research Council undertook a nearly decade-long study of test-based incentive…

Large numbers of schools across the country are low performing and have been for years. This longstanding and widespread problem painfully reveals that individual schools are not the only ones responsible for their performance. The public school system as a whole is unable, and sometimes unwilling, to address the root causes of dysfunction.…

"Accountability mandates"--the explicit linking of school funding, resources, and autonomy to student performance on standardized exams--have proliferated in the last 10 years. In this paper, we examine California's accountability system, which for several years financially rewarded schools based on a deterministic function of test…

While education accountability systems emphasize teacher quality as a prerequisite for student learning, education administrators have struggled to staff low-performing schools with effective teachers. Fueled in part by the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, compensation reforms have gained center stage status among strategies aimed at improving…

Federal policy directed to teaching and teachers is the subject of this review, which is organized around: (1) recruitment; (2) training; (3) accountability; (4) incentives; (5) qualifications; (6) class size reduction; (teacher working conditions; and (8) human resource management and the overall coordination of teacher policy. For each theme,…

This policy brief was written to provide the North Carolina State Board of Education with a research summary on the provision of rewards to high-performing school districts. A 1988 study of state accountability systems across the United States suggested that maintaining an appropriate balance between state oversight of performance and local…

In the 1990s, accountability initiatives emphasize local problem solving and decision making. This report describes recent efforts in Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states to increase local accountability for student learning, with emphasis on the "reward-and-sanction" programs that some states are including in their education…

Educational standards and accountability are at the center of an ongoing national debate on school reform that began almost 20 years ago. This debate has raised fundamental questions about school effectiveness and the strategies educators should use to boost student learning. This book provides a closer look at these questions and seeks to answer…