The overarching objective of North Dakota's State Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Plan is to ensure every school's graduation rate matches its Choice Ready rate, thus eliminating the honesty gap, so students, parents and the state are able to confidently place high value on the diplomas received. In partnership with a broad and diverse group of…

Since Congress has passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) states are revamping their federally required systems to measure school quality and hold schools accountable for performance. However, most are doing so using outdated assumptions, holdovers from the Industrial Era, when cookie-cutter public schools followed orders from central…

Ohio's Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement serves as a guide to promote evidence-based language and literacy teaching and learning for all learners from birth to grade 12. Literacy acquisition affects learners' access to, and interest in, content at all grade levels and in all aspects of their lives. In light of this, literacy is not treated as a…

The human brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning experiences can have a profound and lasting positive effect on young children during these years, setting the stage for success in kindergarten and beyond. This is especially true for young children with high needs who are from low-income families; who…

The purpose of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program is to improve the quality of early learning and development and close the achievement gap for children with high needs. The RTT-ELC grant competition focuses on improving early learning and development for young children by supporting States' efforts to increase the…

All students, including students with disabilities, must be included in state accountability systems as required by law. In April 2007, federal regulations provided states the flexibility to offer another assessment option--an Alternate Assessment based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) for some students with disabilities. The AA-MAS is…

The 1999 Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) created a system for summarizing performance on state standardized tests and an intervention program to help schools that were not meeting state-set goals. California's test scores have improved substantially since then, but state-led interventions programs have had little overall effect on this…

When implemented by local school districts, the guidelines in this document should result in a process that will produce a consistent link between educational outcomes and planning. By June 1981, each local school district must complete each of the following steps. (1) Develop essential student outcomes for both state-mandated and locally…

Priorities and procedures for making California schools fiscally and educationally accountable. (RA)

The concept of accountability held by the Florida Department of Education is discussed. Their concept places a premium on clear thinking regarding educational values, on open communication between the public and the professionals, and on explanation of the manner in which resources available are used. The distinctions and relationships among the…

State legislatures have demanded hard figures on what their dollars are producing in the schools. Today, 43 states have some sort of assessment program. (Author/MLF)

The need for goals in postsecondary and higher education is discussed. It is suggested that the development of statewide goals can serve as a means of making postsecondary education accountable to the public without resort to increased control and regulation. The process being used in Georgia to develop statewide goals for postsecondary education,…

That teachers should be held accountable for conducting the best possible instructional processes, not for guaranteeing learning, is the view of the National Education Association (NEA). Because of the inadequate nature of tests of student achievement, the diverse nature of student populations, and the various conditions affecting learning, the…

Public Education in Colorado is serving as a demonstration project for the Cooperative Accountability Project, as well as for its own accountability statute. An analysis of accountability progress resulting from data gathered from the second annual accountability report is discussed and summarized. Current Colorado Department of Education…

Accountability currently is an important concept throughout education. Michigan has assumed leadership among the States in exploring and applying accountability procedures. The purpose of this report is to examine the quality and implications of that leadership. Specifically, the authors' purpose is to assess the Michigan Accountability System…