State leaders are deeply committed to providing information to parents, educators, and the public about student performance to help target resources and supports quickly and effectively. Some state leaders have examined the context in their respective states and determined that taking a different approach to assessment for the spring of 2021 would…

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…

The public charter school movement is premised on the exchange of increased autonomy for increased accountability. Individual schools are given more flexibility in their actions, and then must meet agreed-upon benchmarks of quality. If a school fails to fulfill the terms of its charter or achieve its stated goals, it can be closed. However,…

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) during the summer of 2021 for a firm to support the redesign of Utah's School Accountability System so that it's more aligned with Personalized, Competency-Based Learning and Utah's Portrait of a Graduate, but still simple and transparent. The current Utah School…

Educational quality is a way to influence the future of the American economy (Hanushek, 1986). Large-scale assessments are designed to determine quality in education by measuring student achievement. A connection exists between the standards, teachers, and assessments that form a system of accountability within education. State and national…

This technical assistance paper provides policy and guidance to individuals with test administration responsibilities in adult education programs. The Florida assessment policies and guidelines presented in this paper are appropriate for state and federal reporting. Therefore, guidance and procedures regarding the selection and use of appropriate…

The balanced development of cognitive and noncognitive skills is crucial not only for well-rounded child development in schools but also for career and life success. Unlike academic learning standards, however, there are rarely comparable "socioemotional learning" (SEL) standards. Under the pressure of high-stakes testing policies…

Federal law requires that, at a minimum, states assess high school students at least once in English language arts/literacy (ELA), mathematics, and science; these results are used for school accountability. With states' recent transitions to new assessments and accountability systems, Achieve wanted to know more about how these varied assessments,…

Using data on secondary school social studies teachers (n = 6,702) from the Survey of the Status of Social Studies (S4), a multilevel model, and an Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis, this study examined the associations of state testing policy and school characteristics on secondary social studies teachers' instructional autonomy as it relates…

This case study examines how district administrators and high school mathematics and science teachers use data in instructional decision making and what challenges they face in the current accountability context. Findings reveal unique aspects of data use directly related to a high school setting within the context of test-based accountability and…

The record of charter schools has been a mixed bag. They have become racialized, radicalized into business-generation schemes, scorned by teachers unions, and in some cases rammed down the throats of poorer communities. But charter schools sometimes have spotlighted best practice in urban education. In this article, Samuel D. Henry, a former…

Physical education teachers and programs are affected by increasing accountability demands. The purpose of this article is to explain Ohio's journey from advocacy for state physical education academic content standards to state-level policy that led to the development of state-wide assessments and data reporting on each school's report card. The…

The passage of the "Every Student Succeeds" Act (ESSA) provides states the opportunity to craft new goals and strategies for science education. By setting clear goals for science achievement, states can leverage existing policies, including assessments and graduation requirements, to help drive toward set goals. This brief provides a…

Since March 2020, COVID-19 has required the implementation of remote learning options in K-12 public schools across North Carolina, ranging from fully online classroom experiences to hybrid scenarios in which students attend school both in person and remotely. In some locales, students continue to attend school in person most of the time, but with…

Good charter school policy must be part of the solution to address the public education system's greatest problem: too many children lack access to a transformative education. Getting authorizing policy right is critical because good authorizing has the power to transform the lives of not just a few children, but millions. While the quality of…