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Overview
A standards-based system of education aligns standards and research-based practices to major elements such as curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, leadership, and data-driven planning. Part of that system is a comprehensive accountability system that measures progress toward goals for each element in the system to publicly report results, acknowledge successes, and inform decisions about continually improving the system. In Succeeding with Standards, Judy Carr and Douglas Harris state that a comprehensive local accountability system:
- provides quality control for technical and ethical issues;
- addresses policy, leadership, and professional development;
- links data about resources, programs and practices, and student results to action planning; and
- engages in ongoing evaluation of the accountability system itself and makes revisions to improve the education system.
Local school and district accountability is about taking responsibility for reporting results and using data as the basis for decisions about continually improving the system. Six elements define a comprehensive standards-based system of local accountability:
- Standards: District standards are aligned to state standards that specify both important concepts and skills all students should understand (content standards) and how well they are expected to perform (performance standards). The district evaluates the degree to which local standards are aligned to state standards. The schools and district evaluate the knowledge level of staff, students, parents/legal guardians, and the community about the standards.
- Instruction: Lessons target standards. Strategies are research-based. Core instructional strategies in all classrooms and intervention programs are connected and meet the diverse academic needs of students. The school and district evaluate whether there are core instructional strategies throughout the school or district that target grade-appropriate standards and address student needs.
- Assessment: A variety of measures provides accurate, useful, timely information to staff, students, and parents/guardians about students' progress toward attaining the standards, at least in language arts and mathematics. The school and district evaluate whether classroom, school, and district assessments are high quality and meet their intended purposes.
- Leadership: District and school administrators share leadership, responsibility, and decision-making with other stakeholders, especially teachers. Leadership creates goals and builds commitment to a common vision of excellence for all staff and students. Leaders engage all stakeholders in a system of accountability that exemplifies a results-driven learning organization -- planning for continual improvement, ensuring equity, managing and monitoring progress, and sharing results and decisions. The school and district evaluate the effectiveness of leadership to set measurable goals and make meaningful progress toward them.
- Professional Development: A variety of opportunities engages staff in personal and team learning about research-based practices to continually improve student learning. Learning from results and team problem solving is part of the process. The school and district evaluate the effectiveness of adult learning strategies in terms of their impact on student learning.
- Reporting and Using Results: Results are reported to all stakeholders in a timely way. Data on school and district processes are linked to data on student achievement. Reports are user-friendly and administrators and faculty members interpret the results and make sound decisions at key points during the year about students and instructional programs. The school and district evaluate the effectiveness of data reports and processes to inform
decisions about school and district program improvement.
Accountability Indicators
A comprehensive accountability system includes goals and accountability indicators for each major element of the system (described in detail below). The local governing board sets goals. Specific progress goals may be set for each school. Individual schools may add school goals linked to a school improvement initiative. Goals have accountability indicators that define the type of data that will allow the district and schools to decide whether goals were met or meaningful progress was made. Accountability indicators define measurable performance such as:
- increase in the percentage of teachers in a school who implement core instructional practices at a proficient level, measured by a self-assessment and the principal's observation checklists; and
- increase in the percentage of students achieving at the proficient level on an assessment of reading comprehension.
Douglas Reeves, in Accountability in Action ii, lists a variety of sample indicators appropriate to the district ("system-wide") and school ("school-based") levels. Accountability indicators state the type of data to be reported and may include the specific assessment instrument or process.
This concludes an overview of the elements of a comprehensive system of accountability.
Download the full description which examines each of the six elements in terms of its definition, purpose, required features, and sample accountability indicators.
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i Judy Carr & Douglas Harris, Succeeding with Standards (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001).
ii Douglas Reeves, Appendix D in Accountability in Action (Denver: CO: Advanced Learning Press, http://www.makingstandardswork.com, 2000).
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