Student Assessment and School Accountability

Standards-Based Accountability

Standards-based accountability requires collecting student data and reporting information based on clear and defined standards for what students must know and be able to do. Student mastery of the academic content is derived from state-mandated standards. There are two types of standards: content and performance. Content standards identify what students should know and be able to do. Performance standards define how or how well students perform on the content standards. Decisions regarding student learning and achievement, professional development, curriculum and instruction, and resource allocation should be based on both content and performance standards. The standards represent the foundation for determining student achievement.

Standards are the means specifying what students need to know and be able to do at various grade levels; they are also the foundation for state and local curriculum and instructional alignment and assessment efforts. The purpose of an accountability system is to document and improve student learning relative to defined standards. Each component of the system should align with and support student learning and achievement; that is, standards should be aligned with assessments. A systematic approach to accountability allows for an alignment among all the critical instructional elements: student performance, content goals, instructional strategies, curriculum materials, and assessment protocols. An accountability system should define how outcomes should be measured; who is responsible for assessing performance outcomes; to whom results should be reported; and what constitutes satisfactory progress and advanced progress. A recent example of a national standards–based policy is found in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 that was designed to improve [Page 861]schools by developing content as well as achievement standards to measure student academic progress. Accountability system designs include the articulated academic goals and the curricula and instructional elements that one needs to meet academic goals. Assessment procedures are used to measure student performance, and the entire professional learning community is involved in gathering and interpreting the assessment data. Progress and outcomes relative to defined state academic proficiency goals are reported to the public; the academic progress information is used to plan and inform further instructional decision making.

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