Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states temporary flexibility…

This appendix volume supplements "Evaluating the Federal Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority: Early Implementation and Progress of State Efforts to Develop New Statewide Academic Assessments. Evaluation Report. NCEE 2023-004" analyzing the early progress of the first five assessment systems participating in the Innovative…

Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states flexibility from…

A good assessment plan combines many direct and indirect measures to validate the collected data. One often controversial assessment measure comes in the form of retention exams. Although assessment retention exams may come with faults, others advocate for their inclusion in program assessment. Objective-based tests may offer insight to…

From the 1980s to the present, educational accountability in the United States has grown dramatically. Such accountability in U.S. school districts, although driven primarily by external demands, has internal manifestations as well. The chapter traces the historical development of internal evaluation in American school districts, then highlights…

While school systems most often use achievement test results for individual appraisals, increasing attention to program evaluation and accountability requires that test results be used for institutional appraisals as well. When institutional test results are desired--that is, results for schools or school districts--not all pupils need be tested.…

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), all public school districts, campuses, and the state are evaluated annually for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The Texas AYP plan meets the requirements of the NCLB, maintains the integrity of the Texas assessment program, and provides a mechanism for evaluating district and campus AYP in 2003. Following…

This paper describes the experiences of Colorado Springs School District Eleven in using multiple measures to determine if third graders were reading at "grade level." The use of multiple measures may be threatened by the rapidly increasing pressures about assessment and accountability in Colorado that teachers are beginning to feel that…

Provides a general framework for examining the consequences of assessment programs, especially statewide programs that intend to improve student learning by holding schools accountable. The framework is intended for use with programs using performance-based tasks but can be used with programs using traditional item formats as well. (SLD)

This case study shows how testing in Mississippi is used as an effective part of a statewide accountability and instructional improvement program. By using criterion-referenced testing as one aspect of a program evaluation requirement, Mississippi is basing instructional improvement on student performance. (Author)

Outlines a framework for considering the validity of standards-based score interpretations and then considers the potential roles of different stakeholder groups and other participants in that process. Suggests study of a new standard-setting method, the "briefing book," which would describe alternative cut scores. (SLD)

Education has become one of America's biggest industries. As a result, the public wants some evidence concerning the quality of the educational program. This booklet was written to delineate the role of assessment as an important aspect of a comprehensive accountability system for the nation's elementary and secondary schools. It describes what…

The Michigan accountability system, based on statewide objectives-referenced testing at two grade levels generated considerable controversy, including this response to criticisms of an evaluation of the program by a panel of three persons. The contract under which the evaluation was performed is quoted to show that the authors of the report were…

This is the first in a series of reports on the educational progress of Texas public schools. It reviews the concerns that led to the development of the integrated accountability system now used in Texas and examines this system relative to those of other states. A major new research and evaluation effort, the Statewide Texas Educational Progress…

Three propositions which may suggest a strategy for meeting the measurement needs of education are presented: (1) Educational measurement possesses enough techniques and principles to permit tackling problems for their intrinsic importance, rather than for their convenience of fit to answers we already have; (2) Measurement needs are a subset of…