Accountability

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Accountability

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What are the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act for states and school districts to publish “report cards” on school performance?
How can I see these school report cards?
Do these tests measure the progress of the schools?

	Kansas Adequate Yearly Progress(AYP) Revised Guidance This is a document that shares how the KS State Dept of Education defines AYP for Kansas. Download document
	2006 Schools Not Making AYP (Found under the "Hot Topics" section) The Kansas State Department of Education has a comprehensive list of all schools not making AYP and results of the Math Assessment (2005 and 2006) and Reading Assessment (2005 and 2006). Read more and Download the results...
	Kansas State Department of Education Report Card 2005-2006 (Found under the "Hot Topics" section) The Kansas Report Card is a collection of data compiled annually to provide information not only on a statewide basis but also by district and by building. Read More...
	Parents appear to have different expectations than lawmakers for what it means to hold schools accountable for student success, according to the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). A new brief reports on the results of an ongoing research project McREL conducted to uncover what parents and other community members, particularly those in underrepresented populations, think "education accountability" means. http://www.mcrel.org/topics/productDetail.asp?topicsID=1&productID=220
	The USDE has published an up-to-date 12 page parent publication: No Child Left Behind: What Parents Need to Know, which you can view on-line at http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/parents/know.pdf
	NCLB ACTION BRIEFS: STATE & LOCAL REPORT CARDS This new action brief from Public Education Network outlines the information and data that state education agencies are required to disseminate as required by No Child Left Behind. A valuable resource for school, community, and parent leaders. http://www.publiceducation.org/portals/nclb/report_cards/report_cards.asp
	From Parent Leadership Associates, this is a guide to help parents understand the new reporting requirements for schools and school districts under No Child Left Behind. http://www.plassociates.org/eight_tips.pdf
	NCLB Action Briefs Parents' Right to Know Download PDF 117 KB http://www.ncpie.org/nclbaction/parentsright.html Standards and Assessment Download PDF 160 KB http://www.ncpie.org/nclbaction/standards_assessment.html State Accountability System and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Download PDF 260 KB http://www.ncpie.org/nclbaction/ayp.html
	AFT Brief Challenges Notions of "Proficiency" Under NCLB A new American Federation of Teachers (AFT) analysis of how states measure student proficiency in reading and math to meet performance goals under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) shows that there is no common understanding among policymakers about what "proficient" means. http://www.aft.org/topics/sbr/states.htm
	The ABCs of AYP Download PDF 508 KB One of the pillars of NCLB focuses on accountability and how states, USDs, and schools will be held accountable under the law. This document gives detailed information on how NCLB regulates adequate yearly progress of all students.
	This report on Thinking about Tests and Testing is an easy to understand guide that answers all the questions you have about testing and then some! Download PDF 135 KB
	This information from the Kansas State Department of Edcuation explains the parallel accountability system between NCLB and QPA. www.ksde.org/qpa_and_grad_reqs_summary_march_03.htm
	State of the States Concering NCLB As evidenced by the diversity among the approved state accountability plans and state-consolidated applications, states have great flexibility in the design of their systems and implementation of particular No Child Left Behind (NCLB) provisions. Presented as a checklist of items, states considered many issues when designing accountability systems, providing options for parents, and defining highly qualified teachers. The following list represents almost 40 separate issues under the control and responsibility of state and local education agencies. Standards and Assessments Elements of the AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) Definition Adequate Yearly progress and State Accountability Systems Students With Special Instructional Needs AYP for Unique Schools Definition of Persistently Dangerous Highly Qualified Teachers Policy Guidance For School Report Cards State and local school district report cards are critical tools for promoting accountability for schools, local school districts, and states by publicizing data about student performance and program effectiveness for parents, policy makers, and other stakeholders. Report cards help parents and the general public see where schools and districts are succeeding and where there is still work to do. Most states and school districts have already identified report cards as being integral to accountability and have been providing information on school and student achievement to the public for years. So long as existing state and district report cards include the information required by the No Child Left Behind Act, states and districts may continue to use them to meet the Title I requirements. For states and districts that have reported achievement and other data to the public in the past, the Title I requirements provide an opportunity to review and re-evaluate how data are currently provided and to identify where to make improvements. To assist school administrators as they craft school report cards, the U.S. Department of Education has released non-regulatory guidance addressing many of the commonly asked questions about the report card requirements. The guidance is available online at: http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/reportcardsguidance.doc
	This is a guide to testing and accountability requirements under No Child Left Behind and is written specifically for parents. Download PDF 128 KB
	January 29, 2004 Questions and Answers On The School Improvement Provisions Of No Child Left Behind Non-regulatory guidance recently released by the U.S. Department of Education helps explain the school and local education agency (LEA) improvement provisions that are part of the No Child Left Behind and Title I regulations. Superintendents, principals, teachers, and parents can find information on the annual review process and the school improvement process, including the need for a school improvement plan and technical assistance from the LEA. Why do the state education agency (SEA) and LEA conduct an annual review of school progress? What data do SEAs and LEAs review? What purpose is served by identifying a school for improvement? When the LEA identifies a school for improvement, what information must it provide to parents? What must the school do when it is identified for improvement? What is the source of funding for the professional development detailed in the school improvement plan? How must the school improvement plan address parental involvement? In what areas must the LEA assist a school in improvement? What must the State do to assist schools identified as in need of improvement? These questions and more can be answered in the link below or the PDF document. http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/legislation.html Download the January 7, 2004 - LEA and School Improvement, Non-Regulatory Guidance PDF 213 KB
	A page that helps parents understand report cards -- how to understand them and how to react to them. It also has many other great links! http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/ca/30/track
	These policy letters provide guidance and insight on a variety of topics of interest to State Educational Agencies (SEAs), school districts, federal program directors, and others in implementing No Child Left Behind. http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/stateletters/index.html
	This is a gread index page on links to other pages that deal with accountability issues -- from report cards to testing. www.edgateway.net/cs/caesl/print/docs/331

What are the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act for states and school districts to publish “report cards” on school performance?
Starting with the last school year (2002-03), state test results are reported to the public in order to hold schools accountable for improving the academic achievement of each and every one of their students. The following information is on the report cards:

student academic achievement on statewide tests disaggregated and reported by four categories of students (students who are economically disadvantaged; students who have been identified as having special needs and have IEPs [individual educational plans], students with limited English proficiency, and students from ethnic groups [Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American])
a comparison of students at basic, proficient, and advanced levels of academic achievement – these levels are determined by the State
high school graduation rates (how many students drop out of school)
the number and names of schools identified for improvement
the professional qualifications of teachers
the percentages of students not tested

School districts must prepare annual reports for parents and the public on the academic achievement of all schools combined and of each individual school. The school district report cards include the same information in the state report card. In the case of an individual school, the report card includes whether it has been identified for school improvement and how its students performed on the state test compared to the school district and state as a whole.
Click here to search the Kansas State Department of Education website for your school's report card.

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How can I see these school report cards?
In addition to student report cards, schools are required to report overall results for student learning. These campus report cards must be disseminated widely through public means, which could be posted on the Internet, distributed to the media, or distributed through public agencies.

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Do these tests measure the progress of the schools?
Yes. Every year, you will be able to find out whether your school is improving, or, to put it another way – whether it is making adequate yearly progress.

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