- Federal law (IDEA 1997) has clarified that students with disabilities must participate in assessments and accountability systems in one or more of three ways: (1) standard assessment, (2) assessment with accommodations, and (3) alternate assessment.
- Making good decisions does not mean picking the assessment that is most likely to produce the highest scores for the students, but rather, aligning the student's opportunity to learn with the student's instructional goals, and aligning the assessment with the desired opportunity to learn.
- Accountability for the learning of all students is a new hallmark of educational reform rhetoric.
- All students need to be a part of the evaluation of the system.
- In order to make fair comparisons everyone must do the same thing.
- The legal requirements for inclusion really started with the introduction of the Goals 2000 Act.
- Accountability is typically defined as a systematic means of assuring those inside and outside the educational system that schools are moving in desired directions.
- Classroom accountability can be focused on individual students as well as the group as a whole.
- School building accountability provides information to both building and central office administration about the overall picture of student learning.
- School district accountability allows the state to examine how it is doing in providing an education to those enrolled in schools throughout the state.
- State level accountability allows for national comparisons.
- Assessment is the process of measuring learning against a set of standards.
- The primary functions of state and district assessment programs include: (1) Accountability, (2) Instructional Improvement, (3) Program Evaluation, (4) Student Diagnosis, and (5) High School Graduation.
- Assessment and accountability results tell us how students are doing against a set of learning goals or standards.
- Inclusive accountability systems are those that account for all students in the district or state, regardless of what kind of test they take.
- In system accountability, the educational system - district offices, schools, principals, or teachers - are the focus of accountability.
- In student accountability, the student is the focus of accountability.
- The most common types of information used in state accountability systems are: (1) Student test scores, (2) Dropout rate, and (3) Attendance rate.
- Most states and districts use information from more than just a single measure of student performance.
- All students count and must be accounted for.
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