NEW QUESTION(3): Assessment and Accountability

During the online dialogue, many people have said that they find accountability in the educational system essential. However, a good bit of opposition has been voiced regarding the system of assessment that is now in use.

It seems difficult to combine these two positions. Assessment, if it is well done, should be a way to check how public schools, colleges, and universities are performing and how well education resources have been used, and to decide where future educational investments should go - in short, a way to help assure that students are being served and taxpayers are getting their money's worth.

Question 3: Can the state have an effective accountability system without assessment of students? If many parents opt out of having their children participate in testing, what impact will it have on this system? Would you say "reject statewide testing" - and if so, what alternatives can you suggest? Or would you say "keep the statewide testing program and improve it" - and if so, in what ways?

What do you think?

Rosemary

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Background:  The draft Master Plan places a high priority on students and their achievement, which in turn influences the allocation of education funding, assignments of responsibilities and authority, and the overall state accountability system at all levels.  A key requirement of the accountability components is data on student achievement that includes sufficient detail to permit judgments to be made.  The state testing program has two objectives: determine the extent to which students are learning what the academic standards say they should be taught, and determining how the achievement of California students compares to the achievement of students in other states.  California is completing the development of standards-based testing to achieve the former objective.  Norm-referenced, or standardized, tests have frequently been relied on to achieve the latter.  Much opposition has been voiced to norm-referenced tests by teachers and parents alike but there is high public interest in knowing how California students fare compared to students in other states.  There is little support for either more state mandated testing or reliance on a single test to make judgments on either student achievement or institutional performance; more data is needed on what does and doesn?t work well in promoting achievement among different student groups; and there is a need for data to support a rational approach to investing new resources in education beyond simple comparison with what other states spend per student.