An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Oklahoma’s School Accountability System

• In Event: Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: State Accountability Policies

Abstract

States have been adopting and implementing their own accountability systems as a way to either augment or replace accountability standards established by No Child Left Behind. Although these accountability systems can have serious consequences for schools, there has been almost no published research examining the technical quality of the measures within these systems. This report analyzes Oklahoma’s A-F School Grading System to determine if a school’s letter grade can discriminate between effective and ineffective schools. A modeling building process in HLM 7.0 is used to explore differences in student achievement between A, B, C, D, and F schools after controlling for school and student characteristics. Results demonstrate the accountability system’s inability to effectively discriminate school performance.

Authors

• Ryan Charles Miskell, University of Oklahoma

• Curt M. Adams, University of Oklahoma

• Patrick B. Forsyth, University of Oklahoma