Accounting for Student Voice: Surveys, School Quality, and State Accountability Systems

• In Event: Improving Data Use in School Accountability and Education Policy

Abstract

For the past two decades, schools and districts have increasingly used student surveys as a means of expanding their data collection efforts. At the state level, however, “student voice” is still used sparingly. In this paper, we examine how student survey results might alter state accountability determinations. Reconstructing the accountability system in Massachusetts, we draw on a unique set of student survey data, which we add to the state’s formula in varying doses. As we find, such data shift accountability determinations in small but meaningful ways and appear to enhance functional validity. Student survey results introduce information about school quality not captured by typical metrics, correlate moderately with test score growth scores, and are not predicted by student demographic variables.

Authors

• James Noonan, Salem State University

• Ashley J. Carey, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Jack Schneider, University of Massachusetts Lowell