Opinion Essay 5: State-Level Resources and School Improvement

• In Event: The Future of Measurement and Accountability: A Research-Driven Vision

Abstract

This op-ed emphasizes the need for an accountability system grounded in inputs and processes, rather than focused on a singular output like standardized tests. It focuses on the importance of adequate resources and supports to inform school improvement efforts. Research illustrates how current output-focused systems give short shrift to larger goals of K-12 public schooling (Koretz, 2017), fail to support school improvement (Le Floch et al., 2008), and fail to address the civil-rights goals of educational accountability (Scott et al., 2020). Accordingly, this essay offers six recommendations that follow from the research:
Policy Recommendation 1: Definitionally shift to understanding and scope of equity in ESEA and state plans to include inputs and processes, and correspondingly lessen the burden of measuring outputs.
Policy Recommendation 2: Increase states’ supports for districts to develop, recruit, and retain high-quality support personnel and teachers, especially teachers of color.
Policy Recommendation 3: States should also support school board and leadership audits that identify inequities and bad-faith efforts and that take specific action to incorporate diverse voices and make the district systems more equitable.
Policy Recommendation 4: Develop federally funded programs for locally informed professional development and other curricular supports.
Policy Recommendation 5: As part of reciprocal accountability, Congress should mandate equity-focused input and process standards for states to meet in order to receive federal funding.
Policy Recommendation 6: Expand the enforcement of civil rights in federal policy as well as the policy tools the federal government is using to enforce civil rights.

Authors

• Christopher Saldaña, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Kathryn A. McDermott, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
  Presenting Author

• Rachel Sue White, University of Tennessee
  Non-Presenting Author