Data Usage for Accountability: Two Decades of Incentive Inequity

• In Event: Examining Equity and Accountability Systems

Abstract

This quantitative study of 106 Florida elementary schools found that the state grading system consistently rewarded schools with the lowest percentages of impoverished students with the largest cumulative monetary awards over 21 years of its incentive program. The study also found that the school grades of impoverished schools would improve if evaluation systems utilizing only learning gains were employed. These findings were then aligned to Effective Schools Research and analyzed to provide insight and recommendations for changes in the evaluation of schools.

Authors

• Mary Killeen, School District of Palm Beach County

• Meredith L. Mountford, Florida Atlantic University

• John D. Morris, Florida Atlantic University