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4 Hold Schools Accountable

for the high achievement of all students, through fair and equitable practices that ensure their success.

Imagine > But Currently > What must be done > What we can do together

Imagine

Imagine schools…

Taking responsibility for the success of every student from preschool through college.
That actively and routinely review their performance and willingly change their practices to make adjustments that more appropriately serve their students.
That are transparent and seek community input to correct what does not work for the students they serve.
That foster articulation between systems to support student success.
Where accountability is such a fact of life, so institutionalized that when students do not succeed, the system stops to fix the problem immediately in the students’ best interest.

Imagine communities…

That make plans for seven generations to come and do not write-off a generation of children.
That accept no excuse for failure, because they adopt the philosophy that all children can learn and they do whatever it takes to make that happen.
That demand multiple measures rather than a single test to assess student performance.
That engage parents in making decisions about their children’s lives.

Imagine states…

That hold themselves accountable for supporting the high achievement of all students at the local level.

But Currently…

Too often, children and their parents are blamed for schools that are not working. Schools measure their accountability based on how students perform on single standardized tests. This limited view of accountability misses the point about what schools should be doing to prepare students for college completion and success in life. Competent, responsible citizens are more than just test takers. High-stakes, single measure indicators hurt children.

What must be done…

Accountability is good but should be based on multiple measures, rather them a single test. We must reject the use of any one test score or single measure as the primary basis for making high-stakes decisions about students. Multiple measures, including grade point averages, teacher opinions and parent judgments could all be used to complete the picture about each student’s progress.

The ideal model for school accountability is one that embraces shared accountability and shared action. Schools should abandon the expensive and inefficient practice of testing all students, and instead, utilize a process of randomly selecting a sample of students to test. This approach would yield the same important information on school quality and performance and would cost a fraction of the current multi-million-dollar price.

What we can do together…

Advocate for multiple measures to describe student success and to make decisions about a child’s schooling and college options.
Advocate for a broader definition of accountability to include measures beyond test scores.
Let school officials know that you object to the expensive method of testing all students and that the same information about the schools’ performance can be obtained from testing a sample of students from each school.
When working across racial groups and sectors, ensure that accountability discussions do not focus on blaming parents, students, or communities, but rather, focus on shared responsibility for collaboration and action.