Building a High-Quality Assessment and Accountability Program: The Philadelphia Example

The purpose of implementing an assessment and accountability program in an urban school district is to improve student learning of worthwhile content. ¹ Current levels of achievement in most U.S. urban districts are unacceptably low. Average achievement test results conceal the fact that achievement levels of students of color are substantially lower than those of white students. Improvements are urgently needed.

Assessment and accountability, by themselves, are unlikely to turn around the low levels of student achievement in urban settings. ² Supports must be put in place so that students and schools can be successful. Such supports must be an integral part of an effective assessment and accountability program. Nevertheless, high-stakes testing can be a powerful policy lever in a more comprehensive reform initiative. ³

Some education researchers and practitioners believe that high-stakes testing leads to a dumbed-down curriculum and unfair penalties for students and schools. ⁴ Others believe equally strongly that, without high-stakes testing, many schools will continue to provide inadequate opportunities to learn for students, especially students from low-income families. We believe that a carefully crafted and continuously refined assessment and accountability program can lead to more effective schools and higher levels of student persistence and achievement on content critical for future success.

A Framework for Building an Effective Assessment and Accountability System

An effective assessment and accountability program has many components. Much more is involved than simply administering a test and adopting a policy that says if students and schools do not achieve to a standard they will be punished. The most important statement for guiding the design of an assessment and accountability program is Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. ⁵ Earlier versions of these standards have been in place for some time and have become the legal and industry benchmarks for test development and use. ⁶ Because the standards cover much more than student achievement testing and accountability, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2000 developed a separate position statement concerning high-stakes testing in preK-12 education. ⁷ The AERA position articulates twelve conditions that every high-stakes testing program should meet. ⁸

Those opposed to high-stakes testing use the standards for educational and psychological testing and AERA's position statement to critique assessment and accountability programs and find them wanting. For them, the standards and position statement are valuable insofar as they can be used to help put a halt to high-stakes testing. We see the standards and position statement in a different light. For us, they provide the criteria and guidelines for building an effective assessment and accountability program that will strengthen instruction and improve student achievement.

Essentially, the standards and the AERA position statement identify the following three criteria that any effective assessment and accountability program should meet. ⁹

1. The assessment and accountability program should provide a good target for student and school effort. If assessment and accountability can focus effort, then they must focus effort in constructive directions.

2. The assessment and accountability program should be symmetrical. To produce high levels of student achievement, students and schools must work together. No school is so good that it can be successful without students who are motivated and ready to learn. Similarly, even students who are motivated and ready to learn must be provided adequate opportunities to learn worthwhile content. Students from low-income families are especially dependent on school-based opportunities to learn. The assessment and accountability program should include stakes that schools and students share so that both have incentives to improve student achievement.

3. The assessment and accountability program should be fair. For students, fairness requires that schools provide an adequate opportunity to learn. For schools, fairness requires access to the resources needed to be successful. A fair assessment and accountability program must...