Test-based accountability: Time to wobble?

April 23, 2011 By Joanne 5 Comments

Minority and special-ed students made significant gains once states and then No Child Left Behind began holding schools accountable for their performance, argues Bush adviser Sandy Kress in a New York Daily News op-ed. Kress accuses President Obama of going “wobbly” on  accountability.

Under the framework being proposed for the reform of the law, the administration would require that, unless a school is among the very worst in the nation, it would no longer be required to improve even if it continues to fail its black, Hispanic and other disadvantaged kids. Further, in the case of schools that do not improve, special tutoring and public school choice would no longer be required.

In Fact-checking Sandy Kress, Fordham’s Mike Petrilli argues that nearly all the improvement occurred by 2004, less than two years after NCLB was implemented.

For instance, according to the NAEP, the average reading score for Black 9-year olds rose from 186 in 1999 to 204 in 2008–an increase of 18 points. (At 10 points per grade level that comes close enough to the “two grade levels” of progress Kress claims.) Hispanic 9-year olds increased their average reading scores from 213 in 1999 to 234 in 2008–an increase of 21 points. Fourth-grade students with disabilities increased their reading scores from 167 in 2000 to 189 in 2009.

. . . For Black 9-year-olds, 78 percent of the improvement took place in the five years between 1999 and 2004, compared to 22 percent in the four years between 2004 and 2008. For Hispanic students, 81 percent of the gains occurred between 1999 and 2004, compared to 19 percent between 2004 and 2008. For fourth-grade students with disabilities, 91 percent of the gains occurred in just two years: between 2000 and 2002.

While there’s “plausible evidence to credit accountability-based reforms,” writes Petrilli, NCLB can’t claim much credit since it didn’t start till fall of 2002.

Petrilli thinks the states’ accountability measures boosted student achievement in the late 1990s to early 2000s. NCLB jumped on a moving bandwagon. “To me, the evidence shows that NCLB and test-based accountability had their day in the sun, and made a big difference, but now it’s time to try something else if we want to see progress continue.”

-->Filed Under: Education, Testing Tagged With: accountability, minority students, NAEP, No Child Left Behind, President Obama, Sandy Kress, special education students About Joanne
CommentsJoseph Kaye says: April 23, 2011 at 10:57 am

It would seem to me that most new strategies and interventions have a pretty decent chance of working well the first year. The proof of things comes years later.

tim-10-ber says: April 23, 2011 at 11:42 am

Yes…the best thing about NCLB is the differientiated data and the spotlight it puts on the kids schools had not been teaching…special ed kids were just being taught life skills when many could do higher level math just at not so advanced a level…needed different text books or whatever…

But because the focus was then on the kids at the bottom the kids in the mdidle didn’t move up, many may have moved down and the kids at the top actually started performing worse. Not very smart of educators at all…

The sad thing is now the scores are used as punishment rather than how to improve…I am very much in favor of the tests scores being made public…we have no way of knowing how public education is doing without this and as a taxpayer I want to know my money is well spent…but, are schools really failing when it is four kids that miss the boat year after year? are school really failing when the ELL kids are improving but not fast enough (we know these kids are not stupid they just have to understand and comprehend working in another language) or should all SPED kids be tested?

Can’t adjustments be made to the testing requirements? Just asking…

Crimson Wife says: April 23, 2011 at 12:20 pm

I wonder how much of the reading gains come from the move away from the “whole language” fad back to phonics-based instruction. My brother went through school in the ’90′s and he had *TERRIBLE* language arts instruction.

allen says: April 23, 2011 at 12:36 pm

Whole language was on the skids before NCLB. The great victory of whole language advocates in mandating whole language as the only methodology allowable in California pretty much made them the owners of the resulting catastrophic decline in reading score excuses about Spanish-speaking kids not withstanding.

Mike in Texas says: April 23, 2011 at 4:42 pm

Of course Sandy Kress thinks its great, the companies he shills for make tons of money off it.

Speak Your Mind Cancel replyName *

Email *

Website

Please leave these two fields as-is:

Protected by Invisible Defender. Showed 403 to 56,393 bad guys.

The BookSubscribe

Recent CommentsMichael E. Lopez on Put argument at the coreMichael E. Lopez on Put argument at the coreDiana Senechal on Put argument at the coreanon on Vouchers pass Indiana SenateLightly Seasoned on Oviparous!Recent PostsOviparous!Put argument at the coreAdmissions staff check Facebook profilesStudents oppose GPA redistributionAds
(a) EdBlogsAnswer SheetBrainstormBridging DifferencesChange the EquationCharter InsightsCharterBlogClass StruggleCollege PuzzleCommon CoreCommunity College SpotlightConcord ReviewCore KnowledgeCritical MassCurriculum MattersDaily RiffDana GoldsteinDiscriminationsDropout NationEarly Ed WatchEarly StoriesEd BeatEd ReformerEdMoneyEdspressoEducated GuessEducation GadflyEducation InnovatingEducation NextEducation OptimistsEducation Policy BlogEduFlackEdutopia BlogEduwonkEdWizeEIA InterceptsFIRE’s TorchFlypaperFutures of School ReformGotham SchoolsGradebookHechingerEdHome EducationInside School ResearchJay P. GreeneKitchen Table MathLarry CubanMedia BullpenMinding the CampusNAS BlogNational JournalOut in Left FieldPolitics K-12Public School InsightsQuick and the EdredefinEdRick Hess Straight UpRock the SchoolhouseSchool Law and ReformShanker BlogSherman DornStuart BuckTeacher BeatThe Educated ReporterThis Week in EducationTurnaround ChallengeUniversity DiariesWhitney TilsonWhy Boys Fail(b) TeacherBlogsA Teacher’s EducationA Teacher’s ViewAssorted StuffBiology and BlueberriesCoach BrownCoach G's Teaching TipsCurmudgeonDaily GrindDeTocqueville's DaughterDy/DanExponential CurveGently Hew StoneHistory is ElementaryHuffEnglishLightly SeasonedMathNotationsMildly MelancholyMiss BraveNot All Flowers and SausagesNYC EducatorOrganized ChaosPractical TheoryRight on the Left CoastShrewdness of ApesSiobhan CuriousStories from SchoolTeach for America BlogsTeacher in a Strange LandTeacher VoicesTeacher, I Don't Get ItTeacherLingoTeaching NowThe LineWhat It's Like on the Inside(c) Blogroll11DAnn AlthouseBetsy’s PageBuzzMachineHit & RunI Speak of DreamsInkwellInstapunditIowahawkJames Lileks’ BleatJim MillerJust One MinuteKausfilesMegan McArdleRoger SimonThe CornerThe PlankTim BlairVirginia PostrelVolokh Conspiracy(d) News/InfoBest of the WebCalifornia WatchCity JournalCommentary MagazinePajamas MediaReasonSlateTCS DailyThe OnionWeekly Standard(e) CollegesCalifornia business schoolLinksApidexinArtificial Christmas TreesAsbestos Lung CancerChicago CollegeChristmas DecorationsColleges in IllinoisColorado Nursing SchoolsEducatorFacebook EmoticonsMesotheliomaPhlebotomy TrainingScentOnline EducationAccredited Online CollegesBachelor Degrees OnlineBachelor of AccountingCNA Duties and ResponsibilitiesCollege OnlineDay TradingElementary & Secondary EducationEngineering Programs OntarioHealthcare Management DegreeMassage Therapy ProgramsMedical Billing and CodingMedical Billing and Coding TrainingOnline College EducationOnline Courses AustraliaOnline Courses in AustraliaOnline Criminal Justice DegreesOnline MBAOnline Psychology DegreesOnline Trading EducationOnline UniversityPhlebotomy CertificationPhlebotomy TrainingReal Online Degrees BlogUMATX-Ray TechnicianSiteMeter

Return to top of page

Copyright © 2011 · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in