Document Number: 5042Grading the Systems: The Guide to State Standards, Tests, and Accountability Policies - The authors examine how 30 states measure up to six criteria of a solid accountability system: (1) student knowledge and skills standards, (2) test content, (3) alignment between standards and tests, (4) rigor of the tests, (5) technical trustworthiness and opennness of the tests, and (6) accountability policies (both before and after implementation of policies required by the No Child Left Behind Act). The authors found that while standards were rated as 2.9 (on a 5-point scale) in the national average, test content, alignment to standards and trustworthiness and openness rated slightly higher on a national average. Accountability policies jumped a full point from before to after NCLB – to 3.7, but test rigor received the weakest national average rating, at 2.4. (Edited by Richard W. Cross, Theodor Rebarber and Justin Torres; Foreword by Chester E. Finn, Jr., AccountabilityWorks and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, January 2004)...
No Child Left Behind