Alabama Education Policy Primer

TOC	Table of Contents
Intro	Introduction by Kenneth K.Wong and James W. Guthrie
Ch. 1	Accountability, Assessments, and Standards
Ch. 2	Achievement
Ch. 3	Closing the Achievement Gap
Ch. 4	Finance and Funding
Ch. 5	Governance and Policymaking
Ch. 6	Math, Science and Technology
Ch. 7	No Child Left Behind (Elementary and Secondary Education Act)
Ch. 8	Reading and Writing
Ch. 9	School Choice
Ch. 10	School Leadership
Ch. 11	Teaching Quality
- - -	Education-ary

Download All Chapters (PDF, 2M)

Alabama Education Policy Primer

Ch. 1: Accountability, Assessments and Standards

download full chapter (PDF, 198K)

Overview
The largest and most successful movement in current education reform has been the movement of states, districts and schools toward the alignment of standards, assessments and accountability. The old way of looking at education improvement measured such inputs as the number of books in school libraries or the number of students in a classroom.While both of these measurements are still important, the new way of measuring education improvement looks at gains in achievement levels of students from all backgrounds.

Accountability and assessment policies have been the cornerstone of American public education reform since the 1990s. Such Southern states as North Carolina and Texas have received national attention for their successful efforts to improve public education through the use of rigorous accountability and assessment policies at the state level. Alabama has been behind the curve on implementing accountability and assessment policies. However, since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Alabama has focused efforts to align its courses of study, state assessments, and accountability policies toward the goal of raising student achievement for children of all backgrounds.

Alabama began implementation of its new accountability system in 2003-04. Through the new accountability system, Alabama set the goal of having 100% of students performing at the proficient level in reading and math by 2013-14. Schools and subgroups of students are now required to make “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) each year as they progress toward meeting 100% proficiency as defined by the state and the No Child Left Behind Act. To complete the next generation of accountability in Alabama, new assessments and accountability policies will be phased in over a period of several years.

This chapter outlines the importance of standards, curriculum, assessments and accountability policies in creating an aligned system that improves student achievement in Alabama and the nation. This chapter also explains how each of these issues is addressed in Alabama and gives an overview of the new Alabama accountability system.