Alabama Education Policy Primer

Ch. 2: Achievement

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Overview
In recent years, states have placed increasing focus on assessments to gauge student achievement in the core subjects of reading, mathematics, science, and writing. The federal No Child Left Behind Act is very specific about assessments. It requires all students to be tested in reading, mathematics and science in grades 3–8 and once in high school. The results of these assessments pinpoint which students are achieving proficiency and which students lag behind. Educators can then use this student achievement data to identify strengths and challenges in curriculum and instruction in order to tailor lesson plans and classroom strategies to meet the needs of every student.

Historically, when student test data is “broken down,” or disaggregated, by gender, ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status, large gaps in student achievement emerge between black and white students, poor and non-poor students, and general education and special education students. Alabama’s student achievement data reflects this trend. For more information, see Chapter 3: Closing the Achievement Gap.

This chapter provides a quick reference for the assessments given in Alabama to measure student achievement at the international, national and state levels and where to find this data. Included in this chapter is a report entitled “Education Watch: Alabama” written by The Education Trust, a Washington-D.C.-based advocacy group for poor and minority students. This report provides trend data for Alabama on several national assessments and performance indicators. For more on Alabama’s statewide assessment system, see Chapter 1: Accountability, Assessments and Standards.

  

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