Succeeds Act (ESSA). Nevertheless, the nation’s most important education legislation remains deeply
committed to test-focused approaches to accountability. In both incarnations—as NCLB and ESSA
this key federal law has been framed as an effort to strengthen schools and close opportunity gaps, yet
it has constrained state and local officials, produced a host of unintended consequences, and largely
failed to realize its aims. Moreover, whatever their benefits in data transparency and attention to
student subgroups, these ESEA iterations have failed to meaningfully address systematic inequalities
affecting racially minoritized students, low-income students, students with disabilities, emerging
bilingual students, and others.
This report seeks to outline what a more effective and equitable approach to assessment of student
learning and accountability for schools and districts might look like. Drawing together roughly two
dozen leading scholars, it sets forth a policy agenda for the next reauthorization of ESEA. At the same
time—in light of the lengthy delay in reauthorization that is likely to occur—it considers how local
and state leaders might leverage some of the underutilized flexibility available under ESSA.
The approach of this report is not to tinker with the details of current federal law; instead, it outlines
six principles that should be prioritized in pursuit of equity and effectiveness. Our recommendations
simply seek to enact those principles through present assessment and accountability systems.
Recommendations for Effective and Equitable Assessment and Accountability:
1. Align assessment policy with goals for high-quality curricula and instruction.
2. Develop a system with reciprocal accountability.
3. Ensure that representative community members play a meaningful role in the system.
4. Move toward a broader array of school quality indicators.
5. Ensure interpretable and actionable results.
6. Design a system that will evolve and improve
As the report explains, policy leaders should strive to advance these principles, whatever the particular
nature of their work around assessment and accountability. These principles are congruent with what
we have learned from educational research. And they are aligned with the fundamental aim of equity.
As we move toward what might be termed Accountability 3.0, it is important to reflect on three
primary shortcomings in the nation’s present approach to assessment and accountability. First among
those is a flawed theory of change. The existing theory of change, exemplified by NCLB but evident
in many other state and federal policies, suggests that schools will improve if sanctioned for poor
student performance on standardized tests. Two decades on, it is clear that this approach fails to
strengthen schools or close opportunity gaps.
In envisioning a new accountability system, this report
recommends revisiting this theory of change with an eye towards improving opportunities to learn, as
well as toward fostering the kinds of activities and outcomes that communities want from schools.
The second shortcoming is that stakeholders have been inadequately included and involved. The
current approach largely strips educators of professional judgment and generally fails to empower
families. Additionally, communities have had no say in what gets assessed, how accountability is
determined, or what the consequences of accountability are.
This report recommends an approach to
assessment and accountability that empowers stakeholders by ensuring that community members play
a meaningful role in the system and by implementing a system of reciprocal accountability.
Third, the rigid, top-down approach to accountability of the past two decades has promoted distrust
among educators, stifled creativity, and limited the degree to which the system can evolve.
This report
envisions a system that balances federal, state, and local authority—creating space for
experimentation, adaptation to local context, and the evolution of systems. An effective and equitable
assessment and accountability system will be locally-relevant and tied to high-quality curricula. It will
also foster not just the improvement of schools, but the improvement of the assessment and
accountability system itself.
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