Accountability

Accountability Resources

The Center for Assessment partners with education leaders to design, refine, and evaluate accountability systems that balance equity, transparency, and technical rigor. Grounded in research and best practices, our work ensures these systems address local priorities while meeting high standards for validity and utility. We provide thought leadership on reimagining accountability frameworks to better support educational equity, improve outcomes, and enhance stakeholder trust. Whether building new systems or optimizing existing ones, we collaborate to create solutions that drive meaningful, sustainable improvements in schools and student learning.


Recent Accountability Projects

Accountability Documentation

The New Mexico Public Education Department is developing technical documentation of the state’s accountability system. The goal of this work is to increase transparency and ensure year-to-year consistency in implementation of the accountability business rules.

Setting Accountability Performance Standards

The Arkansas Department of Education is designing a process to establish new standards for the state’s school accountability system. It will consider a school’s performance across multiple prioritized measures and allow grades to be reported for overall school performance and for two or more priority indicators.

Modeling Growth In Delaware

In state accountability systems, it is important that each indicator provide valuable and independent information about schools. A team from the Center—Senior Associates Will Lorié and Damian Betebenner and Executive Director Scott Marion—is working with a Delaware advisory group to investigate ways to model student academic growth.


Recent Accountability Blog Posts

Local Accountability: The Forgotten Element in Education Reform

This paper, produced in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), addresses the purposes and principles of […]
October 31, 2018

Designing a Coherent System of Accountability Across ESSA and Perkins V

How Considering ESSA and Perkins V as Complementary Parts of a Larger Accountability System Can Help States be Better Aligned […]
October 31, 2018

How RILS Helps Define a Path Forward for Educational Assessment and Accountability

A Vision for More Effective Practices in the Future This post is one of several recapping the Reidy Interactive Lecture […]
October 24, 2018

20 Years of Problem Solving and a Positive Outlook for the Future

Reflections on the Center’s Efforts to Improve Educational Assessment and Accountability Note: The following remarks were delivered by Center for […]
October 2, 2018

2018 Reidy Interactive Lecture Series

The Center at 20: Leveraging the lessons of the past to improve the impact of assessment and accountability practices Thursday, […]
September 28, 2018

It’s Been 20 Years. What Have We Learned?

Key Takeaways from the Reidy Interactive Lecture Series in its 20th Year Asking what we have learned is a fitting […]
September 27, 2018

Designing a Coherent State Accountability System: The Every Student Succeeds Act and Perkins V

This brief provides recommendations to support state education agencies in establishing coherent state plans for ESSA and Perkins. It highlights […]
September 19, 2018

The Burden of Proof: A Call for Validation Plans and Evidence in Educational Programs

Why Evaluation of Educational System Designs is Critical to Measuring Effectiveness and Results Educational policy makers, program designers, and intervention […]
September 12, 2018

Promoting More Coherent and Balanced Accountability Systems

This paper, written for the 2018 Reidy Interactive Lecture Series, presents a framework for improving the coherence, flexibility, and balance […]
August 31, 2018

Improving Accountability: Where Do We Go From Here?

How Can We Focus on Improving Accountability Systems to Improve Student Outcomes? In recent years, assessment and accountability have become […]
August 20, 2018