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
The Center at 20: Reliability of No Child Left Behind Accountability Designs
When It Comes to School Ratings, Meaning Matters
A Look Back and a Look Ahead After 20 Years of Assessment and Accountability Work
Accountability Identification Is Only the Beginning: Monitoring and Evaluating Accountability Results and Implementation
Accountability Implementation: An Introduction to the Operations, Performance Standards, and Evaluation Resources
Innovative Assessment and Accountability Systems that Support Continuous Improvement under ESSA: Practical Considerations and Early Research
The Need for Program Evaluation to Support Accountability Implementation
Maaps Project Update: Providing a Comprehensive Picture of School Quality and Success
Use of the “Equity Indicator” in State ESSA Accountability Systems