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

State Systems of Identification and Support Under ESSA: Evaluating Identification Methods and Results in an Accountability System

This paper helps state accountability leaders consider criteria and potential methods to evaluate the success, utility, and impact of their […]
November 27, 2017

State Systems of Identification and Support Under ESSA: A Focus on Designing and Revising Systems of School Identification

This paper provides state accountability leaders an overview of the federal law and key design considerations as they develop identification […]
November 27, 2017

Considering English Language Proficiency Within Systems of Accountability Under the Every Student Succeeds Act

This white paper provides an overview of key considerations associated with including indicators of progress in English language proficiency within […]
March 26, 2017

Identifying a School Quality/Student Success Indicator for ESSA: Requirements and Considerations

This brief summarizes ESSA’s requirements for the school quality/student success indicator and outlines key factors to consider when identifying, evaluating, […]
December 31, 2016

In Search of Unicorns: Conceptualizing and Validating the “Fifth Indicator” in ESSA Accountability Systems

This paper describes the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) regarding the indicator for student success and school […]
November 13, 2016

A Framework to Support Accountability Evaluation

This paper identifies the key elements underlying a comprehensive accountability system evaluation and illustrates how the framework can be applied […]
September 30, 2016

Precision, Interpretability, and Utility of SGPs

This paper was written in response to claims made in Stephen Sireci et al’s 2016 critique of Student Growth Percentiles […]
July 6, 2016

Developing a Theory of Action to Support High-Quality Accountability System Design

This paper supports state leaders as they create theories of action to support the design of high-quality accountability systems.
April 4, 2016

A Theory of Action to Guide the Design and Evaluation of States Innovative Assessment and Accountability System Pilots

This document, published in conjunction with Knowledge Works, provides a detailed guide to help state and district leaders create detailed […]
March 31, 2016

Memorandum to USED on Implementation of the Innovative Assessment and Accountability Pilot

This memo to U.S. Education Secretary John King was jointly prepared by the Center for Assessment and KnowledgeWorks in March […]
March 20, 2016