Education Policy

Education Policy

Educators and policymakers need supportive policies to improve schools. We partner with states and districts to develop those policies and advocate their adoption at the district, state and federal levels. In papers, blog posts and presentations nationally, we highlight good policy practices.


Recent Education Policy Projects

Maryland

We partnered with Maryland as it undertook a comprehensive re-envisioning of both its assessment and accountability systems. The Center helped develop and coordinate a broad-based task force to help define policy priorities, which we documented in a comprehensive report that outlined clear recommendations to improve assessment and accountability.

National Assessment Governing Board

Scott Marion is one of three measurement professionals on the 26-member board that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” In this role, he helps support the technical quality of the assessment and advocates for strong policies to support it.

Policy briefs, blogs and webinars

We work to build support for federal and state policies to support high-quality assessment and accountability systems that ensure that all students have a fair opportunity to learn meaningful content and skills. Two short papers, “The Case for State Testing” and “The Case for Statewide School Accountability Systems,” are recent examples of this work.


Recent Education Policy Blog Posts and Papers

Using Student Data for School Accountability: An Overview

This presentation provides an overview of different types of school performance, including student growth, and introduces key issues in defining […]
June 19, 2005

Establishing a Value Table for Alaska

An explanation of the process used to generate a value table recommended for use in measuring growth in Alaska.
June 13, 2005

Measuring Student Growth Through Value Tables

Slides of a paper presenting introductory concepts of value tables, presented at the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Large […]
June 13, 2005

2004 Reidy Interactive Lecture Series

Incorporating Measures of Student Growth Into State Accountability Systems October 7th – 8th Agenda Session I Validity Considerations When Measuring […]
October 8, 2004

Building “Single Statewide Accountability Systems” Under No Child Left Behind

This presentation provides a framework for conceptualizing the role of accountability in federal education law. This session addresses key questions […]
October 8, 2003

Developing & Implementing Instructionally Supportive Local Assessment Systems, Part 2

High quality local assessment systems may offer great promise for truly improving teaching and learning. Yet these designs are not […]
June 23, 2003

Developing & Implementing Instructionally Supportive Local Assessment Systems, Part 1

High quality local assessment systems may offer great promise for truly improving teaching and learning. Yet these designs are not […]
June 23, 2003

A Case Study of Selected Schools in Economically Disadvantaged Districts

This document presents findings of studies on a number of schools with sudden and dramatic improvement in student performance on […]
February 10, 2003

2002 Reidy Interactive Lecture Series

Implementing the NCLB Act: Alignment, Reliability, Rationality October 10th – 11th Agenda Session I Reliable Accountability Design Decisions and NCLB: […]
October 11, 2002

Designing Accountability Systems That Comply With NCLB

This presentation at the CCSSO Large-scale Assessment Conference examined the federal No Child Left Behind accountability requirements from the perspective […]
June 23, 2002