State Task Force Developing System for School Accountability

The Racine Unified School District could soon use a new, easier-to-understand system for measuring success.

Governor Scott Walker, State Superindendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers and the La Follette School of Public Affairs are working with a task force on putting together a new system of measurement that makes it easier on everyone when it comes to figuring out how one school stacks up against another.

The task force comes as 2014 fast approaches and state schools will be expected to meet a certain level of proficiency through No Child Left Behind, a benchmark nearly all schools will most likely miss. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has said schools may apply for waivers if they can develop a system of their own to measure student achievement.

According to a story in the Wisconsin State Journal, some of the proposed components of a new accountability system include:

• Using how student achievement grows from year-to-year and not just whether or not kids are at grade level; 
• Using the same accountability standards for all schools, including voucher schools; 
• Making resources available to failing schools so they can work toward improvement instead of just punishing them; and
• Developing a common definition of proficiency such as if high school graduates are ready for college or a career.

Walker seems to be taking cues from Florida, a state that implemented a grade system of A through F in 1999. Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education in that state, is quoted as saying this simpler system has helped close the achievement gap. The new system also created a greater sense of community because parents in A-rated schools looked for ways to help F-rated schools turn around.

Evers told the Wisconsin State Journal that the state already has the ability to collect much of the data Walker is proposing:

• Proficiency and growth over time on a new state test being developed;
• Advanced Placement enrollment;
• Graduation rates;
• College entrance exam scores; and
• Industry certification for students who transition directly into careers.

"We will have hard questions around how the state will support and provide technical assistance for low-performing schools," Evers is quoted in the story. "Not that it’s rocket science, but it’s redeploying resources."

Legislative, business and education leaders from across the state have been invited to participate in the task force.

Who Accepted

• Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, Senate Education Committee Chairman
• Rep. Steve Kestell, R-Elkhart Lake, Assembly Education Committee Chairman
• Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts, D-Middleton, ranking member, Assembly Education Committee
• Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, ranking member, Senate Education Committee
• John Ashley, executive director, Wisconsin Association of School Boards
• Sarah Granofsky Toce, executive director, Wisconsin Charter Schools Association
• Matt Kussow, executive director,  Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools
• Jim Lynch, executive director, Association of Wisconsin School Administrators
• James Bender, president, School Choice Wisconsin
• Gary Myrah, executive director, Wisconsin Council of Administrators of Special Services
• Miles Turner, Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators
• Woody Wiedenhoeft, Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials
• Jesse Harness, commissioner, CESA Statewide Network
• Adam Gamoran, director, Wisconsin Center for Education Research
• Kurt Bauer, president, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
• Kim Henderson, president, Wisconsin PTA
• Howard Fuller, director, Institute for the Transformation of Learning
• Rolf Wegenke, president, Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
• Dan Clancy, president, Wisconsin Technical College System
• Kevin Reilly, president, University of Wisconsin System
• Mary Kellner, president, Kelben Foundation

Neither the Wisconsin Education Association Council nor the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin will participate. Both groups declined the invitation.

What do you think the measurements should include?