New Report: Expanded Measures of School Performance

Posted by on May 01, 2011

Room for growth

A new study from the RAND Corporation finds that expanding measures of school performance beyond mathematics and English language arts will give educators better information when evaluating the achievements of schools. Twenty states have more extensive metrics, but results are often overlooked because of the focus on math and language arts in NCLB. Where they found expanded measures, researchers identified four categories: student test performance in additional subjects (such as history or social studies), growth in student performance over time, and indices for student achievement along the entire spectrum of high to low performance and college readiness. They also identified three other types of measures that are becoming more common: indicators of a safe and supportive school environment, indicators of risk for students not graduating on time, and results of interim academic assessments. The authors recommend that Congress broaden the range of performance measures beyond those mandated under NCLB. New federal legislation should encourage expansion and evaluation of success, but avoid requiring specific measures; as measures are evaluated and found to be successful, they can be incorporated into the system over time. Existing federal grant programs should also be leveraged to encourage development and evaluation of additional school performance measures.

See the report: http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR968.html