Standards, Assessment, and Accountability

Reform Efforts

Many states have undertaken reform efforts centered on three interrelated elements:

• Content and performance standards define what students should know and be able to do, and how they can demonstrate proficiency in that set of skills and knowledge. Standards vary in number and level of detail from state to state.



• Statewide assessments measure student progress toward the goals defined by state content and performance standards. These large-scale achievement tests are generally standardized within a given state, but across different states they may vary in the knowledge they test, whether they measure minimum competency or degree of achievement, the style of their questions, and whether they are referenced to a pre-defined standard or the relative performance of other students.



• Standards-based accountability systems hold schools accountable for their students' performance, measured against the expectations of student learning defined by content and performance standards. Schools are held accountable in many ways across the states, including the publication of "report cards" for each school, the announcement of lists of high- and low-performing schools, the awarding of extra money to schools that perform well, assistance to schools performing below expectations, and other measurements included in each state’s definition of adequate yearly progress (AYP)¹.

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¹ Adequate yearly progress (AYP) is the measure by which schools, districts, and states are held accountable for student performance under Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. A state definition of AYP is based on the statewide accountability system, student achievement measurements such as test scores and graduation rates, and statewide academic assessments at the elementary and secondary levels.