U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the names of the 11 new outside peer reviewers chosen to evaluate the growth-based accountability models submitted by 20 states. While continuing to meet the goals of No Child Left Behind, states participating in this pilot program are able to receive credit for student improvement over time by tracking individual student achievement from year to year.

"We continue to work closely with states to provide flexibility in implementing No Child Left Behind while maintaining focus on accountability and proficiency for all by 2014," Secretary Spellings said. "This pilot program allows us to test the idea that growth models show promise as fair, reliable and innovative methods of giving states credit for student improvement over time."

Growth models for Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah must be based on the following seven principles of No Child Left Behind:

• Ensure that all students are proficient by 2014 and set annual state goals to ensure that the achievement gap is closing for all groups of students;
• Set expectations for annual achievement based upon meeting grade-level proficiency and not upon student background or school characteristics;
• Hold schools accountable for student achievement in reading/language arts and mathematics;
• Ensure that all students in tested grades are included in the assessment and accountability system, hold schools and districts accountable for the performance of each student subgroup, and include all schools and districts;
• Include assessments, in each of grades 3 through 8 and high school, in both reading/language arts and mathematics that have been operational for more than one year and have received approval through the NCLB standards and assessment review process for the 2005-06 school year. The assessment system must also produce comparable results from grade to grade and year to year;
• Track student progress as part of the state data system; and
• Include student participation rates and student achievement as separate academic indicators in the state accountability system.

The peer reviewers, who represent academia, private organizations and state and local education agencies, will review each proposal based on the Peer Review Guidance (http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/growthmodelguidance.doc) issued by the U.S. Department of Education as a road map for developing the models. The reviewers are as follows:

Chair: Eric Hanushek, Stanford University

Academia:

• Chris Schatschneider, Florida State University
• David Francis, University of Houston
• Margaret Goertz, University of Pennsylvania

State and District Practitioners:

• Robert Mendro, Dallas Independent School District
• Jeff Nellhaus, Deputy Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Education
• Mitchell Chester, Assistant Superintendent for Policy and Accountability, Ohio Department of Education
• Lou Fabrizio, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Education Organizations:

• Kati Haycock, The Education Trust
• William Taylor, Citizens Commission on Civil Rights
• Sharon Lewis, Retired, Council of Great City Schools

Once the peer reviewers receive the proposals, the Department will initiate a conference call between states and peer reviewers to clarify any questions peer reviewers may have. During the review process, all proposals will be posted on the Department's Web site. Recommendations for approval are due to Secretary Spellings by May 2006. A fact sheet containing more information about the growth model proposals and peer review is attached.

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