Calif. School Board To Vote On Common Core Test Accountability
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California Board of Education is expected to decide Wednesday whether or not schools should be held accountable on the state's performance index for student results in the new Common Core-aligned assessments.
The state Department of Education is recommending that the state suspend the Academic Performance Index for the 2014-15 school year. The index uses student results on statewide tests to measure a school's academic performance and determine which require improvement.
School board President Michael Kirst said the state wants to make sure it is measuring student growth, not just change from baseline performance on the new Smarter Balanced tests. He added that even if the results aren't used on the state index, they will still be reported at the school, district and state level.
"They'll be held accountable to the public," Kirst said.
Several districts, including Los Angeles Unified, the nation's second-largest, have requested that this year's statewide assessments not be used for accountability purposes, arguing that students have not had enough time to practice on the testing devices. The tests are required to be taken on a computer or tablet. At LA Unified, there were numerous problems when a practice test was administered, including the website crashing and slow connectivity. Those issues appear to be resolved: The tests are now being administered in 94 Los Angeles schools, and officials said Tuesday there were no major issues.
The tests evaluate students in grades three through eight and 11 in Common Core-aligned English-language arts and math.
The Common Core benchmarks adopted by a majority of states around the nation have come under fire in recent years, largely from conservatives who decry them as a federal infringement on school policy. The standards were approved for implementation by individual states, though the U.S. Department of Education encouraged their adoption through initiatives like Race to the Top.
In California, by contrast, the standards have been largely embraced by district leaders, parents and teacher unions. If the state Board of Education chooses to delay when districts are held accountable for the results, it will mean that the test scores could not be used to take any corrective actions.
The California Board of Education is currently considering revising its Academic Performance Index, moving toward a system that would include multiple measures to rate school performance rather than a single number.
At the meeting Wednesday, the Board of Education is also expected to decide on what steps to take after the release of a state report on special education finding a disjointed system that results in many students being labeled as having disabilities when in fact they "simply need good instruction."
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