DID Resource Kit for States, Districts and Schools

The State Role
To meet NCLB requirements, states are primarily responsible for developing and implementing accountability systems. States meet the NCLB data and reporting requirements by administering mathematics and literacy assessment in grades 3-8 and a science and high school assessment in one grade between 10th and 12th grade along with two other measures. NCLB also requires reporting by subgroups and adequate yearly progress is calculated for both individual schools and districts. States may also require high school exit examinations and/or end-of-course tests for core high school classes, and they may also provide funding to districts to administer the ACT exam and/or Advanced Placement tests to help ensure students are ready for college.

States may require school accreditation and encourage best practice audits or school improvement indicators that districts can use to collect their own data. For example, Kentucky has nine Standards and Indicators for School Improvement. Districts and schools can assess progress on the standards by using the District Scholastic Audit/Review, which is a self-report on over 80 indicators of effective schools. States may encourage the use of the Just for the Kids Best Practice audits that are based on five dimensions of high performing districts, schools and classrooms.

States may encourage districts to develop and use Balanced Scorecards or the Baldrige Education Criteria for assessing organizational processes that lead to improvement. The Balanced Scorecard is a tool that helps organizations monitor implementation of organizational strategy. The scorecard is a concise report featuring a set of measures that relate to the performance of an organization. By associating each measure with one or more expected targets, managers of a school or district can monitor and adjust the strategies they are using to improve their education system. The Baldrige criteria are built upon 11 core values and concepts that characterize all types of high-performing organizations and are evident in the best schools in the nation. The core values are embedded in the areas of leadership, strategic planning, student and stakeholder focus, using information, focusing on faculty and staff, process management and results. When districts and schools align these areas, teaching and learning improves.

States also collect information on highly qualified teachers for NCLB reporting requirements. This generally includes teacher information on the degrees earned, certification and endorsements and HOUSSE requirements. States also require accounting reports on how resources were spent.

States, school districts and schools that gather, analyze and use information about their systems and organizations make better decisions, not only about what to improve, but also about how to institutionalize system improvement. State policymakers use data to foster school improvement strategies, allocate resources, identify and share best practices and hold schools and districts accountable for student learning. Districts use data to monitor student achievement, school success, the effectiveness of programs and allocate resources to ensure individual student needs can be met. Schools use data to assess student progress, the effectiveness of instructional strategies, target professional development target resources. States, districts and schools that use data in a comprehensive manner understand the effectiveness of their continuous improvement efforts; those that do not use data can only assume that effectiveness.