Use growth measures rather than achievement as the primary indicator of school effectiveness in ESSA accountability¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 2 studies (2 associational), q1–q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that states judge the effectiveness of low-achieving schools primarily with growth metrics rather than achievement, because achievement is strongly predicted by school poverty and biases accountability against schools serving low-income students. It states an equitable policy should require the "Use of appropriate measures of growth to judge the “effectiveness” of low-achieving schools for ESSA accountability purposes without a significant bias introduced from using measures of achievement." It also recommends public reporting of both achievement and growth using well-constructed measures.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Well-constructed growth measures with appropriate analytical methodologies, such as normed conditional growth percentiles

Constraints¶

• ESSA still requires achievement to be included in school evaluation, and states weight achievement from 15% to 50% in their plans

Target Learners¶

• Students in low-achieving and high-poverty Title I schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• Fair identification of Comprehensive Support and Improvement schools and recognition of schools producing high learning growth

Claims¶

• Maryland lacked a measure of schools' support of academic growth from kindergarten to grade 3, creating a critical accountability need under ESSA [+W]
• Growth rates varied tremendously between schools regardless of poverty, with top-quartile schools producing more than double the growth of the worst quartile [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• State boards should set realistic annual targets and invest in data infrastructure and collaborative time for improvement
• Sequenced multi-year investment plan across teacher and principal pipelines, early childhood, high-poverty schools, funding, and assessment and accountability to achieve Leandro compliance

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Andy Hegedus, Ed.D. (2018). Evaluating the Relationships between Poverty and School Performance. NWEA Research Report. https://www.nwea.org/research-data-galleries/poverty-and-school-performance