scholarly journals Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessments: Creating a grassroots accountability system to leverage state policy change

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Dan French
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Testing ◽  
State Level ◽  
Performance Assessments ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
Underserved Students ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Student Focus ◽  
Assessment Measures

Standardized testing remains the predominant proficiency measure for students and schools, placing teacher and student focus on test-prep and lower order skills while maintaining achievement gaps that penalize underserved students. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Assessment seeks to close this gap and change assessment measures on a state level by training teachers to become leaders in implementing student-centered performance assessments and encouraging state legislators to consider alternative, forward-thinking accountability systems.

scholarly journals Local Flexibility within an Accountability System

2001 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Scafidi ◽  
Catherine Freeman ◽  
Stan DeJarnett
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
The Past ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Local Flexibility

Over the past decade, several states have created comprehensive accountability systems designed to increase student learning in public schools. These accountability systems are based on "high-stakes" standardized testing of a state curriculum. Rewards and interventions for local educators are based largely upon students' performance on these tests. Using the recent accountability reforms in Georgia as a backdrop, this article considers the role of local flexibility within such an accountability system--flexibility over paperwork, resources, personnel, and curriculum for local educators. Increased flexibility for local educators is not merely an option in a world where local educators are subject to a comprehensive accountability system imposed by a state--it is a requirement for success. We make a case for providing local flexibility and provides a discussion regarding types of flexibility, vehicles for granting flexibility, and who should receive flexibility.

Growing Tea With Subnational Roots: Tea Party Affiliation, Factionalism, and GOP Politics in State Legislatures

2021 ◽  
pp. 1532673X2110411
Author(s):  
Stella M. Rouse ◽  
Charles Hunt ◽  
Kristen Essel
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Level ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Original Dataset

Most research has examined the influence of the Tea Party as a social movement or loose organization, but less is known about its influence within legislative party politics, especially at the state level. In this paper, we argue that in this context the Tea Party is primarily an intraparty faction that has caused significant divisions inside the Republican Party. Using an original dataset of legislators across 13 states for the years 2010 to 2013, we examine legislator and district-level characteristics that predict state legislators’ affiliation with the Tea Party. Our results reveal that in some respects legislators affiliated with the Tea Party are a far-right wing of the Republican Party. However, by other measures that capture anti-establishment political sentiment, Tea Party affiliated legislators comprise a factional group attempting to transform the Party in ways that go beyond ideology. These findings have important implications for the future prospects of the GOP.

Creating Values-Based Accountability Systems for the Turbulence of Post-Bureaucratic Organizations

2017 ◽  
pp. 233-251
Author(s):  
Tim London
Keyword(s):  
Shared Values ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
Shared Set ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Bureaucratic Organizations

This chapter argues that most organizations should develop a set of shared values that drive and unite all facets of their work, creating an inclusive and transparent accountability system. This enables an overall connection while allowing for groups (such as divisions or departments) to avoid being overly interdependent (Carroll & Burton, 2000). This is a more nuanced and adaptable accountability system, enabling individuals and sections within the overall organization to be dynamic, rather than trying to develop a range of rules and procedures that will cover all circumstances across the organization over time. In this scenario, changes in context, whether internally or externally to an organization, would not require a whole new set of rules and procedures. The chapter focuses on analyzing how an organization can develop and utilize a shared set of values to connect processes and interactions into a coherent and flexible accountability system (Gehman et al., 2013).

State Systemic Improvement Planning: Impact on System and Student Outcomes

2020 ◽  
pp. 104420732093254
Author(s):  
Dawn A. Rowe ◽  
Catherine H. Fowler ◽  
Cesar D’Agord ◽  
Frank Horiuchi ◽  
Miles Kawatachi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
Improvement Plan ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Education Improvement ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Systemic Improvement

In the wake of reports of continued gaps between youth with and without disabilities in regard to graduation rates and postschool outcomes, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) began examining their process for monitoring state implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA). OSEP’s revised accountability system, known as Results-Driven Accountability, better aligns accountability systems to support states in improving results for infants, toddlers, and youth with disabilities and their families. Currently required from states, is a comprehensive multiyear State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) focused on improving results for students with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to describe the phases of the SSIP and provide an example of how this new accountability system is working in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). As with all other states, territories, and freely associated states, RMI is required to develop and implement an SSIP.

National Policies, Agendas, and Polarization in American State Legislatures: 2011 to 2014

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 939-979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Garlick
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Level ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
National Policies ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
The Media ◽  
American State

Why are some states polarized and others not? This article argues that state legislators are provided with more information by lobbyists and the media about national policies, or state-level bills that are prominent in the national political discourse. Compared with state-specific issues, this additional information encourages legislators to vote along party lines to secure reelection or prepare for a run for higher office. It identifies national policies using lobbying registrations in state legislatures and Congress to show there is more party difference on roll-call votes on national policies in 25 states over 2011 to 2014. It also argues that the notoriety of national issues may encourage party leaders to put these bills on the agenda to build their party brand, or for individual legislators to raise their profiles. It finds that states with more national agendas have more polarized sessions.

Pathway of Employment From Uncovering Barriers to Discovering Hope: Nontraditional, Student-Centered, Relationship-Based Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Young P. Hong ◽  
Rana Hong ◽  
Dara Lewis ◽  
Diane Williams
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Nontraditional Student ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Employment Barriers ◽  
Social Work Theory ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Student Focus

This study explores the experiences and perspectives of service providers with regard to the process of psychological self-sufficiency (PSS) among students in the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program. Based on a social work theory of PSS as our organizing framework, combined qualitative content analysis (inductive to deductive) was conducted with two service provider focus groups ( n = 16) and three student focus groups ( n = 27). The overarching theme of nontraditional, student-centered, holistic staff approaches which lead to the pathway from uncovering perceived employment barriers to discovering employment hope emerged with four phenomenological categories. The findings supported the adaptations of service providers’ different roles when providing student-centered approach in service delivery to reach maximal PSS for a better outcome in case management.

When the Achievement Gap Becomes High Stakes for Special Education Teachers: Facing a Dilemma with Integrity

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Heinrich Mintrop ◽  
Robin Zane
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Accountability System

Context A fundamental assumption behind a high stakes accountability system is that standardized testing, proficiency goal setting for demographic student subgroups, and sanctions would motivate teachers to focus on students whose performance had heretofore lagged. Students with disabilities became one such subgroup under the No Child Left Behind system. Special education teachers faced a novel pressure: to radically narrow the achievement gap between their students with disabilities towards proficiency or incur sanctions and corrective action for their schools and districts. Purpose The study uses the concept of “integrity” to analyze public service workers’ agency in situations of strain or crisis. Integrity consists of four overlapping domains of judgment: obligations of office, personal integrity, client needs, and prudence. Research Design The study is an in-depth multiple case study of seven teachers; 21 structured interviews, and 17 observations, augmented by a number of informal contact that included invitations to observe teacher meetings and conversations with school administrators. Findings The study found that the special education teachers faced a true dilemma. Teachers adopted contradictory solutions — some embraced the new demands, some rejected them. Both seemed equally untenable. The study reveals salient dimensions of this dilemma: how teachers related to the external moral obligation to equalize, what they chose to ‘see’ when they viewed the achievement gap; how they explained, or explained away, their agency in narrowing the gap; how they strategized and muddled through with instructional maneuvers to make the gap go away; and what they regarded, and guarded, as fields of professional responsibility and autonomous decision making. Implications What kind of accountability system would enable a collective dialogue among special education teachers in which high expectations, keen diagnosis, instructional expertise, internal responsibility for individualized learning gains, openness to external challenge, and attention to results would be the poles of the discussion? At the core, such an accountability system would validate the professionalism of the most expert teachers and avoid activating their defensiveness and demoralization. It would guard against middling expectations by making the performance of a wide spectrum of high and low performing schools or special education departments transparent. It would stay away from high pressure attached to unrealistic goals in order to discourage teachers from developing blind spots about their students, or acting with mere compliance and expediency. It would motivate a dynamic of student-centered continuous improvement in reference to a common standard, but also to low-stakes metrics that may guide iterative improvement.

Varieties of Intelligence Accountability

2021 ◽  
pp. 172-189
Author(s):  
Christian Leuprecht
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Security Requirements ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
Intelligence System ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness

This chapter uses a comparative approach to identify findings among accountability systems across the Five Eyes intelligence community. Commonalities and trends of convergence in intelligence accountability are relevant for and beyond the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. These observations show challenges and opportunities in democracies to reconcile the different logics that inform security and rule-of-law systems. It begins by comparing across types of accountability: review, oversight, compliance, and benchmark criteria such as reasonableness, propriety, proportionality, necessity, efficiency, and effectiveness. Specifically, the comparative findings suggest potential for innovation to play a greater role in signalling trends to governments and improving consistency and quality. The chapter then compares types of accountability bodies and commissions. The remainder of the chapter compares attributes of accountability: mandates, appointment processes, and qualifications for membership, reports, powers, access to information, security requirements, and procedural discretion. It closes on the emerging need to coordinate accountability across an intelligence system. Coordination within an accountability system allows accountability bodies to avert duplication, fill accountability gaps, and help inform each other about issues of potential importance. Coordination and de-confliction are essential for maximizing overall efficiency and effectiveness of accountability systems where mandates of multiple bodies may overlap or conflict.

Legislative Expression: Sanctuary Policymaking in the U.S. States

2019 ◽  
pp. 95-117
Author(s):  
Loren Collingwood ◽  
Benjamin Gonzalez O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Minority Population ◽  
Racial Threat ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
The U.S

While sanctuary policies have traditionally been passed by cities and counties rather than states, this situation has shifted in recent years with both California and Oregon embracing their identity as “sanctuary states,” while in Texas SB4 was signed into law, officially banning sanctuary legislation across the state. This chapter examines the factors that increase the likelihood that state legislators will introduce pro- or antisanctuary legislation. We find that racial threat activated by an increasing minority population, the ideology of the state and its voters, and the structure of state institutions all increase the likelihood of pro/anti-sanctuary legislation being introduced at the state level.

The State of Surveying Legislators: Dilemmas and Suggestions

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cherie Maestas ◽  
Grant W. Neeley ◽  
Lilliard E. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Survey Research ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
State Level ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Legislative Politics ◽  
Academic Journals ◽  
High Quality ◽  
High Quality Data

State-level research affords scholars a unique opportunity to study legislative behavior because state legislators are accessible in ways that members of congress are not. State legislators' willingness to respond to interviews and questionnaires has provided scholars with a rich array of data about their behavior and perceptions. This survey research has contributed greatly to our theoretical and practical knowledge of legislative behavior and institutions. We examine 73 articles published in top academic journals from 1975 to 2000 to identify common techniques of surveying state legislators and suggest ways in which scholars can enhance the prospects for collecting high quality data. We also consider what type of collective efforts could be undertaken to enhance this underutilized resource for studying legislative politics.

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