Research shows that chronic absenteeism can affect academic performance in later grades and is a key early warning sign that a student is more likely to drop out of high school. Several states enacted legislation to address this issue, and many states are currently discussing the utility of chronic absenteeism as an indicator of school quality or…

The State Family Outcomes Measurement System Framework (S-FOMS) is a framework originally developed by the Early Childhood Outcomes Center that identifies seven key components of a high-quality family outcomes measurement system at the state level. The seven components are: (1) Purpose; (2) Data collection and transmission; (3) Analysis; (4)…

The Illinois Initiative on Transparency in Learning and Teaching is a grassroots assessment project designed to promote students' conscious understanding of how they learn and to enable faculty to gather, share, and promptly benefit from data about students' learning by coordinating their efforts across disciplines, institutions, and countries.…

This letter is submitted to comment on the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) proposed revisions to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's (ARRA) State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), as published in the September 23, 2011, Federal Register. Overall, the Data Quality Campaign believes the proposed changes strike a sensible balance: they…

Public Education in Colorado is serving as a demonstration project for the Cooperative Accountability Project, as well as for its own accountability statute. An analysis of accountability progress resulting from data gathered from the second annual accountability report is discussed and summarized. Current Colorado Department of Education…

During the 2002-2003 academic year, six roundtables were held to explore uses of the data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) for improvement of student learning. This paper describes the roundtable discussion held in Kentucky in December 2002. This roundtable focused on ways the NSSE can contribute to state-level efforts on…

This chapter examines lessons learned by states that are using student unit record (SUR) data to improve outcomes for community college students and recommends steps states can take to strengthen their use of SUR databases to benefit students and communities. (Contains 1 exhibit.)

The Regional Resource Center (RRC) program mission is to strengthen the capacity of state systems of education and early intervention to improve results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities and their families. It is one of the longest and most successful technical assistance projects of the Office of Special Education…

The pros and cons of using behavioral objectives, the merits of norm-referenced versus objective-referenced tests, and the virtues of sampling versus census testing are familiar topics in evaluation literature. Far less common is practical information on how to implement objective-referenced testing, particularly the large-scale testing required…

Policy decision makers, early educators, and early interventionists face numerous challenges as they develop and implement statewide accountability systems to evaluate and improve children's early intervention and early childhood special education outcomes. Kansas was an early adopter of the Child Outcomes Summary Form (COSF) developed by the…

Nearly all the states produce one or more accountability or indicator reports containing data reported at one or more levels of the education system as well as data from other sources. To inform discussion about what data are useful and appropriate to report, comparisons were made of state accountability and indicator reports. A list of 74…

Kentucky has developed an assessment and accountability system that provides outcome data for a set of state early childhood standards for children birth to 5 years of age that are aligned with early childhood outcomes designated by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Within this flexible and comprehensive state assessment system,…

Six papers discuss the Louisiana School Effectiveness and Assistance Pilot (SEAP) program, an ongoing 3-year research project associated with a legislatively mandated school and district accountability program. In three phases, the project joins school indicators, school effectiveness, and school improvement initiatives. The following papers are…

This paper reviews the question of the cost and benefits of data for the analysis of state policy questions, and concludes that in the abstract the question cannot be answered; rather, it must be considered on a continuing basis whenever data is to be collected in the support of baseline studies or special projects. The paper suggests six criteria…

Reviewing the history and status of accountability efforts in the California Community Colleges (CCC), this document describes three accountability models. Following a brief history of accountability in the state, the accountability model established by 1988's Assembly Bill 1725 is discussed, indicating that colleges are required to report data on…