Accountability and Assessment

Throughout the region, state departments of education and school districts seek to develop better data systems and effective policies and practices for the dissemination and use of data at multiple levels of the system. They also want to understand how best to create, implement, and make use of multiple types of assessments and assessment systems. Our work in this area will help build capacity to design and deploy accountability and assessment systems and to make appropriate use of the resulting and other existing data.

Gender Gaps in Assessment Outcomes in Vermont and the United States
Using data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), the report examines how gender gaps differ between Vermont NAEP scores and US NAEP scores and between Vermont NAEP and NECAP scores in grades 4 and 8. Overall and disaggregated by poverty and disability status, gender achievement gaps in Vermont resembled those in the country as a whole except in a few cases. (Posted 9/15/08)

Josephine Louie

Research Methodology and Project Findings (10:57) 10/3/2008

Measuring How Benchmark Assessments Affect Student Achievement
This report examines a Massachusetts pilot program for quarterly benchmark exams in middle-school mathematics, finding that program schools do not show greater gains in student achievement after a year. But that finding might reflect limited data rather than ineffective benchmark assessments. (Posted 6/12/08)

Susan Henderson

Consuming Research (4:39) 5/9/2008   Podcast Series: Project Overview and Findings (44:00) 5/9/2008

A Second Follow-up Year for Measuring How Benchmark Assessments Affect Student Achievement

This Technical Brief examines whether, after two years of implementation, Massachusetts schools using quarterly benchmark exams aligned with state standards in middle school mathematics showed greater gains in student achievement than those not doing so. A quasi-experimental design, using covariate matching and comparative interrupted time-series techniques, was used to assess changes in mathematics performance between program and comparison schools. This project followed up an earlier Issues & Answers report (see above) and found no significant differences after two years in mathematics performance between schools using the benchmark assessments and those not. (Posted 6/25/08)

New Measures of English Language Proficiency and Their Relationship to Performance on Large-Scale Content Assessments
Using assessment results for fifth- and eighth-grade English language learner (ELL) students in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, this report finds that performance in the English language domains of reading and writing (as measured by the ACCESS for ELLs proficiency assessment) are significant predictors of performance on reading, writing, and mathematics assessments (as measured by the New England Comprehensive Assessment Program, or NECAP). The report also finds that the English language domains of reading and writing (literacy skills) are more closely associated with performance than are the language domains of speaking and listening (oral skills). (Posted 1/26/09)

How State Education Agencies in the Northeast and Islands Region Support Data-Driven Decision-Making in Districts and Schools
Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) has received a growing amount of attention from the education community because of federal and state accountability requirements and increased understanding of the importance of DDDM in improving instruction and student achievement. Officials at state education agencies (SEAs) in the Northeast and Islands Region requested information on how jurisdictions in the region support systematic DDDM in districts and schools. This report documents the way eight SEAs in the region support DDDM in districts and schools. It also describes some of the service providers that work with these SEAs to support educators in their DDDM practices. (Posted 5/18/09)

Formative assessment has become a topic of great interest to education policymakers and practitioners within the Northeast and Islands Region and nationwide. In response to a request from the REL-NEI Governing Board, this project will describe and compare four separate formative assessment initiatives in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. Each of these initiatives has been state-led and administered in schools within one or more districts for over a year. This project is in progress.

Examining Student and School Factors Associated with 11th Grade SAT Performance in Maine
As the only state currently using the SAT Reasoning Test to meet No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requirements, the Maine Department of Education is interested in examining how student- and school-level factors relate with student SAT performance. As the test is currently given to all 11th-grade students as part of Maine’s accountability system, looking at test results in combination with student and school characteristics has the potential to inform Maine’s high school accountability and reform efforts. This project will use multilevel regression analysis on existing data provided by the Maine Department of Education. This project is in progress.