Exploring Models of School Performance: From Theory to Practice. CSE Report 673

The purpose of this report is to present and discuss competing accountability approaches, or models, designed to systematically indicate how a school's students are performing academically. Within the framework of the current federally mandated accountability legislation, increased interest in models measuring school performance has caused educational policymakers to consider several key issues. These issues include whether results from different accountability models yield different inferences about a school's performance; what assumptions underlie each of the models; how different models are implemented; and ultimately which model is best suited for a particular context. First, previous research on school performance is briefly summarized. Next, building blocks for accountability models are presented. These building blocks include a) important properties of assessments, b) test metrics, c) ways of summarizing student achievement, and d) monitoring achievement growth over time; all of which need to be considered before they are incorporated into an accountability model. The report concludes with a brief summary and discussion of the salient issues surrounding accountability models. (Contains 5 footnotes, 2 tables, 4 figures.) [This appeared as a chapter in the UC sponsored "The 104th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 2-Uses and Misuses of Data for Educational Accountability and Improvement" (2005) by Joan L. Herman and Edward H. Haertel (ISSN: 0077-5762).]