For Immediate Release
UFT proposes new school accountability system
Mar 13, 2008 12:17 PM
UFT President Randi Weingarten on March 13 unveiled an ambitious plan for a “transparent, fair and accurate” public school accountability system at a breakfast hosted by the Association for a Better New York.
Declaring that teachers “do not fear being held accountable for the achievement of our students, they embrace it,” Weingarten outlined a system built on four distinct “pillars”:
- Academic Achievement
- Safety, Order and Discipline
- Teamwork for Student Achievement
- Department of Education Accountability to the School
While standardized test scores would continue to play a role in determining a school’s overall evaluation, under the UFT’s proposed framework these tests would be placed into a broader context that includes the richness of a school’s curriculum, the overall environment within the school building – e.g. safety and maintenance – and the level and adequacy of funding and oversight the school receives from the central Department of Education. In effect, the new accountability system balances “test scores with the multitude of other factors that constitute a successful school,” said Weingarten.
Noting that the Department of Education’s School Progress Reports, issued earlier this school year, have raised real questions of reliability, Weingarten said that what her members and the public want is “genuine accountability.”
“Teachers – and for that matter, parents and students – want accountability that is done with them, not to them,” Weingarten said.
The UFT president said the union began to explore its own version of an accountability system after the grades assigned to dozens of schools by the DOE confused educators and parents. The union’s delegate assembly – its highest decision-making body, comprised of representatives from all city public schools – passed a resolution authorizing development of the proposal in November.
The UFT’s proposal “looks at what makes a school a place where every parent wants to send their child and every teacher wants to work – a school that is safe, collegial, and well supported – one that educates not only every child , but the whole child.”
Rather than assign each school with a single grade, as the DOE progress reports do, the proposed UFT accountability system assigns a grade to each of the four “pillars” and considers the DOE’s own accountability to the schools.
“Accountability flows in two directions – from the school up to the department and from the department back down to the school,” Weingarten said. “Both must fulfill their complementary responsibility to ensure that students learn and achieve.
“It is ultimately the Department’s responsibility to build school capacity – both physical capital and human capital. This is fundamental. Capacity-building – not finger-pointing – is an essential component of managing the city’s public schools.”
Highlights of the accountability system include:
- Grades are based on multiple measures: academic achievement has three components – standardized test performance, progress and curriculum – that are combined for the overall Academics grade (there are separate grades for the three other pillars). Where possible, academic achievement measures include science and social studies.
- Grades K-2 academics are evaluated on performance, an appropriate curriculum and essential social and school-readiness skills. The three academic areas—performance, progress and curriculum—receive equal weight in the elementary and middle schools. In the high schools, weighting for performance is increased.
- The report is standards-based. Grades are awarded based on standards rather than on a curve.
- The report considers three years of results to control for testing anomalies.
- Schools are compared to similar schools, based on the proportions of students in poverty, English Language Learners, and special education students. This gives a fair representation of the school’s challenges without exempting any schools from meeting performance and progress standards.
- Performance and progress are disaggregated for Title I students, English Language Learners, and special education students. This levels the playing field among schools and helps schools identify students in need of interventions. The high school reports credit schools for graduating students in four, five and six years, and awards progress credit for graduates who entered the school below standards.
- An independent quality review team evaluates the schools on measures of safety, order, teamwork, curriculum, resources and oversight.
Weingarten said she welcomed suggestions about the UFT’s proposal, and has asked the Public School Research Alliance to review the Accountability Reports. PSRA chairs Kathy Wylde and William Bowen have agreed to the review, Weingarten said.
“What we’re proposing is simply common sense, with a hefty dose of instructional moxie and good, sound business practices,” Weingarten said. “Our accountability system will provide a clear, understandable overview of what is going on in each school, the problems it may be facing and the causes of those problems. That will help ensure that every school has the opportunity – and the resources – to continue to improve year by year.
“And if we can get it right in the nation’s largest and most diverse school system, chances are it can serve as a model for other urban districts in the country.”
- Read Weingarten’s full speech at the ABNY breakfast
- Read the Highlights of the Proposed Accountability Reports
- Read the November Delegate Assembly resolution on the DOE School Progress Reports
Examples of the accountability reports:
