Accountability

On November 8, the Board of Education for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System enacted a policy, effective this year, that requires all students in the 8th grade and higher, to pass end-of-course exams in order to pass the course associated with that exam. Although students who do not pass the exam on the first try will be given additional opportunities for remediation and retesting, the fact is that kids who worked hard all year long, were assessed by their teachers to be proficient in the topic, could still find themselves judged to be inadequate based on a single test. These 10 new high stakes exams are in addition to an already full agenda of placement tests, achievement tests, graduation exams, and of course, course exams.

The justification for this new policy is accountability. But accountability for what?

• Holding students accountable for their own performance? Their semester-long record provides that data in a much more timely fashion.
  
• Holding teachers accountable for teaching the standard curriculum? Should students be penalized if their teachers are not aligning their instruction with state standards?
  
• Holding administrators accountable for placing well qualified teachers in each classroom? Again, should students be penalized if the district is not performing up to expected standards?

I believe in accountability, but in this instance, children are being victimized by adults who are misapplying the concept. If we want to make teachers accountable for teaching the standard curriculum, then let's adopt item banks of assessment items within each content area and require teachers to use those items in their course exams throughout the school year. Then if students are not doing well, we can more easily trace the problems back to individual student performance or to teachers who are not following the standard curriculum.

Assessments are intended to provide feedback in a timely fashion. When offered in a timely fashion, this feedback allows students to review materials before progressing on to the next unit or course and lets teachers know when they need to review materials that were inadequately taught the first time. End of course testing is an inspection process that punishes students in an attempt to “make teachers accountable in teaching the N.C. standard course of study.” You cannot inspect quality into a product on the assembly line, and you cannot inspect quality into a student at the end of the year.

When provided throughtout the school year, standard assessments, such as shared item banks of test questions, can ensure that teachers are counseled and/or replaced without punishing students by causing them to retake a course. And if we really believe in accountability, then let's look at data on minority student achievement over the past 20 years. That cumulative data speaks volumes on the LACK of accountability we impose upon the district administration, including the Board of Education.

Teachers and administrators do need to make sure that students are proficient in one course before moving on. But adding new high-stakes tests is misguided at best and at worse it will further erode the confidence of all children who are already stressed by the sheer volume of testing.