Education Data

Background

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) each state is required to report student assessment data in reading and math, grades 3-8, annually.  These results track student achievement and measure “adequate yearly progress.”  The intent of NCLB is to improve performance for all students by grade and subject and create successful schools.

Quality data is needed to know where to invest educational dollars to produce improved student achievement.  Educational data quality, consistency, understandability, usability, and comparability are essential to meeting this goal and knowing what practices improve student performance.  The value of reliable school data is what is done with it to improve student learning.  Without a fair and accurate picture of academic data, education investment decisions are made in a vacuum.  Analysis of good data provides insight as to where improvement is occurring and identifies gaps where additional assistance is needed.

Implementing the requirements of NCLB has challenged many communities.  Good data is a tool to drive effective educational practices.  Educators, parents, business, and community groups can be trained and informed as to how to improve what is occurring in their communities to increase the academic achievement for all students.  Ultimately more students will succeed, meaning that a higher percentage will advance in high school and onto postsecondary education.

U.S. Chamber Policy

Business understands the need for accountability—assessing its performance in providing a quality product and meeting the needs of its customers.  Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the business community supported strong assessment provisions in order to target resources where they were needed the most to improve student achievement.

Improving education quality is a goal that is universally accepted.  NCLB aspires to that goal and provides a framework as a starting point.  The task is complex.  Good information and knowledge based on high-quality assessment and data are necessary to drive school improvement.  None of this can be accomplished without building strong relationships, knowledge, and trust among all community stakeholders.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recommends that the following elements be included in the design of data systems that help parents, students, educators, and employers understand and improve student achievement and promote high performing schools and school districts:

• Set clear challenging academic standards that describe what students should know and be able to do in each grade.
• Align teacher preparation and curriculum with standards and assessments against which to measure performance.
• Give tests that measure state standards well by aligning a broad mix of questions with the concepts and skills students are being asked to demonstrate.  By creating rigorous standards that have acceptance from all stakeholders, the argument of “teaching to the test” can be minimized.
• Use common statewide tests to measure common standards to provide comparability and allow schools to learn from high performing schools in their state with similar student demographics.
• Build a coherent set of tests from grade to grade so that student progress is more adequately tracked and earlier intervention can be provided.
• Ensure that proficiency means students are well prepared for college (postsecondary education), work, and life thereby increasing public confidence in the standards and the tests.
• Deliver timely, useful test results to teachers and parents in order to plan for improvement and organize ‘extra help’ interventions.  Educators must also be given the training and tools to use the results as guides for school and student improvement.
• Make testing transparent to teachers, parents, students, and the public by releasing the test and examples of student work publicly each year.
• Invest in a data system that provides a full, fair picture of performance over time and follows students’ enrollment and performance from year to year.
• Compare performance to national and international benchmarks for better understanding of how academic expectations and student performance compare to other states and countries.