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Uncertain ground complicates accountability remodel
By Kimberly Beltran
Two years ago, California adopted common core standards altering the academic curriculum structure for what students should learn and when they should learn it. Last week, state schools chief Tom Torlakson offered a sweeping new plan for assessing students based on the common core.And now focus turns to performing a similar makeover for how schools will be evaluated in the future using a system that reduces the influence of test scores to include new and nuanced criteria, such as graduation rates and proof that students are adequately prepared for college and career.
“The real work is going to be around assessing whether the data [for the new indicators] will be valid, measureable and reliable,” said Ting Sun, co-chair of a committee advising Torlakson and the California State Board of Education on revisions to the state’s school accountability system – the Academic Performance Index.
“A challenge we are addressing to indicate college and career preparedness is looking at skills such as critical thinking and creativity,” said Sun, who is also executive director of the Natomas Charter School. “These are more difficult to measure but we know that these are the skills that are needed for students to be more successful in life – no matter what job or career path they choose.”
Recognizing that large numbers of California students were graduating unprepared to enter the workforce or in need of