Accountability in California

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Accountability in California

• Making Sense of Two Different Measures of
  Student Achievement
• Rachel Perry, Administrator
• Policy and Evaluation Division

2
Before NCLB

• Assessment System
• Norm-referenced test
• California Standards Tests
• English-language arts
• Mathematics
• History/Social Science
• Science (end-of-course at high school)
• California High School Exit Exam
• California Alternate Performance Assessment

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Before NCLB

• Academic Performance Index (API)
• First developed in 1999
• Single score from 200 to 1000
• Combines achievement across multiple performance
  levels, subjects areas and grades
• School-based
• Subgroup accountability
• Index model looks at cross-sectional growth from
  year to year

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Before NCLB

• AYP was determined through results from the API
• AYP applied only to schools receiving Title I
  funds

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The Transition
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After NCLB

• Assessment System
• Same assessments as before
• Additions
• Science test in grades 5, 8, 10
• Under development
• California Modified Assessment

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After NCLB

• API
• Added students with disabilities and English
  learner student subgroups
• Modified target structure for subgroups
• New AYP Definition
• Participation rate
• Percent proficient
• API
• Graduation rate (high schools only)

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After NCLB

• AYP applies to ALL schools and LEAs
• AYP is based primarily on NCLB required elements,
  but the API is used as an additional indicator
  for ALL schools

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2005 AYP Resultsfor California
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Changes to AYP in 2005

• Move confidence interval from 95 to 99 for
  schools or LEAs with fewer than 100 students
• Apply a 75 confidence interval to the safe
  harbor calculation
• Assignment of graduation rates to high schools

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Changes to AYP in 2005

• Compute participation rates only if subgroups are
  numerically significant for valid test scores
  (not just for enrollment)
• Use of students with disabilities flexibility
• Only for schools or LEAs that missed AYP because
  of the students with disabilities percent
  proficient

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AYP Results2003 - 2005
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2005 AYP Highlights

• Participation rates improved
• Over 85 of schools made the school wide percent
  proficient targets in ELA and math
• More schools made the API target
• Fewer schools made the graduation rate target

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Safe Harbor in 2005

• Over 450 schools and nearly 60 LEAs were helped
  by safe harbor
• Overall AYP went from no to yes
• Safe harbor was applied many more times at the
  subgroup level
• Interacted with the adjustment for the students
  with disabilities group

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Safe Harbor in 2005What changed?

• Addition of a 75 confidence interval
• The targets increased so much that it was easier
  for many of the lower performing subgroups to
  make the safe harbor criteria than the targets

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Adjustment for Students with Disabilities in 2005

• California applied a credit of 20 percentage
  points to the percent proficient calculation for
  this subgroup
• Changed overall AYP decision from No to Yes
  for 105 LEAs and 128 schools

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Confidence Interval in 2005

• 99 confidence interval applied to the percent
  proficient calculation for schools and LEAs with
  fewer than 100 students
• Applied to nearly 1,800 schools and 175 LEAs

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Changes to AYP in 2006

• Assignment of graduation rates to high schools
• High schools without graduates will receive a
  proxy rate based on the reported dropouts
• Continued use of the students with disabilities
  flexibility

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Continuing ChallengesMaking Sense of
Accountability Results
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Differences in the Results
Based on 2005 AYP data.
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Harmonization A Goal for the Future

• Did not apply for the growth pilot
• Seek to use API for AYP under index model
• Establish a score that guarantees all students at
  the school are proficient
• Report ELA and math separately
• Guarantee 100 of students will be proficient by
  2013-14

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Future Endeavors

• Data system improvements
• All students have unique identifiers starting
  with 2006 assessments
• California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
  System (CALPADS) will be implemented in 2008
• Will enable a growth system

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More Information

• Academic Performance Index
• www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap
• Adequate Yearly Progress
• www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ay
• Rachel Perry
• rperry_at_cde.ca.gov
• [phone]