Brian M. Stecher

Describes accountability models in the manufacturing, job training, legal, and health care sectors; summarizes their effectiveness; and draws specific lessons for educators. Examines five accountability models--two from the manufacturing sector; a performance incentive model used in the evaluation of job training programs for the poor; accountability in the legal sector; and accountability in health care as shown by clinical practice guidelines, use of statistical risk-adjustment methods, and the public reporting of health performance measures. The authors summarize the models' effectiveness and draw lessons for implementing the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative was a multiyear effort to dramatically improve student outcomes by increasing students' access to effective teaching. Researchers from the RAND Corporation and the American Institutes for Research conducted a six-year evaluation of the initiative, documenting the policies and practices each site enacted and their effects on student outcomes. This is the final evaluation report.

To improve the U.S. education system through more-effective classroom teaching, in school year 2009 2010, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced its Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching. Researchers from the RAND Corporation and the American Institutes for Research evaluated implementation of key reform elements of the program in three public school districts and four charter management organizations."

This report is an audit of the then-current Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) mathematics program, which was built around the 2009 standards. This report was done in preparation for the transition to the Common Core State Standards, which began in 2014 2015. The report finds variation in how current DoDEA mathematics program reflect best practices. DoDEA has challenges to overcome in implementing CCRS mathematics standards."

Interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies, such as communication and resilience, are important predictors of success and civic engagement after high school. This report provides guidelines to promote thoughtful development of practical, high-quality measures of interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies that practitioners and policymakers can use to improve valued outcomes for students.

Competency-based education meets students where they are academically, provides students with opportunities for choice, and awards credit for evidence of learning, not for the time students spend studying a subject. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation asked RAND to evaluate three competency-based education grants in terms of implementation, students experiences, and student performance."

Performance-based accountability systems (PBASs) link incentives to measured performance to improve services to the public. Research suggests that PBASs influence provider behaviors, but little is known about PBAS effectiveness at achieving performance goals. This study examines nine PBASs that are drawn from five sectors: child care, education, health care, public health emergency preparedness, and transportation.

Performance-based accountability systems (PBASs) link incentives to measured performance to improve services to the public. Research suggests that PBASs influence provider behaviors, but little is known about PBAS effectiveness at achieving performance goals. This study examines nine PBASs that are drawn from five sectors: child care, education, health care, public health emergency preparedness, and transportation.

Studies suggest that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001's goal of 100 percent of U.S. students proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014 will not be met. The authors recommend more-uniform state academic standards and teacher requirements and broader measures of student learning, including more subjects and tests of higher-thinking and problem-solving skills.

The Implementing Standards-Based Accountability (ISBA) study was designed to examine the strategies that states, districts, and schools are using to implement standards-based accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and how these strategies are associated with classroom practices and student achievement in mathematics and science. This monograph presents the final results of the ISBA project. It contains descriptive information regarding the implementation of NCLB in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania from 2003a2004 through 2005a2006. It is a companion to MG-589-NSF, Standards-Based Accountability Under No Child Left Behind (2007), and updates those findings with an additional year of data, permitting further analyses of state-to-state differences and longer-term trends. This study suggests that school improvement efforts might be more effective if they were responsive to local conditions and customized to address the specific causes of failure and the capacity of the schools in question.

How can states, districts, and schools meet the requirements of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act? Accountability based on student test results is the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act, which assumes that schools can solve their problems if given proper incentives and technical assistance, and that parents should have educational alternatives if the schools fail to do so. This paper discusses evidence on accountability systems, describes the act's accountability model and its underlying assumptions, and offers educators specific recommendations for effective operation in an era of accountability.

This briefing, in response to a request from a citizens' group, uses publicly available data to describe important features of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SM-MUSD) in comparison to three sets of districts: five districts similar to S

In our increasingly technological society, improving student performance in mathematics and science has become a challenge. This study investigates the relationship between student achievement in mathematics and science and the use of practices as funded by the National Science Foundation.