Dr. Sherman Dorn on Education Accountabliity
In 1999, the Florida legislature passed the A-Plus Plan (Fla. Statutes ch. 99-398), which is now part of the 36-year-long history of educational accountability policy in the state. Eight years later, we can begin to assess the long-term impacts.
First, academic achievement trends are mixed. Scores have not improved for eighth-grade students in reading, fourth-grade reading scores have stagnated during the last few years, and few changes in the achievement gaps among different population subgroups are statistically significant.
Second, it is impossible to explain academic achievement trends with the A-Plus program. For those grades with evidence of improvement, factors other than accountability may be responsible for these changes.
There have also been unfortunate side-effects of the A-Plus Plan. Florida's grading system has led to widespread emphasis on test preparation and other inappropriate responses by schools. Florida schools are likely to respond to test pressures by reducing instruction in untested subjects and by focusing on test-wiseness rather than general student achievement.
Florida 's accountability system also draws attention away from other issues. The grading of schools dominates news coverage, making some topics more difficult to raise.
One can also make several statements about the future evolution of accountability in Florida. It is important to keep in mind that the FCAT is a valuable assessment tool, but it is limited. In addition, Florida's grading system could extend beyond the FCAT. The state should not tie the accountability system to the current flawed official high school graduation measure, SAT and ACT scores, or NAEP scores, but there are other ways to expand accountability to include non-FCAT measures. These could include independent and rigorous surveys of school climates and measures of how schools challenge students. In addition, if the grading system included more than one year of data, other longitudinal and lagging measures (such as data on violence in schools) could be included.
Finally, Florida needs a definition of a high-quality education and an analysis of the resources and systems necessary to provide that high-quality education. While voters approved new constitutional language raising the adequate provision of education to "a paramount duty" of the state of Florida, the meaning of the new language has yet to be interpreted in a substantive manner. Currently, a private commission's report in 2005 has been the only effort to define the extent of the state's new obligations.
Download Dr. Dorn's full report assessing the A-Plus Plan.
About the Author: Dr. Sherman Dorn, Ph.D., is an associate professor of education at the University of South Florida, editor of the professional journal Education Policy Analysis Archives, co-editor of Education Reform in Florida and author of Accountability Frankenstein (Information Age Publishing, 2007).