Utah is ditching its main state accountability measure for schools -- for now.
A bill recently signed into law means the state Office of Education will not be required, at least until 2013, to produce annual reports showing whether each school met state testing, or U-PASS, goals for the previous school year. Students will still take tests, and results of those tests and other measures will still be available, but they won't be used to determine whether Utah schools met certain state achievement goals.
For years, Utah schools have had to answer to two accountability systems: the state U-PASS system and the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. Now, schools will no longer have to meet U-PASS achievement goals.
"The only accountability system left in place will be No Child Left Behind," said Judy Park, state associate superintendent.
Park said the state will cease publishing U-PASS reports this year. Barring other changes to state law, the state Office of Education will not resume publishing those reports until the summer of 2013, she said.
The change is a little talked-about effect of a bill, HB166, meant to help the state save money. Though Gov. Gary Herbert signed the bill into law last month, some state education leaders and the bill's sponsor, Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, didn't know HB166 would suspend the U-PASS accountability measure until this week.
Dougall said he was aware his bill would suspend a number of different reports. "Do I know the details of every single report? No, nor is it that important," he said.
He said suspending that part of the U-PASS system will be no loss to the state because it wasn't improving education for kids.
"I've yet to be shown that state testing has provided any meaningful accountability," Dougall said. "It simply provides the appearance of accountability."
Several others said they're not sure whether suspending that accountability measure will affect education in Utah.
Terri Roylance, principal at Arcadia Elementary School in Taylorsville, said schools should be held accountable, but that Arcadia relies on many measures to determine its progress.
"I honestly can't see that it would change our goals for the school," Roylance said.
JoDee Sundberg, an Alpine District board member who worked with education groups who originally recommended the changes to lawmakers, said schools will still be held accountable by having to show their results to the public. Plus, she said, the state is moving toward a different type of testing system anyway.
In fact, HB166 also suspends the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (UBSCT) for two years. Part of the money saved by that will go toward a pilot testing system that some are hoping will eventually go statewide.
Park said she hopes that when No Child Left Behind (NCLB), also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), is reauthorized, its accountability system will be good enough to stand on its own.
"It's always been difficult to have two separate accountability systems," Park said. "It would be very, very nice when ESEA is reauthorized we have one really good accountability system that meets state and federal interests."
Jack Jennings, president and CEO of the Washington D.C.-based Center on Education Policy, said it's possible a reauthorized version of NCLB will better satisfy states. He said President Barack Obama's plan is to give more consideration to academic progress over time. The question, however, is whether Congress will get around to reauthorizing the law soon and how much of Obama's plan they'll agree with.
For years, state education leaders have trumpeted the U-PASS system as more fair than NCLB. NCLB requires certain percentages of students in each of a number of ethnic, ability and income groups to score on-grade level in reading and math on state tests. Schools that accept federal Title 1 dollars for serving low-income students, and fail to meet those goals, face sanctions.
Under U-PASS, schools must either hit certain testing targets or show they're making progress. Also, unlike NCLB, U-PASS doesn't require schools to make sure certain percentages of students in each ethnic, ability and income group meet the goals. Instead, those groups are put together and must meet the goals as a whole. And schools don't face sanctions for failing to meet U-PASS goals.
Jennings said a significant minority of states, like Utah, have their own accountability systems. He said having two accountability systems can be confusing to parents, and teachers tend to feel more pressure from NCLB than their state systems, anyway. But he said some state accountability systems have useful features.
"In theory, it's a good thing to have one system," Jennings said, "but in practice, it would be a shame to lose some good features of a current system."
Policy changes
HB166, which was signed into law in March, will do several things, including:
U-Pass » Suspend until 2013 the requirement that the state Office of Education produce U-PASS reports showing whether individual schools met state U-PASS achievement goals.
UBSCT » Suspend the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (UBSCT) for two years, meaning students now in grades eight through 11 wouldn't have to take it before graduation.
CRTs » Eliminate the state's main achievement test, Criterion Referenced Tests (CRTs), for second-graders.