Public Education 4: Student Progress

ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT PROGRESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Other Information:

REPORTING STUDENT PROGRESS. Utah public schools are in a period of significant change toward the development and use of student assessments and increased public reporting of the results of student achievement. Action taken in the 1999 and 2000 general sessions of the Utah Legislature require the establishment of student performance standards, the use of specific student assessments in all Utah public schools, and additional public reporting of student achievement results. These requirements must be completely implemented by 2005, and the major provisions are outlined as follows: Creation of U-PASS (Utah Performance Assessment System for Students) • Criterion-referenced assessments in language arts grades 1-11, math grades 1 - geometry, and science grades 4 - high school. • A directed writing assessment for grades 6 and 9. • Tenth grade basic skills competency test in reading, language arts, and mathematics is required for students to receive a basic high school diploma. • Stanford Achievement Test at grades 3, 5, 8, and 11. • Participation in National Assessment of Educational progress - random sample of grades 4 and 8. Reporting • Expansion of public reporting of student test results by each public school along with other factors to be reported in a uniform format beginning in 2003. Utah public schools will implement a competency based graduation system to be phased in beginning in 2003. Looking Ahead: While curriculum content standards and some assessments are currently in use, significant effort and investment will take place in implementing a comprehensive accountability system. The five-year implementation period will bring about specific student performance standards and correlated end-of-level and course assessments and rubrics that will be used to measure and report student progress and assess competence on the State Core. Core content standards in elementary math and language arts as well as secondary science were revised and adopted in 2003. Parents and other citizens will receive information about school performance that will be available in both print and electronic form in the fall of 2003.

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