20 States Seek to Join Pilot on NCLB ‘Growth Models’

Twenty states have applied for a pilot program that would let them judge whether schools and districts meet their performance targets under the No Child Left Behind Act based, at least in part, on the academic growth students show from year to year.

Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah submitted proposals to the Department of Education by the Feb. 17 deadline, to begin incorporating a growth measure into their accountability systems under the federal law starting this school year. Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota have asked to participate in the pilot starting next school year.

In announcing the program last November, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said no more than 10 states would be selected for the pilot, which is designed to test whether growth-based accountability models show promise as a fair and reliable way of measuring improvement and holding schools accountable for...