Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has approved two additional states to use so-called growth models to comply with federal accountability rules.
On May 24, Ms. Spellings gave the unconditional approval for Iowa to rate districts and schools under the No Child Left Behind Act this school year based on the growth of individual students’ achievement.
She also said Ohio would be allowed to use a growth model under the NCLB law if it adopted a uniform “N” size for all ethnic, demographic, and racial groups tracked under NCLB. An “N” size is the minimum number of students in a subgroup that a school or district must enroll for it to be held accountable for that subgroup’s academic progress.
Ms. Spellings had previously approved the growth-model applications of Arkansas, Delaware, North Carolina, and Tennessee. She also has given conditional approval to Florida’s plan.
The secretary is reviewing applications from Alaska, Arizona, and New Hampshire for the three remaining slots in the department’s growth-model pilot program, according to Rebecca Neale, a Department of Education spokeswoman.
For more stories on this topic see Testing and Accountability, No Child Left Behind, and our Federal news page.
For background, previous stories, and Web links, read Accountability and No Child Left Behind.
