Quality Counts
Quality Counts 2016: Called to Account
New Directions in School Accountability
December 30, 2015
- Accountability Tough Balancing Act on AccountabilityEducators and policymakers seek the right formula to promote achievement and improvement, and the stakes are high for students, teachers, and school districts alike.Federal Path to School Accountability Taking Bold New TurnsWith the hands-on federal role in education policy set to scale back, states and districts examine ways to step up with their own approaches.School & District Management Highlighting No Child Left Behind Act-Era ResearchEducation researchers have tracked a flood of changes that swept through states under the 2002 revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, offering a mixed picture.Education Data: Student Achievement in the Era of AccountabilityThe Education Week Research Center looks at student scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress from 2003 to 2015, a period overlapping with the No Child Left Behind Act.School & District Management Two Decades Later, a Look at Quality Counts' BirthPrompted by high-profile calls for detailed information on states’ progress in improving their schools, Education Week stepped up to fill the vacuum with its annual report.Education Quality Counts: Sample 20 Years of the Flagship Report on American EducationFor the annual report's 20th edition, Education Week took a retrospective look at developments, milestones, and trends in American public education chronicled along the way.Student Well-Being Moving Beyond Just Academics in Assessing EffectivenessSuspension rates, school-climate surveys, and students' social-emotional skills are key factors as a group of California districts looks to evaluate how their schools are doing.Student Well-Being At an L.A. School, Carving Safe Spaces to Share and LearnEducators at Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary in Watts take extra steps to assure support for students in a poor neighborhood facing a range of urban challenges.Accountability States Collaborate in Pursuit of Fresh Accountability IdeasThe Innovation Lab Network aims to connect states that are working to redesign instruction and accountability in ways that can start in districts and grow statewide.Accountability Massachusetts Enlists Districts in School Turnaround EffortsThe Bay State's 5-year-old approach to improving low-performing schools sees them as part of a broader educational ecosystem.School & District Management 2016 Education Rankings Put States, Nation to the TestThe Quality Counts report's indicators have evolved over the past 20 years, while continuing to shine a bright light on the U.S. educational system.Education Quality Counts 2016: State Report Cards MapThis interactive map offers a quick way to examine state-by-state grades and summary data.Education Quality Counts 2016: Grading CalculatorThis grading calculator allows users to adjust Quality Counts category and subcategory weights in one percentage-point increments to generate new user-defined scores.States From Our Research Center Quality Counts 2016 State and National Highlights ReportsThe Quality Counts 2016 Highlights Reports capture all of the data you need to assess your state’s performance in key areas.School & District Management Methodology: How We Graded the StatesFor Quality Counts 2016, the Education Week Research Center graded the states in three critical performance and data categories that have been perennial features of the publication's report card.School & District Management Quality Counts: Sources and NotesHere's a detailed look at what factors went into our state education ranking system.