Assessment of Students Performance April 1997
EXHIBIT 5-2
Accountability Systems in Kentucky and Maryland
| Kentucky | Maryland |
| Schools are rewarded or sanctioned based on point differentials between their "biennium accountability index" and the "biennium point threshold" set for each school by KDE. Thresholds were established using 1991-92 baseline scores that reflect the percentage of the school's students scoring in the proficient range. In order to avoid sanctions, schools were expected to achieve, over a two-year period, an average improvement of 18 percent of the difference between their baseline score and 100. Baseline scores and improvement thresholds are recalculated each biennium. (Note that accountability indices are calculated using four KIRIS components, of which we have examined only two; the other two components are not performance assessments.) | The state has adopted the following school performance standard: For a given school to achieve satisfactory performance in a particular content area/grade level, 70 percent of students must achieve satisfactory performance. Furthermore, to achieve excellent performance, a school must be at satisfactory and 25 percent of students must achieve excellent performance. All schools are expected to reach the satisfactory standards by the year 2000. Sanctions have been imposed upon five Baltimore schools to date; sanctions will only be used in the future with schools falling far below the satisfactory level. |