Northwest Education Magazine Follows Schools

On the Road to Accountability

Some contend it's been a rough road on the journey to accountability for student learning. Yet, despite detours, potholes, and an occasional sign that confused while intending to help, the long-aimed-for destination of linking student learning and high standards is slowly appearing in the distance. The summer issue of Northwest Education quarterly magazine peels away some of the controversies and difficulties to reveal how Northwest schools approach accountability—and the thrills and heartbreaks therein. Blending the high reach of state standards, sorting students into subgroups under federal No Child Left Behind requirements, and testing to measure adequate yearly progress (AYP) have proven a complex and sometimes uneasy union of forces. Schools in the Northwest have taken up the charge, finding evidence of success in hard-won corners, and continue to walk the grueling path that aims to reach all children.

With "On the Road to Accountability" as its theme, Northwest Education takes readers to Spokane, Washington, where schools follow a nine-point strategy for student achievement, including teacher-coaches coaching teachers. In Beaverton, Oregon, the superintendent exemplifies accountability by leading and marshaling a K–12 literacy initiative. In Anchorage, Alaska, an elementary school uses data to monitor growth, makes significant gains, serves highly vulnerable children, but still lags on AYP measures. In Wilder, Idaho, a fiery woman—with the backing of the superintendent—creates a learning center in this primarily Hispanic, field-worker community, engaging Spanish speakers to learn English—and English speakers to learn Spanish. In a Billings, Montana, middle school where the mobility rate hovers near 50 percent, teachers and administrators aren't complaining—they embrace accountability as a central part of their philosophy. Native American students make up nearly 20 percent of the student body and missed making AYP in reading, yet they did better than the rest of their statewide peer subgroup.

Accompanying Northwest Education feature stories are sidebars showing how Northwest states are gathering and analyzing student-achievement data and putting the work to good use as an accountability roadmap to student learning.