Tenn. among first states selected for national education pilot

Tennessee to take part in pilot program to test new methods of assessment under No Child Left Behind

Email | Print By Walker Duncan

05-17-2006 5:18 PM — Tennessee and North Carolina are the first two states approved to take part in a national pilot program to institute growth based accountability models into the federal No Child Left Behind education-improvement initiative.

The process entails tracking individual student progress on a year-to-year basis. Schools would be given credit for students making positive progress towards grade-level proficiency, though the child might still be technically deficient by old measuring standards.

The growth model will allow teachers to plot a trajectory of how a student is expected to perform in three years based on current test results compared with test results back to the third grade. Those students making accelerated progress towards proficiency will be declared "proficient."

Conversely, "proficient" students showing signs of severe decline will be declared "deficient." Unlike the previously used Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS) which aimed to measure the efficacy of a teacher, school, or district in instigating a student's progress, the new model predicts the future.

Twenty states applied to take part in the program which, once fully operational, will consist of roughly ten states whose growth models will be studied by the Department of Education. In addition to receiving this early approval to take part in the program, Tennessee has also received a federal grant of $3.2 million to develop a longitudinal data system that will enable more advanced analysis and use of student performance data to improve education practices.