Featured Article: Improving Educational Accountability in Colorado

By Richard Wenning and Damian Betebenner

“Three years ago, CDE approached the nonprofit National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment (NCIEA)—whose mission is to help improve student achievement through enhanced practices in educational assessment and accountability—to jointly create a new way for parents, educators, administrators, and policymakers to analyze, view, and understand school performance data.”

Richard Wenning and Damien Betebenner explore the effects of the Colorado school systems’ decision to use an analytical tool that tracks each student’s academic growth and achievement history. The model allows officials to track students through their academic life as well as gauge their readiness for life after graduation.

Excerpt Taken Directly From Improving Educational Accountability in Colorado

“Indeed, the Internet has transformed how people exchange information, collaborate on ideas, and gain knowledge, with dynamic, real-time communities forming around specific areas of interest that leverage blogs, wikis, forums, user groups, and social networks. The CDE proposes to use this same web-based model to link parents, educators, students, researchers, and other education stakeholders into powerful, collaborative learning communities. These tools will break down the barriers of location, time, and access to resources to deliver the information needed for professional development, instructional materials, and other educational content and collaboration crucial to improving student achievement.”