Principles

Over the last twenty years of the standardized testing era, student learning gains in Massachusetts have been incremental and the state’s large achievement gaps by race, income, and language persist. This focus on high-stakes testing has led to unintended consequences including teaching-to-the-test, narrowing of the curriculum, and stigmatizing schools. It is time to redefine how we assess student and school progress in the Commonwealth.

In support of this aim, MCIEA has adopted the following principles for creating a fair and effective accountability system.

1. Community members identify what is most important to know about school quality 2. Multiple measures provide a robust picture of student learning and school progress 3. Teachers are empowered to lead the design of curriculum-embedded performance assessments and the scoring of student work 4. Students demonstrate what they know and can do through real-world application 5. Local leaders, teachers, parents, and students make decisions to fit the needs of their schools and communities 6. District, state, and federal leaders support and trust principals and teachers, and hold themselves reciprocally accountable for improving student learning 7. Support and resources, rather than sanctions, build the capacity of schools and leads to improvement 8. Benchmarks based upon the characteristics of a high-quality school establish a fair measure for school performance

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Principles​

Principles