Abstract
In this book examining educational accountability practices and the inclusion of students with disability, this chapter provides an overview of the legislation and policy that inform educational accountability practices in the US England and Australia. It demonstrates the commonality of rationales for such policies among these countries with dual purposes of promoting improved educational achievement and increasing transparency of school accountability for educational outcomes to the community. Concern with the educational outcomes of students with disability is identified. Critical to educational accountability policy and practices is the setting of standards of achievement to be used as indicators of quality of student outcomes. The nature of expected performance standards in the US England and Australia is examined. Further, the policies and practices in each country for public reporting of school outcomes are identified. Overall, this chapter shows that despite different informing legislation, and grade levels where educational accountability for public reporting purposes is implemented, the enacted practice in educational accountability with reliance on standardized testing is common to US England and Australia.
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Note, PISA assessments do not include students who are “intellectually or functionally disabled” and cannot “perform in the PISA testing situation” (OECD 2009, p. 65).
- 2.
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Amendment X: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
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Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) can be considered the driver of educational accountability in the US. The focus in state and school reporting is not just the absolute achievements of students but the expectation that schools will be able to map the develop of students against grade-level curriculum standards as they progress through schools. Testing occurs at the end of each grade for public elementary and secondary schooling.
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The NGA and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) expressed concern that one governance suggestion for the Standards involved the federal government in the governing structure: “CCSSI is a state-led initiative and needs to remain so.” See http://www.corestandards.org/articles/9-nga-and-ccsso-comment-on-ccssi-governance-suggestions.
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The United Kingdom (UK) consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. While the Education Reform Act 1988 is designated as UK legislation, as noted, education practices and policy in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland diverge considerably from practices in England, especially in areas of accountability and assessment practices. The Reform Act specifies England and Wales. However, practice in Wales is also different from that of England. Discussion in this book focuses on English practice within the wider legislative framework.
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The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) (UK) has national curriculum details (http://www.qcda.gov.uk/25.aspx). The change in government in England in 2010 has led to changes in agency structures and the QCDA is closing as part of government educational reforms.
- 9.
It should be noted that with the change of government in England in 2009, many web sites indicate that changes are occurring. This Act may not be applicable from 2011 on.
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Both Australia and the US have written constitutions, a source of difference from England.
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Australia is a Commonwealth and federation of six states and two territories, hereafter referred to as states.
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The Australian funding Acts were the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004 (Cth) which applied to both government and non-government schools, replaced by the Schools Assistance Act 2008 (Cth), which applies only to non-government schools, and with financial agreements between the federal government and state governments involving educational accountability now in a National Education Agreement of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG 2009). The 2004 act set the clear expectations for all schools for educational accountability testing and reporting. The Schools Assistance Act 2008 (Cth) requires schools to participate in national student assessments as set by regulations (s 17) and to contribute to national reports on outcomes (s 18), including but not limited to the current National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assessments. The COAG National Education Agreement (COAG 2009), as part of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations, identifies student performance data on the NAPLAN assessments as performance indicators (Schedule C).
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As discussed later, Australian school cohorts are based on social or age-level cohorts, not curriculum level. Hence the term Year level is the official term to describe these groupings.
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Known colloquially in schools as NAPALM (in reference to an infamous flammable liquid used in warfare).
- 15.
The US refers to curriculum as standards or statements of curriculum content. Here, standards will be used to refer to levels of achievement or qualities of performance and the term curriculum will be used to refer to the content that it is expected will be taught and learnt in schools.
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It is recognized that educational practices across US states are diverse. The focus of discussion in this book is federally mandated requirements on which federal funding to states is contingent.
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General Certificate of Education (GCE) O (Ordinary) exams taken by students in Year 10 were replaced by the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in 1988. GCE A (Advanced) level exams taken at Year 12 remain the gold standard in English education for high school graduation and university entrance and are usually referred to simply as A-levels.
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Note Key Stage curriculum do not equate to a single grade or year level.
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While England also had science testing at Key Stage 2, this was discontinued in 2010 following an expert report showing that while science test scores were improving, the quality of student scientific learning was decreasing (Bevan 2009).
- 20.
School outcomes using value-added analyses which aim to control for differences in student cohort variables are also published in the US While not a point of discussion in this paper it should be noted that different value-added analytic techniques exist and the choice of model and variables included in such analyses are critical to reported outcomes. These have been the focus of considerable discussion (see, e.g., Ferrão and Goldstein 2009). See also, e.g., league tables created and published by The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/school-tables.
- 21.
New academies must agree to maintain broad enrolment patterns for students, including students with disability, although their focus is improved outcomes. The closure of schools and establishment of academies have led to legal challenges by parents in England concerned with possible restriction of student enrolment and exclusion of students with disability (see, e.g., R(Elphinstone) 2008).
- 22.
See http://www.myschool.edu.au for descriptions of bands and performance levels.
- 23.
For example, average gains are reported from Year 3 in 2008 to Year 5 in 2010 for students in the school who were in both cohorts at the respective test administrations. It is noted on the MySchool reports (Student Gain) that “students starting with lower scores tend to make greater gains over those starting with higher scores.” Value-added results are mooted also for Australia (Gillard 2010) but have not yet been used nor the model determined.
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Cumming, J.J. (2012). Educational Reform and Educational Accountability Legislation and Policy in the US, England and Australia. In: Valuing Students with Impairment. SpringerBriefs in Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2935-3_2
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