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Accountability Design Team

State Superintendent Tony Evers and Governor Scott Walker are leading a collaborative effort to reform the way Wisconsin holds schools and districts accountable for student performance.

Why It Is Needed

For the past decade, the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law has forced one-size-fits-all mandates and labels that are not improving our schools or districts. If something doesn’t change, nearly every public school in Wisconsin could soon be deemed "in need of improvement" and forced to implement ineffective sanctions. As leaders at the federal level debate how to reform this broken law, education and political leaders from across the state want to advance reforms that work for Wisconsin now.

Design Team

State Superintendent Evers and Governor Walker have convened a School Accountability Design Team to draft a vision and framework for a new state accountability system. The team consists of

  • elected officials,
  • education leaders,
  • business leaders,
  • philanthropic representatives,
  • parent organizations, and
  • community groups.

State Superintendent Evers and Governor Walker lead the group, along with the co-chairs of the Legislature’s education committees.

Goals and Process

Instead of focusing on a static bar of proficiency, the design team will develop a new accountability system focused on graduating all Wisconsin children ready to succeed in college and careers. The new system will include multiple measures of student and school performance, including both growth and attainment.

Every publicly funded school—traditional public schools, charter schools, and choice schools—will be part of this new accountability system.

The design team will also use the Council of Chief State School Officers’ “Roadmap for Next Generation Accountability Systems”, which State Superintendent Evers helped to craft, as a resource.

School Accountability Design Team members and the public had the opportunity to learn from state and national experts on state accountability systems at a conference organized by the La Follette School of Public Affairs.

 

Timeline and Implementation

The group is working to present the public with a complete framework for the new state accountability system by December 2011.

State Superintendent Evers intends to seek a waiver from the United States Department of Education to implement this new accountability system in place of existing NCLB requirements.

Accountability Design Team Meetings

Official Statements

Links lead to PDF files

Editorials and Support

Links lead to PDF files

More Coverage

Most links lead to PDF files

La Follette Conference

School Accountability Design Team members and the public had the opportunity to learn from state and national experts on state accountability systems at a conference, "Building a New School Accountability System for Wisconsin." Organized by the La Follette School of Public Affairs, the conference took place July 28, 2011, at the Pyle Center in Madison.