Since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, there has been a great deal of debate over how you can judge the effectiveness of a school and the performance of students. Some people would say having all students in a school performing at grade level is an indicator of success. Others would say having high attendance and a low dropout rate are the ways to measure success. While all these measures have merit and should be tracked, I think there is a better indicator to use – academic growth of students.

The goal of a school should be that each student grows academically the equivalence of one year each year they are in school. This measure helps take into account the great differences there are in starting points from one student to the next. For example, a third grade student (call him student A) with high ability and an active supportive family may come into third grade with the academic achievement of a fifth grader. Another student (call him student B) comes into that same third grade. He has transferred from an ineffective school in another town and has a family that supports his education very little at home. This student may come into third grade with the equivalent starting point of a first grader. What would be a fair way at the end of the year to determine if these students progressed as they should?

For student A, would we be satisfied if he had a fourth grade proficiency by the end of the year? For student B, would we be upset if he didn’t average out at a fourth grade level at the year’s conclusion?

In each case, I would say the answer is no. I would expect student A to be performing at about a sixth grade level before the next school year since his starting point was so high. Student B, on the other hand, should end the year at least at a second grade level. Where did these numbers come from? If those targets for each were made, it would show that they grew by at least one academic year during the year they were in school.

This is the most important indicator, in my opinion, of whether a student has had a successful year. It is also the most critical criteria to look at when determining if a school is meeting these students’ academic needs. The great thing about using growth as your target for success is that it allows students, who start out lower, to still feel accomplishment even if they are not at the class average. Likewise, using a growth measure forces gifted students to still learn and improve even when they start out the year well above the performance of others in the class.

This is why the CPS academic board goals this year will be measured on how much students have improved during the year – not necessarily on how high they have performed. During the 06-07 school year, the public schools will be testing students, in grades two through eight, three times during the year in reading and math. This will be done in the fall, winter and spring using a computerized test called the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP).

Teachers will examine these results and share them with parents. The growth of students throughout the year will be electronically charted and analyzed. Teachers will use this information to prepare improvement plans for students in each subject to help them proceed through the next skill level. From this careful analysis, individual monitoring, and partnership with parents, it is expected that students will measure at least one year of academic growth through one year of schooling regardless of their starting point. Hopefully, those starting out significantly below grade level will show more than that growth, so they can begin to approach grade level competence.

This new way of measuring student growth and planning for student improvement should be a dramatically more fair and effective way to measure student performance. It is a way to keep track of individual needs and set realistic improvement targets for all our students. It also is a dynamic way to judge the effectiveness of our schools. Our schools are in business to help students learn and grow. We will now be able to measure them based on this expectation.

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