NEPC Review: 'School Segregation on School Report Cards: Who Are We Grading Anyway?' (Urban Institute, September 2024)
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| Title: | NEPC Review: 'School Segregation on School Report Cards: Who Are We Grading Anyway?' (Urban Institute, September 2024) |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | James Noonan, University of Colorado at Boulder, National Education Policy Center (NEPC) |
| Source: | National Education Policy Center. 2024. |
| Availability: | National Education Policy Center. School of Education 249 UCB University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309. Tel: 303-735-5290; e-mail: nepc@colorado.edu; Web site: http://nepc.colorado.edu |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 11 |
| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Sponsoring Agency: | Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice |
| Document Type: | Reports - Evaluative Opinion Papers |
| Descriptors: | School Segregation, Educational Legislation, Accountability, Institutional Evaluation, State Legislation, Disproportionate Representation, Scores, Race, Scoring Formulas, Measurement Techniques, Student Diversity, Educational Policy |
| Geographic Terms: | North Carolina |
| Abstract: | "School Segregation on School Report Cards: Who Are We Grading Anyway?," released by the Urban Institute, considers the impact of proposed legislation that would add a measure of segregation to the state accountability system in North Carolina. The legislation would assign a "proportionality score" to schools, measuring how representative a school's racial demographics are to the surrounding county. Using publicly available data, the report examines how scores would vary depending on the population to which schools are compared. This "what if" exercise highlights the control (and responsibility) policymakers have over "what" is measured and "how" measurement is undertaken in accountability systems. In particular, it demonstrates how small changes to formulas meaningfully shift the story data tell about schools. Although it does not make recommendations about which formulas are best, the report does raise questions to help policymakers evaluate the trade-offs of different approaches. However, given the high stakes of accountability systems and the likelihood that measures become distorted over time, a note of caution is warranted, lest the different formulas be used to fish for optimal outcomes rather than drive deliberative policymaking. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | ED677375 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | "School Segregation on School Report Cards: Who Are We Grading Anyway?," released by the Urban Institute, considers the impact of proposed legislation that would add a measure of segregation to the state accountability system in North Carolina. The legislation would assign a "proportionality score" to schools, measuring how representative a school's racial demographics are to the surrounding county. Using publicly available data, the report examines how scores would vary depending on the population to which schools are compared. This "what if" exercise highlights the control (and responsibility) policymakers have over "what" is measured and "how" measurement is undertaken in accountability systems. In particular, it demonstrates how small changes to formulas meaningfully shift the story data tell about schools. Although it does not make recommendations about which formulas are best, the report does raise questions to help policymakers evaluate the trade-offs of different approaches. However, given the high stakes of accountability systems and the likelihood that measures become distorted over time, a note of caution is warranted, lest the different formulas be used to fish for optimal outcomes rather than drive deliberative policymaking. |
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