There is much hope that the new testing system lawmakers approved at the end of the last legislative session, the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS, will resolve many of the problems that plagued the original assessment. The state will use test scores to determine schools' academic progress, with cash rewards going to the schools showing improvement. Greater validity and reliability is exactly the intent of the new testing legislation, Cody says. There's a lot of history in the U.S. in testing design and development, content validity, and score reliability. There's a background and history and well-understood science to it.
Accountability is new.
The state education department offers assistance for schools that perform poorly on the state tests that includes audits, staff support, and, where necessary, cash. Under the 1998 legislation, students at the lowest-performing schools will have the option of transferring to successful ones. And under the new testing provisions, each school is required to distribute a report card detailing its overall test scores, academics, extracurricular activities, and opportunities for parents to become involved. Individual students' test results will be analyzed by the education department and mailed home. Lawmakers last year also hammered out an array of education measures not associated with the assessment.