The event is free and open to the public. They will debate state and local policies on student achievement testing and holding schools accountable for test results. Warren Simmons, director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, will deliver the keynote address, followed by a panel debate and audience discussion. The issue has implications for everyone from policy-makers to teachers nationwide.
Many states are currently in some stage of reform.
Rhode Island set out parts of a new accountability system last year that reveals its students' performance in detail, sets improvement targets for individual schools, and gives the state greater authority to intervene in cases of persistent failure, according to a recent report in Education Week. Connecticut uses an index to rate the performance on state tests of schools that receive certain federal funding. Schools that don't meet certain cutoffs in the index are considered underperforming, but the state does not attach any consequences to the ratings, according to Education Week. The LAB at Brown, one of 10 federally funded educational laboratories, is a program of the Education Alliance at Brown University. The regional laboratories engage in applied research aimed at improving teaching and learning and promoting effective reform in the nation's schools.