By Kathleen Megan and Jake Kara
Nearly three-quarters of the state’s school districts improved their performance on the state’s latest annual assessment, showing higher scores in 143 of 202 districts during 2017-18, according to the state Department of Education.
Among schools that were scored in both 2016-17 and 2017-18, 779 saw increases, while 456 declined.
In its fourth year, the state-administered Next Generation Accountability System takes a holistic approach in its assessment of schools and districts, relying on data from a dozen indicators including test scores, academic growth, chronic absenteeism, graduation rates, college readiness, and arts access.
The state assigns different weights to those factors then calculates a single “accountability index” number for each school and district.
On a scale of 1 to 100, the overall statewide accountability index figure for 2017-18 was 74.9 percent– up slightly from 73.2 percent in the previous year and up from 73.1 in 2015-16, according to state data released today. [See scores for individual schools and districts in the interactive chart HERE]
“So we are heading up in the right direction,” said Ajit Gopalakrishnan, the state Department of Education’s chief performance officer.
Most districts didn’t move much more than a “letter grade” from 2016-17 to 2017-18: 90 percent of the change fell within a loss of 1.7 points and a gain of 9.1 points.
