Next Generation School Accountability in Utah: A Report of the Utah Accountability Redesign Advisory Committee to the Utah State Board of Education

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) during the summer of 2021 for a firm to support the redesign of Utah's School Accountability System so that it's more aligned with Personalized, Competency-Based Learning and Utah's Portrait of a Graduate, but still simple and transparent. The current Utah School Accountability System was established through S.B. 220 during the 2017 legislative session, prior to the Personalized, Competency-Based Learning and Portrait of a Graduate initiatives. The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) wanted to reexamine the theory of action that underpins Utah's school accountability system. In addition, the pandemic highlighted the shortcomings of a state accountability system's heavy reliance on state assessment results. Given these dynamics, USBE wanted to engage stakeholders to examine and recommend a redesigned school accountability system inclusive of the additional initiatives; be more comprehensive in its evaluation criteria; and support continuous school improvement in all schools. The report presents recommendations for the redesign of Utah's School Accountability System. The overarching goal of the redesign process was to create a system that supports schools in implementing a Personalized and Competency Based learning system and facilitating student achievement of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions represented by Utah's Portrait of a Graduate. Another key goal was to make the system as simple and transparent as possible while recognizing that evaluating school quality is a complex endeavor. The recommendations stem from the Accountability Redesign Advisory Committee as well as from broad-based community input. The Advisory Committee engaged in almost a year-long deliberative process working through the development of a detailed theory of action, articulating clear principles to guide the selection of indicators and the system design, and offering policy recommendations to support the proposed system design. The 29 Advisory Committee members represented school and local education agency (LEA) leaders, LEA assessment directors, teachers, and parents. The Advisory Committee is composed of members from the following stakeholder groups: Assessment Directors, Teachers, LEA Specialists (Growth, Special Education, DTL, ALS, Ed Tech), Executive Directors, Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Local Board, principals, and Parents.