6 Ways State Policymakers Can Build More Future-Focused Education Systems: A Podcast Series with the Aurora Institute: Episode 4

Series Overview:Join EALA for an in-depth discussion with Virgel Hammonds and Jennifer Kabaker of The Aurora Institute as they explore the 2024 State Policy Priorities. In April 2024, The Aurora Institute released state policy recommendations aimed at transforming education for all learners, especially those underserved by the current system. Each bite-sized segment in our series covers one of the six identified policy shifts.

Episode 4: Aligning Accountability and Data Systems In this episode, we break down the fourth policy recommendation: Align accountability and data systems. Explore how state policies can align accountability measures and data systems to better support student learning and outcomes. Virgel and Jennifer discuss the importance of having transparent, equitable data systems that provide actionable insights for educators and policymakers. To learn more, visit Aurora Institute and read the Policy Priorities.

Access the full podcast transcript at: https://bit.ly/3XmocQY 

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Hi, this is Aurora from the Educating All Learners Alliance,
and you're listening to Six Ways State Policymakers Can Build More Future-Focused
Education Systems, a podcast series with the Aurora Institute.
The Aurora Institute is a national nonprofit organization working on policy
advocacy, field building and capacity building, research and knowledge sharing,

(00:24):
and convening to advance innovative approaches that transform education for youth across America.
In April of 2024, the Aurora Institute released state policy recommendations
to transform education for all learners,
especially those who have been underserved by the current system.
Each five-minute segment in our series will cover one of the six identified policy shifts.

(00:47):
Joining us today is Virgil Hammons, CEO of the Aurora Institute, and Jennifer Kabaker.
So let's talk about the fourth recommendation, which is to align accountability and data systems.
So Jennifer, tell us more about what this means on a systems level.
What are we looking at here?
Sure. So our current accountability systems focus on ranking and sorting schools and systems.

(01:11):
They're top-down, and they are not designed to really help schools improve or
to better serve students.
Additionally, those accountability systems don't reflect what local communities
want from their education systems, which we said before would be defined by
portraits or profile of a graduate.
So by aligning accountability systems and supporting data systems with a portrait
or profile of a graduate,

(01:32):
skates could start actually holding schools accountable for a more robust set
of indicators that capture not just results on summative assessments,
but more meaningful measures of school quality.
You could imagine a lot of what these mean. So they could include academic measures,
but it could also be inputs like access to real world learning or career development for students.
It could also be indicators of school climate or student sense of belonging.

(01:56):
States like Kentucky have already begun to engage their communities in tackling
this work, but there's much to be done still because of some of the federal
requirements around compliance on existing accountability systems.
What we imagine this all would look like is what we call reciprocal accountability.
So accountability systems that are developed in partnership with communities,
that's parents, learners, educators, the business community,

(02:20):
other community members, to help identify what inputs and outputs the school
should be held accountability before.
And the ultimate goal of that system is around continuous improvement.
So what's the information that states and local leaders need to actually determine
whether students are on a path to success and to hold the systems accountable
for that student progress?
But you could also imagine what the data systems look like that could move beyond

(02:43):
just collecting student demographics and outcomes on summative assessments,
but to become what are called learning and employment records or LERs.
And those would capture what students know and are able to do both inside the classroom and beyond.
It could ultimately possibly replace transcripts and follow learners beyond
the K-12 system and into higher ed and the workforce, effectively breaking down

(03:05):
the silos between these systems that we face today.
Yeah, we see a lot of that, those silos that pop up in so many different ways
in the world of education.
But what's one of the biggest challenges with this policy shift?
Absolutely. So the first is thinking through how we authentically and meaningfully
engage with communities to elevate voices of educators and learners,

(03:27):
families, administrators, community members to help inform those accountability systems.
That's something that has to be done carefully and authentically.
We have some really interesting examples on the ground for how to do that,
but you could imagine that it could look different in different places.
And the other thing that comes out of this conversation about reciprocal accountability
is this idea that we could be
designing accountability systems that look different in different places.

(03:50):
And that might mean collecting data that makes it difficult to compare a district
in one city in a state versus a district in another city in that same state.
This is a concept often called comparability.
But we believe that comparability should not take precedence over an accountability
system that's responsive to student and community needs or a system that's not

(04:11):
designed to support continuous improvement.
And moving away from a system that prioritizes comparability will take a lot
of political will, building a big tent to support this conversation.
Yeah. What might this look like in practice in a classroom? You know,
what's a vision of success for seeing this implemented? Absolutely.
So when accountability systems are aligned with broader visions for student success,

(04:34):
schools and systems will actually have a meaningful incentive to focus their
efforts on providing learners with high quality and engaging learning experiences,
which we think will effectively lessen the focus on summative assessments and preparation for them.
So really dialing up the emphasis on what teaching and learning looks like and
ensuring that those learning experiences really meet the needs of the learners.

(04:56):
We also think that states and school leaders will have access to more holistic
information about school quality and educational outcomes, and that will result
in more meaningful ways to support schools and educators and learners in improving those outcomes.
And then when we talk about the data system, this is where I get really excited
because we can imagine a world where every student, educator,

(05:16):
and caretaker has real-time access to data, where they can understand student
progressions, evidence of what they know and are able to do,
and where they still have room to grow.
So a parent could have access to a digital portfolio of their student's work,
but that student could also take that digital portfolio and share it with a potential employer.
That's it for us today, folks. Thank you to Virgil Hammons and Jennifer Kabakar.

(05:39):
Be sure to check out the next episode in our series.
I'm Aurora from ELA, and this was Six Ways State Policymakers Can Build More
Future-Focused Education Systems.