The Study
Mark Reckase, a professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education, examined Title I of the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA), which was enacted in 1994, in an effort to determine the role of assessment in the implementation of the legislation. The act was a reauthorization and expansion of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965.

The Findings
A broad and ambitious piece of legislation, Reckase points out that among IASA's many goals was to ensure "high standards for all children" by improving accountability through state assessment systems, and "providing greater decision making authority and flexibility to schools and teachers in exchange for greater responsibility for student performance." With IASA, school districts have had to deal with a new environment in terms of Title I funding. One change has been that IASA funds can be used by schools for a wider variety of educational purposes than previous legislation. However, the Title I portion of the legislation provides explicit and extensive assessment requirements. (Title I provides money to schools to help them education disadvantaged students to high standards. In return for the money, schools must demonstrate the goals have been achieved.) As part of the new Title I requirements are yearly assessments in mathematics and reading or language arts, the use of the same assessment for all children in Title I, and so on. Reckase found that the Title I requirements focus predominantly on accountability. There are numerous requirements in an effort to have schools document that Title I money is being used effectively to improve educational programs for economically, culturally and physically disadvantaged students. "Overall," Reckase writes, "the assessment requirements place extensive demands on schools that received Title I funds. At the time of implementation of the IASA legislation, many states did not have assessment programs that could support all of these requirements. To realistically address this issue, the legislation allows states to develop and phase in the necessary features over a period of years. However, if appropriate assessments are not in place by 2001, states applying for Title I funds will need to use assessment programs that have been approved for other states." To document effectiveness, Reckase writes, states must use assessments that are sensitive to changes in performance of Title I students to knowledge and skills specified in state content standards. Reckase writes: "It is not enough to give a test and look for improvement. The assessments must be tightly connected to standards and they must be sensitive to changes in students¹ performance. The assessments should be appropriate for every student, but focused on the Title I students. The assessments should support instruction, but also be useful for holding schools accountable for properly using Title I funds. These are all very demanding requirements."

What It Means to You
Assessment is an important component of Title I funding. Are your Title I programs linked to state standards?

More Information
You can find the entire article on the College of Education Web site at http://ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/reports/ed-researchrep/00/00may-report1.htm.

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