SYSTEM SUPPORTS
System supports are the kinds of strategies that states use to ensure that standards, assessment, and curriculum all are working together to support the improvement of student achievement. System supports may include the following:
- The effective use of data and dissemination of results is one aspect of an accountability system that is useful to those at the local and state levels.
- Students, teachers, and schools must be supported by incentives that encourage high levels of performance and continued efforts to seek the instructional strategies that will sustain improved student achievement.
- As assessment systems begin to identify low- or under-performing schools that continue to lag behind or exhibit ongoing difficulties, the progress of students becomes critical. Additional assistance, school sanctions, and even school reconstitution are some of the options employed by states that further support standards-based accountability.
- Accountability through the dissemination of public information is another strategy used by states to support education reform. States are using school, district, and state-level data to provide education report cards that show parents and the public how students are performing and how that performance compares to that of other schools or the state as a whole.
All of these efforts are intended to support the system in ensuring that student performance improves over time.
