Minnesota's accountability system fails to adequately address the challenges of educating highly mobile student populations. Students are considered mobile if they are at a school for less than a "Full Academic Year," but states are given some flexibility in how they define that year.
Minnesota defines a “Full Academic Year” as the time between October 1 and the date of the test administration, approximately seven months, not a "Full Academic Year" as the term implies.1
What’s even more egregious is that Minnesota defines a “Full Academic Year” in a way that’s more restrictive than what’s allowed by NCLB. Some states—Hawaii, Iowa and Colorado—are defining a Full Academic Year as from one test administration to the next.2
If it's unfair to hold teachers and schools accountable for the performance of students that have been in their care for less than a full year, why does Minnesota define a Full Academic Year in a way that is more restrictive than the law allows?
Notes
- Documented at Minnesota Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook, Revised July 20, 2005, U.S. Department of Education.
- Statewide Educational Accountability Under NCLB, Council of Chief State School Officers, page 28.
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