STATE'S SCHOOLS MUST HAVE ACCOUNTABILITY; STUDENTS, TEACHERS SHOULD BE HELD TO FIRM STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE.

Byline: Delaine Eastin 

CALIFORNIA'S public education system has included the pieces of an accountability program for some time, but what has been missing are consequences for those schools that fail to perform - and rewards for those that improve. Our state is currently developing academic standards and implementing assessments that determine whether students meet those standards. It is now time to put teeth into our accountability program to ensure that we get results.

This past winter I released a report titled ``Steering by Results,'' which was developed by a 37-member bipartisan advisory committee composed of business leaders, educators, parents and community members. The report calls for increasing accountability in our schools by establishing a system of rewards and interventions based on gains in students' academic achievements at each California school.

The report recommends three strategies to ensure that our schools deliver California's new academic standards to every student. Together, these strategies will improve student achievement across public education in California.

The first strategy is rewards for schools that bring about significant improvements in student achievement. An effective rewards program should include more than just public recognition. Hence, the rewards could include a cash bonus to schools for specific needs, which might include technology, sports equipment, library materials and books. We should also consider rewards to students who reach superior academic achievement. Such rewards, for instance, could be tuition exemptions at a California State University or a University of California campus.

Second, schools that consistently fail after a specific number of years should not get away with it. A full range of consequences should include placing the school under the stewardship of a team of distinguished educators, implementing schoolwide improvement activities and, finally, more severe measures if the school did not improve sufficiently, such as reconstituting or closing it.

Finally, there should also be consequences for students. I would like to see after-school programs for students who fail to meet grade-level standards and to require summer school attendance, which we are doing now in a few school districts in California. Compulsory summer school is the first step toward ending the misguided practice called social promotion. Summer school will also provide genuine incentives for students to do well in school. Let all kids know that summer vacation is something they earn - or don't get.

While these proposals may be considered dramatic, there must be some final accountability for the system to improve. The bottom line is that accountability depends on the premise that there are real consequences for the poor academic performances of both schools and students.

Can a comprehensive accountability system work in a state as large and complex as California? Texas, a state similar to ours in demographics and size, initiated an accountability program in the early 1990s. The results have been quite impressive. In 1994, for instance, 55 percent of Texas' students passed the state's competency test; in 1997 that number jumped to 74 percent. Minority students' gains were even more dramatic. Between 1994 and 1997, passing rates of African-American and Hispanic students increased by over 20 percent.

The idea that schools should be held directly accountable for student achievements - and either be rewarded or sanctioned for their results - is now receiving serious attention in Sacramento. A legislative conference committee on public school accountability is considering both short-term and long-term accountability proposals. One proposal would provide for a two- to three-year plan to offer technical assistance to some of the lowest performing schools in California. The other proposal is a longer-term rewards and interventions system that would be the cornerstone of California's accountability system.

Any accountability plan will be a challenge to implement. But that is our job as educators; we take these jobs to manage such challenges. Parents of schoolchildren and taxpayers demand results, not excuses. Instituting a statewide accountability system will give them results.