Project on Quality of Education and Accountability

This project attempts to bring light to our state's public discussions about the quality of public education and how to ensure that public schools are accountable for achieving the goals that state and local policies have set. This topic is part of the debate about public education that has swirled since the Claremont I and II decisions of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

  New Hampshire Citizen's Guide to the State's Minimum Standards for Public Schools - July 2004  
This paper is a summary of the minimum standards for New Hampshire's public schools as they exist in the summer of 2004. Soon the State Board of Education will propose revisions to these standards. By summarizing the current standards, we hope to encourage members of the public to understand and comment on the proposed changes.

  Still 'One in Four': High School Dropouts in New Hampshire - February 2004 

This report is an update to a June 2002 report investigating the true number of students who drop out of New Hampshire public schools before graduating. Using data from 2001 and 2002 school years, it concludes again that about 1 in 4 students never graduate. The report also describes in some detail how school districts can lose track of students and record them as transfers when, in fact, some do drop out. The report makes a number of recommendations that would result in better tracking of students.

  Smaller Classes Score Higher: Third Grade NHEIAP Results Show Wealth Also Helps - September 2003

This paper analyzes the results of state's standardized NHEIAP tests among third grade students in New Hampshire's public schools in 2001 and 2002. Third-graders in classes of 15 to 20 students have average scores 4-9 points higher than their counterparts in classes of 28-30 students in school districts of comparable economic conditions. In our prior studies of class size (see reports below) we had not investigated the relationship between class size and community wealth. Surprisingly, wealthier school districts tend to have larger classes. On average, the "income effect" almost perfectly counteracts the "class-size effect," which is why we had previously found no relationship between class size and NHEIAP scores.

Third Grade Revisited: Test Scores Unrelated to Class Size - June 2002

See the 2003 paper  listed above. This paper analyzes the results of state's standardized NHEIAP tests among the 16,484 third grade students in New Hampshire's public schools in 2000. On average, the third grade students in smaller classes did no better than students in larger classes. This finding confirms one made in our 1999 report, Class Size and Demographics: What Third Grade Test Results Suggest About Their Impact on Achievement in New Hampshire Public Schools. The report also shows that the number of students in larger class sizes (more than 27 students) was reduced considerably between 1997 and 2000.

One in Four: School Drop-outs in New Hampshire - June 2002

This paper calculates that 25% of New Hampshire's public high school students never graduate. This is based on enrollment data of recent graduating classes and includes the effect of students transferring to and from private schools, moving in and out of state, and other factors. It also presents a calculated cumulative drop-out rate for each high school based on each school's annual data from 2000-2001. The real rates are much higher than the public has been lead to believe. The propensity to drop out of high school does not appear to be related to school size or the number of credits required for graduation. It is inversely related to the per pupil spending: lower spending schools tend to have higher drop-out rates. The paper recommends that more attention be given to the issue of drop-outs at both state and local levels.

Big School, Little School: How Course Offerings and Graduation Requirements Vary Across New Hampshire's High Schools - May 2002

This paper compares graduation requirements and course offerings among the public high schools of the state in school year 2001/02. It investigates how school size and spending levels relate to these measures. It also compares New Hampshire's minimum graduation requirements to those of the other states. It makes both short-term and long-term recommendations to the State Board of Education, the body responsible for setting the minimum requirements in New Hampshire. 

Advanced Placement: NH Public High Schools Rank 24th - May 2002

This paper investigates how New Hampshire compares to other states in the percentage of students in public high schools who take Advanced Placement tests administered by The College Board. It also reports on the number of AP tests taken by students from each high school for each of the 33 AP subjects in 2001. This information can be used as a tool in comparing the degree to which the needs of the most gifted students are met in different high schools. 

  Performance-Based Accountability Systems for Public Education - February 2002

Six dimensions of accountability systems are described: definition of performance, assessment of performance, evaluative function, nature of consequences, locus of control, and differentiation of performance goals. The current accountability systems of 9 states are then described against these dimensions, bringing order to the diversity of methods and policies being used. Finally, potential pitfalls of such systems are discussed.

 New Hampshire Public High Schools and Academies - January 2002

A table of click-able links to the 78 public high schools and academies in New Hampshire. If the high school has its 2001/2002 school year course catalog online, the link is direct to the catalog. Otherwise the link is to the high school's home page.

  How States Pursue Public School Accountability and Measure Performance of Public Schools, School Year 1998-1999 - September 2001

The material in this report was extracted and compiled from the 50 state reports in Public School Finance Programs of the United States and Canada: 1998-99, published by the National Center for Education Statistics. The policies of each state regarding public school standards, accountability measures, rewards and sanctions are described.

Absent: New Hampshire Schools Drop Out of the National Assessment of Educational Progress - January 2001

This paper examines why New Hampshire public schools are not participating in the NAEP, the only nation-wide assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. It presents reasons why New Hampshire should participate and suggests options that could result in such participation.

Class Size and Demographics: What 3^rd Grade Test Results Suggest About their Impact on Achievement in New Hampshire Public Schools - January 1999

See the 2003 report listed above. The Center examined the 1997 NHEIAP achievement test data from 16,419 third grade public school students to determine if there is a relationship between the number of students in a classroom and academic achievement, as measured by these tests. The research then expanded to determine to what degree community demographic factors are also related to achievement. (NOTE: This report, with its 14 tables and 37 graphs, is approximately 500 Kbytes in size. It will take a few minutes for your browser to download completely. Please be patient.)