Districts across the country play a crucial role in ensuring schools effectively serve students and families. Beyond federal requirements in the Every Student Succeeds Act and state-level accountability systems, locally developed school performance frameworks are a key lever for holding schools accountable, particularly for student learning and wellness. 

Today — with unfamiliar school configurations and unknown impacts on student outcomes — it is more important than ever that districts are diligent about assessing schools’ impact on students. But the ways that districts have done so in the past may no longer be appropriate. And districts that previously did not engage in school-level performance assessments now have a new incentive to do so. 

A Guide for School Districts: Exploring Alternative Measures of Student Learning and Wellness is a toolkit to help districts adapt existing school performance frameworks to the current moment or create new ones. These slides identify and walk through the fundamental questions districts need to consider in designing school performance frameworks that acknowledge the challenges that schools and students are facing, as well as a continued need to monitor performance and continuously improve. 

There is both a need and a chance for districts to rethink approaches to measuring student learning and wellness. Districts must act now, or risk creating conditions that will negatively affect students for years to come. 

Bellwether has published numerous resources about the role of metrics and accountability during this time, and this deck is a tool for district leaders as they seek to support student learning in the midst of the pandemic.

Download the deck here or read it in the view below.