Accountability Systems for Children between Birth and Age Eight. Technical Report #1

This technical report presents issues related to defining and applying accountability systems for young children, including those with disabilities. It notes that reaching shared perspectives on definitions of accountability systems and their constituents remains complicated by the number of levels to which such systems can apply (e.g., child-, family-, state-, or nation-focused) and multiple meanings stakeholders place on frequently used terms (e.g., "outcomes,""indicators," and "benchmarks"). The report addresses limitations imposed by four major issues: (1) the relative novelty of applying such systems to young children; (2) the emphasis on nomothetic and consensus-based approaches; (3) the still-growing state of knowledge on links between early functioning and later competency; and (4) the exclusion of children with disabilities. The report proposes a set of standards to guide development of accountability systems for young children focusing on children's growth and development, feasibility, application to multiple levels of analysis, and generation of important information to all stakeholders. These standards are the foundation of the Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring Growth and Development, a 5-year collaborative project to create a comprehensive assessment system, aggregate individualized data to describe group-level outcomes, and generate interventions. (Contains 43 references.) (DB)