1. State Academic Content Standards. States must demonstrate that they have adopted challenging academic content standards for all high school students in at least reading or language arts, mathematics, and science. The State academic assessments must be aligned with these academic content standards. High schools are expected to demonstrate how these academic content standards are taught in their courses, modules, projects, online activities, and school-to-work programs.
   
   
2. State Academic Assessments. States must assess annually all students to measure their proficiency according to the following schedule and grade levels:
   
   Prior to the 2005-2006 school year, assess annually every student in reading or language arts and mathematics in the grade ranges 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12.
   
   By the 2002-2003 school year, assess annually all students with limited English proficiency in oral language, reading, and writing skills.
   
   By the 2005-2006 school year, assess annually every student in reading or language arts and mathematics in each of grades 3 through 8 and once in the grade range 10-12.
   
   By the 2007-2008 school year, assess annually every student in science in at least one grade in the grade ranges 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12.
   
   States may, at their discretion, assess students in subjects not required by the No Child Left Behind Act. The accountability system is based primarily on academic assessments but includes graduation rates for high schools and other academic indicators determined by the State.
   
   
3. State Student Academic Achievement Standards. These standards must be aligned with the State's academic content standards and academic assessments and must include at least three achievement levels: two levels of high achievement (proficient and advanced) and a basic achievement level. States may identify and describe these student academic achievement standards to meet their needs and requirements.
   
   
4. Adequate Yearly Progress. States must define adequate yearly progress so that all students, student subgroups, high schools, and school districts reach proficiency by 2013-2014. Defining adequate yearly progress is left to the States, but the law mandates that States determine a starting point, statewide annual measurable objectives, and intermediate goals for steady improvement.
   
   
5. State Report Cards. Starting with the 2002-2003 school year, States and school districts use report cards to inform the public about the results of State assessments in reading or language arts and mathematics. The report cards include but are not limited to disaggregated achievement information by subgroups (race/ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic level, gender, migrant status, English language learners); a comparison of students at basic, proficient, and advanced levels of academic achievement; high school graduation rates; the number and names of schools identified for improvement; the professional qualifications of teachers; and the percentages of students not tested.
   
   
6. Rewards and Sanctions. High schools not making adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years become known as schools in need of school improvement. These schools face corrective action and restructuring sanctions if improvement doesn’t occur after two years. States and school districts are required to provide technical assistance to low-performing schools and school districts as they address sanctions. Rewards are provided to high performing schools or those that show improvement. Rewards may include academic achievement recognition awards, distinguished school designations, and financial awards to teachers in schools that have made the greatest gains.
   
   
7. Teacher Quality. States are expected to have all teachers highly qualified in core academic subjects by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. All States will begin to report the status of their teachers relative to the high quality criteria beginning in the 2003-2004 school year.
   
   
8. Participation Rate. States, school districts, and schools must have at least a 95 percent student participation rate in State assessments. However, the law excludes reporting the progress of a disaggregated student subgroup if the number of test-takers in that group is too small to yield statistically reliable information, or if the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student.
   

1. Identify the people, time, and money necessary to support the school’s accountability approach.
   
   
2. Organize a team approach to complete the school-based tasks related to the various components of the State’s accountability system, e.g., academic standards, assessment, teacher quality, reporting progress and results.
   
   
3. Provide training and support of each teacher to generate regular and timely reports of student progress that will be the cornerstone of building-wide data relative to meeting adequate yearly progress measurable objectives.

Planning Phase

1. Update the school's current approach for aligning with State assessment mandates and scientifically based research findings for school and instructional improvement.
   
   
2. Ensure a system for orderly collection, analysis, and dissemination of student performance data from the classroom to the subject area department level to the school level.
   
   
3. Analyze data detailing the overall percentage of students scoring at or above the proficient level, and a comparison of actual growth with measurable objectives for annual yearly progress.
   
   
4. Develop a strategy to discover trends by all students and by student subgroups on State and local assessments in specific core subject areas.

Action Phase

1. Implement a coherent monitoring system to ensure that scientifically based research findings are implemented, maintained, and documented and ineffective practices are discontinued.
   
   
2. Calculate results for each school year using matched student scores to determine the extent of growth students experienced from one year to the next.
   
   
3. Disseminate and use the student academic achievement levels (basic, proficient, advanced) with students, teachers, administrators, parents, and other stakeholders to share the school’s expected vision of student performance.
   
   
4. Identify and apply in classroom instruction new ideas and strategies to identify potential hypotheses for scientifically based research studies.

Continuous Improvement Phase

1. Conduct on-going monitoring and support of student performance and teaching methods for continuous improvement purposes.