How can educators make the Every Student Succeeds Act a pivot to smarter, next generation school accountability? With generous support from the Barr Foundation, the Next Generation Accountability Learning Community (NGALC) is examining
this question with an emphasis on small-to-midsize cities, communities that serve a disproportionate share of the disadvantaged students — the core focus of the new federal education law. We invite you to join us in this timely conversation by reading a series of “Dispatches” MassINC and NGALC staff are producing to summarize the knowledge and insight generated by the learning community.

This first installment encapsulates our June meeting, which focused on measures of academic achievement and student growth. In addition to this short paper, you can find related video and materials from expert presentations to the learning community here. Working together to enhance the flow and exchange of information on these topics is absolutely critical, as efforts to rethink the purpose and design of accountability require more time for stakeholder engagement and reflection than the current implementation timeframe supports. Toward that end, we encourage you to join in the conversation by sharing your thoughts and ideas. Start by reading the report.