New York state has the best school accountability system in the country, according to Testing the Testers 2003: An Annual Ranking of State Accountability Systems, released today by The Princeton Review. Massachusetts ranked second and Texas was third.

Accountability systems encompass state testing programs and the policies that surround them. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, federal education law requires annual testing in grades 3-8 to measure student learning and hold schools accountable for the results.

"The quality of the state test is only one part of accountability. What's more important is the state policies that determine how the information from the tests is used to help schools and families improve student learning," said Steven Hodas, Executive Vice President of The Princeton Review and author of the study.

During the six-month study, The Princeton Review collected data from each state and the District of Columbia. States were ranked on twenty-two indicators in four key criteria: test alignment to the states' curriculum standards; test quality; the openness of the testing program to public scrutiny; and the extent to which test data is used to support better teaching and learning. The study is available at www.princetonreview.com/statestudy.

The following list indicates rankings for the states doing the best job with accountability, and the states that were ranked last:

The top states: 1. New York 2. Massachusetts 3. Texas 4. North Carolina 5. Virginia 6. Louisiana 7. Florida 8. Arizona 9. Oklahoma 10. California

The bottom states: 41. Kansas 42. Indiana 43. Hawaii 44. Wyoming 45. North Dakota 46. Wisconsin 47. West Virginia 48. South Dakota 49. Rhode Island 50. Montana

 

---

About The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com)
The Princeton Review (Nasdaq:REVU), a leading provider of test preparation and admissions services, has helped students prepare for standardized tests for the past twenty years. The company's K-12 Services Division provides educators with tools to cope with the increasing pressure of state-mandated high-stakes accountability programs.

For More Information, contact: Harriet Brand, (212) 874-8282 Ext. 1091, harrietb@review.com, or Robin Raskin, (212) 874-8282 Ext. 1647, robinr@review.com.