About the Accountability Pillar
The Accountability Pillar provides a new way for school authorities to measure their success, and assess their progress towards meeting their learning goals.
As part of the accountability process, school authorities will share their results with their communities, ensuring Albertans see how their school authority is performing.
What is the Accountability Pillar?
In September 2004, Alberta Education introduced an innovative funding framework that gives school boards the flexibility and freedom to meet the unique needs of their students and communities. The Renewed Funding Framework (RFF) provides core funding based on student enrolment and additional funding to meet the needs of specific student groups and certain geographic or population challenges. It is based on three pillars - Funding, Flexibility, and Accountability.
While the Renewed Funding Framework gives boards more freedom in how they use their funding, it also increases the need to demonstrate measurable results. The Accountability Pillar was created to give school boards a consistent way to measure their success and assess progress using a broad spectrum of measures. It is based on a set of common factors that measure outcomes in specific categories, giving a clear picture of how well learning goals are being achieved. It also helps identify areas that need improvement and set priorities for the future.
- Accountability Pillar Brochure - Measuring the Quality of Your Child's Education (September 2008)
- Summary of the Accountability Pillar Evaluation Methodology
Supporting Continuous Improvement
The Accountability Pillar ensures all school jurisdictions are measuring success in the same way. While most school boards have tracked their own progress, what they measured, when and how could vary widely. With the Accountability Pillar, all jurisdictions measure the same factors in the same way at the same time, creating timely, accurate, consistent data that is publicly evaluated and reported.
The Accountability Pillar allows jurisdictions and the province to assess successes and identify opportunities for improvement, while also providing students with the best possible learning experience. The measurement process also helps to determine if challenges are local or province-wide.
