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State Standards
State Tests
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State Standards
The Utah State Board of Education established policy in January 1984 that required the identification of specific core standards to be met by all K-12 students in order to graduate from Utah’s secondary schools. Those standards have been updated regularly since then.
While Utah independently elected to adopt state standards in 1984, all states are now required by the Every Student Succeeds Act to do the same. These statewide standards serve as goalposts and benchmarks. They provide a clear description of what students are supposed to learn in school and measuring student achievement against these standards allows states to understand how schools need to improve.
If you have any questions about state standards, you can contact your area’s elected member of the State Board of Education, the State Senate, and the State House.
To find your area’s state board member, visit this website: https://www.schools.utah.gov/board/utah/members
To find your area’s state senator and representative, visit this website:
State Tests
Assessing student learning is required by federal law. In the simplest of terms, the federal government requires that states have state-wide standardized tests to assess how students are doing in school. Individual states then determine if they will create their own tests or if they will use tests created by other states or private companies. Once the state has decided on the tests it will use, schools and districts administer them.
There is a federal requirement that 95% of students must take the state-wide tests. However, there is a Utah law that allows parents to opt their children out of taking these tests. These two realities create friction in the system.
If you have any questions about state standards, you can contact your area’s elected member of the State Board of Education, the State Senate, and the State House.
To find your area’s state board member, visit this website: https://www.schools.utah.gov/board/utah/members
To find your area’s state senator and representative, visit this website:
State Funding
Utah’s Constitution initially mandated that all income tax be used to fund K-12 schools. This changed in 1996 when a constitutional amendment was adopted that allowed the Legislature to use income tax dollars to help fund higher education in addition to public education. This simple change has created friction between Utah’s public and higher education systems, with both sides advocating for a greater slice of the revenue generated by income tax. Recent efforts have been made to address this friction. The Our Schools Now initiative and House Bill 248 are two examples.
If you have any questions about state standards, you can contact your area’s elected member of the State Board of Education, the State Senate, and the State House.
To find your area’s board member, visit this website: https://www.schools.utah.gov/board/utah/members
To find your area’s state senator and representative, visit this website:
Local Education Issues
Teacher Pay
Reporting Requirements for Schools
School Turnaround
Teacher Pay
In 2013, there were approximately 26,600 teachers in Utah. That same year, the average salary was just under $50,000. Some quick math shows us that the state government spent approximately one billion three hundred and thirty million dollars on teacher salaries. With these numbers in mind, it is easy to see how teacher salaries are one of the largest expenses in the state today.
Teacher salaries are determined by two stakeholders: school districts and teacher’s unions. School districts ultimately have the authority to determine teacher salaries, but teacher’s unions negotiate with districts under the premise that teachers will strike if they are too unsatisfied with their salaries. The most effective way to increase teacher pay is to raise taxes, but most citizens are adverse to tax increases.
These conditions create an interesting situation. Because school districts experience scarcity of money within the education system while teachers and citizens experience the scarcity of money within their personal lives, each stakeholder is incentivized to act in their own self-interest. Districts attempt to spread money as effectively as possible, teachers attempt to raise their salaries as much as possible, and citizens attempt to keep their taxes as low as possible. These conflicting incentives help explain why teacher salaries are perpetually a hot-button issue.
If you have any questions about teacher pay, you can contact your area’s elected member of your school district’s board of education.
To find your area’s elected district board of education, click on your school district below.
Reporting Requirements for Schools
Schools are required to collect data associated with student success. The data collection process begins with schools collecting data from students and submitting it to their districts. The districts then compile the data from schools and submits it to the State Board of Education. The State Board then compiles data from school districts and submits it to the Department of Education. The Department of Education then analyzes that data to ensure that Utah is meeting the requirements associated with the funding they receive from the Department.
The data schools are required to collect and report are
- Student proficiency according to state standards.
- This proficiency must be broken down into sub-groups. Student race, gender, socio-economic statues, and other relevant demographic information must be reported in conjunction with test scores to ensure that no subgroup is falling behind the rest of the student population.
- Student growth (how much a student improves in an academic year)
- An additional indicator of school quality determined by the State.
- Measurement of English language proficiency for English Language Learners
School Turnaround
The Every Student Succeeds act requires that states develop both criteria for identifying poor performing schools and a process for helping them improve. The State Board of Education has developed the criteria and processes, and a detailed description can be found on the State Board’s website.
In the simplest of terms, the Utah State Board of Education identifies a poor performing school. USBE then notifies the district and school of the poor performance designation. The principal of the school then sends a letter to all the parents informing them about the school’s designation. A group called the “system of support team” is assembled and conducts a “root cause analysis” to figure out why the school is performing poorly. After the root cause analysis has been conducted, the results are shared with the State Board of Education and the school’s district, principal, and teachers.
After the relevant stakeholders have received the results of the root cause analysis, the school district hires a consulting firm to help develop a school turnaround plan. The consulting firm works with the school, district, and community to develop the plan. Once the plan is finished and approved by the State Board, the consulting firm, district, and school work together to implement the plan and improve the school
