Creating a system of school process indicators

A system of school process indicators is needed to provide descriptions of educational oppor-tunity, to monitor reform, and to explain student outputs. Several conceptual and technical problems must first be overcome. A model of school processes is offered against which problems of definition, measurement, and sampling are identified. Using criteria of importance, validity, and cost, a recommendation is made for an initial system of school process indicators. The recommendation illustrates the analytic framework and is meant to begin a conversation. Everyone agrees that high-quality indicators of student outcomes are essential to monitor-ing the health of our nation's schooling ef-forts. There is even considerable agreement that indicators are needed of the inputs to our educational system: the quality of teachers in our schools, the fiscal and other resources that schools are provided to do their work, and the entry characteristics of students who attend schools. What is less clear is the need for and feasibility of indicators that make it possible to monitor the nature of schooling: the curriculum students study, the instruction teachers provide, and the environment in which teaching and learning take place. Murnane (1987) has argued that education indicators should focus exclusively upon school outputs. Oakes (1989) disagrees, sug-gesting that information on school context should also be provided. This article adds support and specificity to Oakes's position. Starting from slightly different premises about the purposes to be served, a model of school processes is offered as an alternative to Oakes's focus on school context. The argu-ment for school process indicators is then extended to include issues of measurement and sampling. Criteria are offered for eval-uating school process indicators, and an ini-tial recommendation is made