Redesigning Accountability Systems for Education

Now more than ever, policymakers face a number of difficult and technical questions in the design and implementation of new accountability approaches. This book gathers the emerging knowledge and lessons learned offered by leading scholars in the field to provide an invaluable resource for policymakers, educators, and anyone interested in the pressing issue of accountability and public schools.

Expert contributors examine and offer recommendations on crucial issues such as:

• The effect of accountability policies on the ability of schools to improve over time.
• The significant variation in the design and effect of accountability systems in different states.
• The validity of assessment measures, including the use of scores for high-stakes decisions about students and schools.
• The choice of accountability measures and the levels of progress to expect.
• How to avoid penalizing schools for socioeconomic problems and other factors out of their control.
• The use of multiple measures of student achievement.
• Inclusion of students with disabilities and limited English proficiency in accountability systems.
• Building teachers’ capacity to use information provided by assessments to improve instruction.

Susan H. Fuhrman is Dean and the George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as Chair of the Management Committee for the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). Richard F. Elmore is the Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and Co-Director of CPRE.

“This book is a practical resource for educators faced with the realities of increased accountability at the local, state, and national levels. The compilation of research findings and informed professional perspectives will serve to guide the development of accountability systems to improve educational practice.”
Gerald N. Tirozzi, Executive Director, National Association of Secondary School Principals