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With a focus on the American context, the study investigates a teacher accountability reform as an expanding assemblage of neoliberal governance by providing an account of physical education teache...

This research examined how stakeholders (n = 40) from one school district experienced “accountability” within a context where responsibility for student learning was being distributed across the system. Using a case study design, we examined: what conditions supported stakeholders in multiple roles to exercise responsibility for student learning? Analyses of documents and interviews revealed conditions that enabled teachers, instructional leaders, and administrators to share responsibility in relation to their roles, and empowered teachers to engage in inquiry for continuous improvement and build from their sense of professionalism and responsibility. Implications are discussed for empowering teachers, and other stakeholders, to exercise responsibility in the context of an accountability system.

The Welsh education system is engaging in a wide-ranging series of reforms and, as part of these reforms, is moving towards an accountability system that aims to work collaboratively with teachers ...

The purpose of this study was to reveal the work life of physical educators who were experiencing a teacher accountability system in the US. A combination of stratified and purposeful sampling procedures was adopted to select a sample of schools that served communities with various socioeconomic backgrounds. The schools were recently incorporated in a state teacher accountability system that used student learning growth for teacher evaluation. A group of 51 certified physical educators was selected from the sampled schools. Data were collected from three sources: an online survey, in-school observations, and semi-structured interviews. The survey and observations cross-validated data related to job description, workload, general working environment, and demographic information. The interviews detailed the teachers’ accounts about their work life, perceptions of the job demands, and resources under the teacher accountability system. Inductive analysis revealed that the lack of critical job resources, especially curricular supports, equipment, and professional development, limited the teachers from promoting student learning that the teacher accountability system required. Teachers were subjected to immense job demands, specifically a large body of content knowledge to teach with shrinking instruction time and ambiguous role. They also felt pressured to incorporate reading, writing, and mathematics in physical education lessons with little or no curricular support. For teachers to teach physical education successfully in this accountability context, systemic changes are needed to provide teachers with adequate professional development and curricular resources to promote learning in physical education.

Performance-based accountability systems that rank schools based on their effectiveness produce ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. Substantial evidence has pointed to the (side)effects of these classification...

Although schools’ relative contribution to pupils’ progress is increasingly used in accountability systems around the world (OECD, 2013), momentum for value-added models (VAM) has not been reached in Chile. This small-scale study explores qualitatively the policy context in which this omission takes place, by analyzing policy documents and interviewing local policymakers and researchers about their views on VAM. These agents and official documents not only point to political, methodological and pragmatic reasons for and against value-added indicators, but also highlighted ethical and legal reasons pro (but not against) VAM. Overall, the most prominent reason for including VAM into the new accountability system was the ethical consideration. The notion that a fairer indicator could make justice, especially for those schools working in disadvantaged contexts, was a recurrent idea. In contrast, the most recurrent reasons against VAM were methodological. Whilst research on VAM for the Chilean school system has been conducted over the last decade, it has impacted very little the policy arena. Given that the creation of frameworks for assessing value-added indicators takes time, needs policy and research support and needs to consider potential unintended consequences, the road towards including them into the Chilean school accountability system is just starting.

At least sixteen US states have taken steps toward holding teacher preparation programs (TPPs) accountable for teacher value-added to student test scores. Yet it is unclear whether teacher quality differences between TPPs are large enough to make an accountability system worthwhile. Several statistical practices can make differences between TPPs appear larger and more significant than they are. We reanalyze TPP evaluations from 6 states—New York, Louisiana, Missouri, Washington, Texas, and Florida—using appropriate methods implemented by our new caterpillar command for Stata. Our results show that teacher quality differences between most TPPs are negligible—.01–0.03 standard deviations in student test scores—even in states where larger differences were reported previously. While ranking all a state's TPPs is not useful, in some states and subjects we can find a single TPP whose teachers are significantly above or below average. Such exceptional TPPs may reward further study.

School peer reviews are increasingly part of the evaluation and school improvement landscape for school leaders and teachers in a number of countries. This article describes the growth of peer review, particularly in England, and its emergence elsewhere (for example, Australia, across Europe and in Chile). While these approaches provide a useful form of professional and moral accountability, this article identifies ways in which they could go further to empower practitioners through the use of an enquiry approach, combining formal academic knowledge with practitioner knowledge and school-based data. The term collaborative peer enquiry (CPE) is suggested as a way to explore this potential. The article sets out a typology of action research as a form of professional learning (type 1), practical philosophy (type 2) or as a form of critical social science (type 3). Four examples are given of different peer review models, two of them CPE approaches, and these are analysed using the above typology. A distinction is made between some peer review models that mimic external inspections and err towards self-policing, and others that encourage open enquiry and learning. In particular, the CPE models show the potential as forms of type 2 and type 3 action research. The role of peer review and CPE in the accountability system, in leadership development, and challenges for these models are explored in the discussion.

Context A fundamental assumption behind a high stakes accountability system is that standardized testing, proficiency goal setting for demographic student subgroups, and sanctions would motivate teachers to focus on students whose performance had heretofore lagged. Students with disabilities became one such subgroup under the No Child Left Behind system. Special education teachers faced a novel pressure: to radically narrow the achievement gap between their students with disabilities towards proficiency or incur sanctions and corrective action for their schools and districts. Purpose The study uses the concept of “integrity” to analyze public service workers’ agency in situations of strain or crisis. Integrity consists of four overlapping domains of judgment: obligations of office, personal integrity, client needs, and prudence. Research Design The study is an in-depth multiple case study of seven teachers; 21 structured interviews, and 17 observations, augmented by a number of informal contact that included invitations to observe teacher meetings and conversations with school administrators. Findings The study found that the special education teachers faced a true dilemma. Teachers adopted contradictory solutions — some embraced the new demands, some rejected them. Both seemed equally untenable. The study reveals salient dimensions of this dilemma: how teachers related to the external moral obligation to equalize, what they chose to ‘see’ when they viewed the achievement gap; how they explained, or explained away, their agency in narrowing the gap; how they strategized and muddled through with instructional maneuvers to make the gap go away; and what they regarded, and guarded, as fields of professional responsibility and autonomous decision making. Implications What kind of accountability system would enable a collective dialogue among special education teachers in which high expectations, keen diagnosis, instructional expertise, internal responsibility for individualized learning gains, openness to external challenge, and attention to results would be the poles of the discussion? At the core, such an accountability system would validate the professionalism of the most expert teachers and avoid activating their defensiveness and demoralization. It would guard against middling expectations by making the performance of a wide spectrum of high and low performing schools or special education departments transparent. It would stay away from high pressure attached to unrealistic goals in order to discourage teachers from developing blind spots about their students, or acting with mere compliance and expediency. It would motivate a dynamic of student-centered continuous improvement in reference to a common standard, but also to low-stakes metrics that may guide iterative improvement.

This paper estimates the effects of school accountability on year-to-year teacher mobility in Chile. An accountability program was introduced between 2012 and 2015, which established sanctions for persistently low-performing schools, including the threat of closure if they failed to improve their academic outcomes after four years. Since the low-performance ranking was based on the school’s relative position on a set of variables and their corresponding thresholds, we use a Multivariate Regression Discontinuity Design to evaluate the impact of the policy on teacher mobility. Our results indicate that teachers are more likely to leave schools that are labeled as low performing. This effect appears to be relevant only when teachers can move to other schools, as we did not find any effect on the likelihood of teachers leaving the school system. The evidence suggests that the effect on mobility is more pronounced for teachers with less working experience, who teach in two or more schools, were hired with temporary contracts, and achieved lower scores on their college admission tests. Even though mobility appears to have increased among less effective teachers, schools are not hiring new teachers to replace them.

In 2007, Washington adopted the Student Achievement Initiative, a statewide performance accountability system designed to improve retention rates and degree productivity among community colleges. Using difference-in-differences analysis, we found that the policy change has had little immediate effect on retention rates or associate’s degree productivity. However, community colleges produced more short-term certificates after the policy reform. These results are robust across many alternative comparison groups. Considering that certificates yield less value in the labor market than associate’s degrees but are easier for colleges to produce, we discuss the unintended consequences of rewarding colleges based on the number of credentials they produce.

 The realization of a good and accountable governance is the hope of all parties. It is expected that the development and implementation of an accountability system that is accurate, clear, legitimate so that the government and development can be carried out efficiently, effectively, cleanly and responsibly and free from corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN). Based on Speklé and Verbeeten (2013) studies indicating that contractibility moderates the relationship between the use of performance-oriented system performance incentives. The use of performance measurement systems for the purpose of negative incentives affects organizational performance, but this effect is too heavy when Contractibility is high. The type of this research is causal explanatory, and the research sample is population 3 SKPD (Work Unit of Local Area) located in Bandung with data analysis technique using Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) or interaction test is a special application of linear regression where in regression equation contain Elements of interaction (multiplication of two or more independent variables). Keywords: Performance Appraisal System, Performance, Contractibility, SKPD Bandung, Public Sector

Standardized testing remains the predominant proficiency measure for students and schools, placing teacher and student focus on test-prep and lower order skills while maintaining achievement gaps that penalize underserved students. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Assessment seeks to close this gap and change assessment measures on a state level by training teachers to become leaders in implementing student-centered performance assessments and encouraging state legislators to consider alternative, forward-thinking accountability systems.

The growth of high-stakes testing in state accountability systems necessitates further examination of their impact on stakeholders. Prompted by broader state-level reform in Kentucky, this evaluation aims to provide insight into a new accountability system's effect on social studies teachers. Using a goal-free evaluation model and case study design, the researchers examined the content and instructional decisions made by a group of U.S. history teachers in response to a new end-of-course exam designed by ACT-QualityCore. The evaluation incorporated a content analysis of teacher materials, observation of a professional learning community meeting, and teacher interviews. The results of this evaluation indicate that teachers generally support the changes in the new assessment system but find specific elements frustrating and hesitate to completely revamp their instructional practices. Considering these assessment system changes occurred to advance Kentucky's goal of college and career readiness for all, this evaluation provides insight into what is actually happening in classrooms and should assist teachers and administrators as they assess the impact of these reforms on classroom practice.

Establishing high standards for educational accountability and informing those not already familiar with the basic components of a strong accountability system is a fresh avenue in EFL context, particularly in Iran, where the perceived shortcomings of English learning in the public sector are evident. The present mixed methods study used educational accountability as a theoretical framework to determine the level to which its elements (Goals, Performance Indicators, Design Decisions, Consequences, Communication, Support, and System Evaluation, Monitoring, and Improvement) differ in Iranian high schools and English language institutes when concerning school principals, English teachers, parents, and students. To this end, 300 EFL learners, 120 parents, 100 English teachers, and 60 principals were selected to complete the piloted and validated educational accountability questionnaires. The reliability of all questionnaires was around 0.95. To better understand the results of the questionnaires, 86 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The results of the t-tests indicated a statistically significant difference between the levels of accountability in both EFL contexts. The only exception was the aspect of Communication, which was almost the same in both educational contexts. The results of the semi-structured interviews also confirmed those of the questionnaires. Several remedies were offered by the researchers of the study. The findings of this study suggest that the EFL agents and policymakers can take advantage of educational accountability systems.

Achievement scores drive much of the effort in today's accountability system, however, there is much more that occurs in every school, every day. School Centered Evidence Based Accountability can be used from micro to macro giving School Boards and Administration a process for monitoring the results of the entire school operation

Many studies point to potential unintended consequences of accountability systems such as when schools narrow their teaching to fixate on tested subjects. As a result, some states and districts in the USA have complemented the federal test-based accountability system with additional measures of educational practices to hold schools accountable on multiple measures. To explore the consequences of such systems, this study focuses on the responses of nine elementary schools to a multiple-measure accountability system in New York City, including high-stakes tests and quality reviews. While some schools showed broader improvement efforts, results suggest the state test remains the dominant measure in driving responses of schools, and in some cases, the quality review further reinforces the schools' focus on the test.

This study explored how using in-class accountability affects the nature of students’ clicker question discussions. A higher proportion of discussions in the random call condition contained exchanges of reasoning and some forms of questioning compared with discussion in the volunteer call condition, thus suggesting positive impacts of random calling., Understanding how instructional techniques and classroom norms influence in-class student interactions has the potential to positively impact student learning. Many previous studies have shown that students benefit from discussing their ideas with one another in class. In this study of introductory biology students, we explored how using an in-class accountability system might affect the nature of clicker-question discussions. Clicker-question discussions in which student groups were asked to report their ideas voluntarily (volunteer call) were compared with discussions in which student groups were randomly selected to report their ideas (random call). We hypothesized that the higher-accountability condition (random call) would impress upon students the importance of their discussions and thus positively influence how they interacted. Our results suggest that a higher proportion of discussions in the random call condition contained exchanges of reasoning, some forms of questioning, and both on- and off-topic comments compared with discussion in the volunteer call condition. Although group random call does not impact student performance on clicker questions, the positive impact of this instructional approach on exchanges of reasoning and other features suggests it may encourage some types of student interactions that support learning.

In Korea, the effort to include students with disabilities in the educational accountability system has just begun. This paper reviews how Korean students with disabilities have been tested using the National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA) and what issues have emerged as a result of the testing. Analysis of the 2009 and 2010 NAEA data reveals that only a small proportion of students with disabilities participated in these tests and that those who did participate showed low academic achievement compared with general education students. In addition, even though alternate assessments are conducted by special education teachers to assess the academic performance of students with disabilities, national academic assessments in Korea do not include a system for alternate assessment. Based on findings of the analysis, several suggestions are made for improvement in Korea’s educational accountability system for students with disabilities.

This article uses data from California to analyze the results of the proposed accountability system in the Senate’s Harkin-Enzi draft Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization. The authors analyze existing statewide school-level data from California, applying the accountability criteria proposed in the draft law. Comparing the proposed system to the No Child Left Behind Act’s Adequate Yearly Progress provisions, they draw conclusions about the stability of the proposed identification schemes and the types of schools likely to be identified. They conclude with several policy recommendations that could be easily incorporated into the law, based on their analysis and the existing literature.

This article describes aspects of test-based accountability in the Netherlands. It provides a description of the design of the Educational system in the Netherlands, it gives a short introduction to the role of the Dutch Inspectorate of Education in the accountability of schools and describes different assessments that are used as sources of information in the accountability system. For each assessment, the primary function in education and its role in the accountability system are discussed. Finally, the factors that can potentially influence the validity of the accountability indicators and the strong and weak points of the current system are identified and some directions are presented of potential developments of this system.

This study tracks American states’ policy choices under the No Child Left Behind Act and explores their consequences for student achievement. Using the path analysis of relationships among state‐level policy input, context, and outcome variables, the study portrays a Halloween‐like ‘trick‐or‐treating’ game between the federal and state governments in the new ecology of the test‐driven education accountability system. States that chose the ‘trick’ path with a calculative policy negotiation and manipulation strategy made significant gains on their own state assessments but not on the national assessment. In contrast, states that followed the ‘treat’ path with a faithful policy implementation for funding strategy have not yet brought about significant gains on either the national or state assessments. The first‐generation accountability states with a prior history of high‐stakes testing tended to employ both strategies at the same time. However, neither effective illusion nor ineffective implementation serve...

A key intent of the NCLB growth pilot is to reward low-status schools who are closing the gap to proficiency. In this article, we demonstrate that the capability of proposed models to identify those schools depends on how the growth model is incorporated into accountability decisions. Six pilot-approved growth models were applied to vertically scaled mathematics assessment data from a single state collected over 2 years. Student and school classifications were compared across models. Accountability classifications using status and growth to proficiency as defined by each model were considered from two perspectives. The first involved adding the number of students moving toward proficiency to the count of proficient students, while the second involved a multitier accountability system where each school was first held accountable for status and then held accountable for the growth of their nonproficient students. Our findings emphasize the importance of evaluating status and growth independently when attempting to identify low-status schools with insufficient growth among nonproficient students.

Improving the Acceptability of Teacher Assessment for Accountability Purposes - Some Proposals within an English System - The National Curriculum was introduced in England after the Education Reform Act of 1988. The compulsory curriculum is made up of four key stages, and until very recently there have been high stakes assessment at the end of each stage. Over time additional tests and examinations were added to the system leading to English children being some of the most tested in the world. In parallel to this, the use of test results to hold schools and teachers to account has emerged as one of the key purposes of the tests and examinations. This article describes the use of the results for accountability purposes, and the ever increasing criticism of this due to the distorting effects it has on teaching and learning. A number of recent changes to the system, in response to the criticisms, mean that test results are no longer available at all the stages to meet the accountability purpose. The article discusses whether the teacher assessment that has been proposed as a replacement could be used for accountability purposes in such a high stakes system, or whether the accountability system will be forced to change.

The federal accountability system, made universal through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, is a system driven by quotas and sanctions, stipulating the progression of underperforming schools through sanctions based on meeting performance quotas for specific demographic groups. The authors examine whether the current federal accountability system is likely to succeed or fail, by asking, Does the sanctions-driven accountability system work? Is it practical? And is it legitimate among those who must implement it? The authors argue that even though sanctions-driven accountability may fail on practical outcomes, it may be retained for its secondary benefits and because there is a sense that credible policy alternatives are lacking. They conclude by proposing alternative policies and approaches to the current system.

Policy decision makers, early educators, and early interventionists face numerous challenges as they develop and implement statewide accountability systems to evaluate and improve children's early intervention and early childhood special education outcomes. Kansas was an early adopter of the Child Outcomes Summary Form (COSF) developed by the Early Childhood Outcomes Center as a means of integrating multiple sources of information on children's performance and to meet policy requirements of the state and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The purpose of this article is to describe the Kansas experience and to report preliminary findings for entry-level COSF data. Implications are discussed.

This special issue furthers the conversation begun in the August 2014 of edition of Education Policy Analysis Archives in the article Accountability for College and Career Readiness: Developing a New Paradigm by Linda Darling-Hammond, Gene Wilhoit, and Linda Pittenger. That paper posits that as schools across the country take on the challenge of preparing all children for success in college, career, and life, states must in turn move toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. The authors recommend, “an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and appropriate resources, so that all students regardless of background are prepared for both college and career when they graduate from high school” (p. 1). In this, the third of three focused volumes of EPAA, we hope to further that discussion and debate by focusing, one issue at a time, on each of the three elements of a truly responsible accountability system: 1) meaningful learning, 2) professional capacity and accountability, and 3) equitable and wisely used resources.

This special issue furthers the conversation begun in the August 2014 of edition of Education Policy Analysis Archives in the article Accountability for College and Career Readiness: Developing a New Paradigm by Linda Darling-Hammond, Gene Wilhoit, and Linda Pittenger. That paper posits that as schools across the country take on the challenge of preparing all children for success in college, career, and life, states must in turn move toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. The authors recommend, “an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and appropriate resources, so that all students regardless of background are prepared for both college and career when they graduate from high school” (p. 1). In this, the second of three focused volumes of EPAA, we hope to further that discussion and debate by focusing, one issue at a time, on each of the three elements of a truly responsible accountability system: 1) meaningful learning, 2) professional capacity and accountability, and 3) equitable and wisely used resources.

This article examines the implementation of a set of compulsory IT-based, self-scored, and adaptive nationwide tests in a low-stakes accountability system. We exploit exogenous variation resulting from students voluntarily retaking the nationwide test after the IT system was down for ten days. We find beneficial effects of testing across the student population. Disadvantaged schools were more likely to (re)take the test despite the crash, and their students gained more from being tested. Our results indicate that the core component in accountability systems, i.e. student testing, is beneficial even without the high stakes that are part of many accountability systems.

When STARS reform efforts were launched in 2000, teacher training in assessment was seen as crucial to the success of the program. The STARS reform efforts focus on both supporting the implementation of quality classroom assessment practices and implementing a district-based accountability system. The training programs described in this article were developed in response to one or both of these needs. Two of the programs were designed to provide training to experienced teacher. The other two programs were designed to meet the needs of pre-service teachers. Evidence suggests that the training programs have had a positive impact on teacher confidence, knowledge, and skill in key areas of assessment. In addition, there also appears to be evidence, while somewhat limited, which suggests students also experience positive outcomes.

The use of multiple measures is emphasized by legislation regulating the distribution of Title I funding to states, as well as by professional and industry standards regarding the use of test scores in high-stakes decisions. There are a wide variety of methods with which multiple measures can be designed and analyzed, and these methods have different implications for conclusions that will be reached. Recognizing the complexities associated with the implementation of a multiple measures approach to system evaluation, this article provides an overview and discussion of alternative models that may be considered in an accountability system and their applicability relative to the goals of the system evaluation. The article concludes with an example of the use of multiple measures with regard to No Child Left Behind legislation.

In 2004, over 300 school districts in Texas challenged the constitutionality of the Texas system of school finance. In West Orange-Cove et al. v. Neeley et al., the plaintiffs argued that because most school districts were at or near a state-imposed property tax rate ceiling and because the share of state education funding was declining, most school districts had inadequate funds to satisfy the student performance standards mandated by the Texas Educational Accountability system. To address the empirical question of whether school districts have insufficient resources to meet the state's accountability standards, two cost function analyses were conducted. One study, entered into evidence by the state of Texas, reached the conclusion that "in aggregate, the level of education funding in Texas is more than sufficient to meet performance goals consistent with the state's accountability system." The other study, entered into evidence by the plaintiff school districts, concluded that, in aggregate, Texas schoo...

This article uses two dominant traditions in the organizational study of schools—the neoinstitutional and faculty workplace approaches—to explain an urban elementary school’s response to the Texas Accountability System. The findings indicate that teachers, guided by an institutional logic, sought to create the appearance of test score improvement by using a constellation of “educational triage” practices. Educational triage was manifest in the diversion of resources to students believed to be on the threshold of passing the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (“bubble kids”) and to “accountable” students (those affecting the school’s accountability rating). Teachers also attempted to remove any liabilities to the school’s rating by referring these students for special education. To explain why teachers participated in educational triage, the author shows how the equation of good teaching with high test scores by the institutional environment and the district reconstituted both teacher professional identities and teacher-teacher relationships.

Administrative data from North Carolina are used to explore the extent to which that state's relatively sophisticated school-based accountability system has exacerbated the challenges that schools serving low-performing students face in retaining and attracting high-quality teachers. Most clear are the adverse effects on retention rates, and hence on teacher turnover, in such schools. Less clear is the extent to which that higher turnover has translated into a decline in the average qualifications of the teachers in the low-performing schools. Other states with more primitive accountability systems can expect even greater adverse effects on teacher turnover in low-performing schools. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

The rapid proliferation of school accountability systems and the increasing stakes being attached to them will no doubt be challenged in the courts. This article extrapolates from existing case law on testing to the likely ways in which school accountability systems may be challenged in the courts. The same categories of suits filed against specific tests and test uses-due process claims and equal protection claims-may well apply to accountability systems. Due process considerations include adequate notice to schools about the requirements they face, appeals processes, and a nonarbitrary system. Equal protection considerations include whether schools with large percentages of minority students are rewarded or sanctioned in proportion to other schools. A list of recommended actions for accountability system developers is also offered.

Bu araştırmada, okullarda hesap verebilirliğe ilişkin okul yöneticilerinin görüş ve önerilerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırma nitel bir araştırma olup, olgubilim modeline göre desenlenmiştir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu maksimum çeşitlilik örneklemesi tekniği ile belirlenmiş olan toplamda 10 okul müdürü ve okul müdür yardımcısı oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmanın verileri yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu kullanılarak toplanmış ve içerik analizi tekniği ile analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda; okul yöneticilerinin hesap verebilirlik kavramını; gerekçelerin açıklanması, şeffaflık, işlerin sorgulanması, bilgi verme sorumluluğu, sorumluluk bilinci ile ilişkilendirerek açıkladıkları belirlenmiştir. Okul yöneticileri, okullarda hesap verebilirliğin sağlanmasının; öğrencileri yeteneklerine göre yönlendirme, okulda düzeni sağlama, başarının artması, okulun tercih edilme düzeyinin yükselmesi, mevcut durumun ortaya konulabilmesi ve toplumun modernleşmesine katkıda bulunulması gibi olumlu sonuçlar doğuracağını belirtmişlerdir. Ayrıca okul yöneticileri; okullarda hesap verebilirliğin sağlanması ve arttırılması için katılım ve bilgilendirme yapılması, farkındalık eğitimi verilmesi, yasal yükümlülüklerin belirlenmesi, standartların netleştirilmesi, bilgi ve belge kaydının yapılması ve performansın değerlendirilmesi şeklinde önerilerde bulunmuşlardır., The aim of this study is to examine the opinions and suggestions of school administrators about school accountability. The study, a qualitative research, was designed with phenomenological research model. The participants of study consisted of 10 school administrators selected by using maximum variation sampling. Data of the study were collected through semi-structured interview form and were analyzed with content analysis. The results showed that school administrators define the concept of accountability by using such terms as explaining reasons, transparency, asking for the results of assignments, responsibility of informing, having the sense of responsibility. School administrators stated that a good school accountability system will probably have positive results such as guiding students' choice of profession, , increasing success, increasing school's popularity among students and parents, revealing present situation of the school and contributing to the modernization of the society. Besides, administrators had suggestions to establish amd improve accountability in schools such as increasing participation, informing stakeholders, increasing awareness about accountability by training people, defining legal responsibilities, clarifying the standards, recording and storing information and documents, and evaluating performance.

As schools across the country prepare for new standards under the Common Core, states are moving toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. This paper recommends an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and appropriate resources, so that all students regardless of background are prepared for both college and career when they graduate from high school. Drawing on practices already established in other states and on the views of policymakers and school experts, this paper proposes principles for effective accountability systems and imagines what a new accountability system could look like in an imagined “51st state” in the United States. While considerable discussion and debate will be needed before a new approach can take shape, this paper’s objective is to get the conversation started so the nation can meet its aspirations for preparing college- and career-ready students.

Accountability is a complex idea frequently invoked as political rhetoric. Accordingly, a theoretical framework that includes bureaucratic, performance, market, and professional models of accountability is necessary to analyze the accountability system created for Arizona charter schools. Using a qualitative case study that relied on observations, interviews, and document analysis, this case indicated that valid and reliable performance data are not an intrinsic element of a school choice program. Accordingly, mechanisms that capture and distribute accurate, accessible, and wide-ranging information about schools of choice will assist consumers in making informed decisions when selecting among schools.

An experimental field study was conducted to examine the impact of accountability on effectiveness in the teaching of physical education. Accountability was constructed through the introduction of a system of reporting and feedback between the teachers and the professional supervisor on two levels of intensity, high and low. Findings show that the institution of the accountability system improved the participant teachers' effectiveness as compared with control group teachers. Improvement in students' achievements was more evident in girls than in boys. The accountability system constructed for this study may be applied not only in physical education but in other educational areas as well.

The state of Rhode Island, USA has recently embarked on a new state accountability system for public elementary and secondary education. An overview of the system is provided coupled with an understanding of accountability systems as technologies of social control. The ramifications of such technologies are discussed along with the costs, benefits, uncertainties, and necessary tensions associated with such systems.

Most states in the United States are implementing standards-based reform. A key component of this type of reform is the notion that higher standards are intended for all students, including students with disabilities. Performance on these higher standards is typically measured through large-scale assessment systems, from which many students with disabilities have been excluded. Without these students' participation in the standards movement, states will be lacking critical information on the efficacy of instructional programs for all students. In order to participate, some students with disabilities may require accommodations on these assessments. The issue of accommodations presents many challenges, from legal to psychometric. Given the high-stakes nature of these assessments when used as part of the state accountability system in which financial, legal, and instructional decisions are made, these challenges need to be addressed. This study examined the effects of providing the accommodation of reading the mathematics items to students on the fourth-grade version of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Specifically this study addressed the question, Does reading the mathematics items allow students with learning disabilities to demonstrate their knowledge without affecting the validity of the test? Results provide support for the continued use of this accommodation for students with disabilities that affect reading. Further research is needed in this area, especially as stakes increase for both schools and individual students.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 require that all states, by July 2000, will have developed and implemented alternate assessment methods for those students with disabilities who cannot be included within regular state and local district educational assessment and accountability measures. A statewide survey of teachers involved in the nation's first alternate assessment and accountability system for students with moderate and severe disabilities was conducted to determine the extent to which these teachers perceived benefits of including their students in state and school accountability measures, as well as their perceptions of the instructional impact of the alternate system upon student outcomes. The results of this survey indicated that teachers did realize such benefits, and perceived positive changes in both instructional programming (e.g., students' learning to follow their own individualized schedules, students' learning to assess their own performance) and enhanced student outcomes (an increased percentage of students having functional augmentative communication systems). However, teachers also expressed frustration with the amount of time required to complete student assessment portfolios, and concern over scoring reliability and the extent to which the alternate assessment was more of a teacher assessment than a student assessment.

In the U.S. many states are in the process of developing and implementing new educational accountability policies that differ from prior systems in varying degrees. This study examined educational accountability system implementation experiences in Colorado and Maryland. Data obtained from policy stakeholders in each state at the district and school levels of analysis were used to illustrate key elements of three policy system models supported in the policy and organizational studies literature; the institutional, rational, and interpretive models. These models formed the basis for a framework to examine the implementation of educational accountability policy systems in the two states. Experiences observed suggested that while a particular perspective may appear to dominate at a certain level of the policy system, institutional, rational, and interpretive models all contribute to the framework proposed by the authors.

Focusing on the equity aspect of proposals for making opportunity-to-learn standards integral to an accountability system, this article discusses conceptual issues surrounding determination of equal educational opportunity and explores ways that these issues manifest themselves in empirical formulations of opportunity to learn (OTL). Using two databases, OTL measures are developed according to three alternative conceptions of equality—the Libertarian, Liberal, and Democratic Liberal conceptions—and the influence of these conceptions on the information provided is compared. This examination shows the intimate relation between values on equality and measures of equality and brings these issues to the fore for discussion by educators and policymakers.

In this chapter, the authors propose and evaluate an accountability system based on indicators that combine elements of both inputs and outcomes. The authors stress the importance of ensuring that accountability systems in education are flexible and sensitive to the sometimes competing ends that schooling systems pursue. This approach places considerable emphasis on open inquiry and discussion between centralized authorities and constituent schooling units. The authors envision a four phase accountability strategy which attempts to move the system away from a reliance on penalties and rewards and toward a system based on cooperation and communication. An overview of an effort to implement this kind of approach in New York State is provided.

This chapter explores the implications of the discussion of legislation, policy and practice in educational accountability with students with impairment in Chaps. 1 through 3 and the identified explicit and implicit assumptions identified in Chap. 4 for equitable educational accountability practice for these students in the future. It elaborates first the concept of a psychometric model of impairment in educational accountability and shows that psychometric overconcern with standardization of process as the means to promote assessment fairness has the opposite effect---a negative impact on equitable inclusion of students with impairment in educational accountability. Three recommendations for future policy and practice are made: the need for greater variety of assessment forms to allow students with impairment optimal demonstration of their educational achievement; the need for educational standards that are appropriate for students with impairment so that achievement and growth can be monitored in meaningful ways for schools, students and parents; and, finally, the need for further research to explore the interaction between impairment and knowledge construction to ensure that the construction of educational achievement outcomes for students with impairment is not standardized as a deficit against the achievements of those without impairment.

The aim of this paper was to quantify teacher behaviors that were associated with high levels of student involvement and, hence, provide further understanding of student accountability. Two observation instruments were used to collect data from teachers during a secondary school volleyball unit. Results showed that the more effective teacher (as measured by ALT-PE) spent more lesson time in the functional behaviors of concurrent instruction and intervening instruction, whereas the less effective teachers spent more time in noninteractive behaviors such as observing. Furthermore, specific cycles of teaching behaviors that discriminated between the effective and less effective teachers were identified. The results are explained in terms of the development of a successful instructional accountability system being developed by the effective teacher in contrast to the instructional pseudoaccountability of the less effective teachers.