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Why is there an increased need for quantitative indicators of student socioeconomic status at the school level? What alternative approaches have been used to measure SES? Can principals accurately estimate the SES distribution of their student populations? How do their estimates correlate with other indexes o f family SES?

Performance monitoring systems have typically been “top-down” evaluation approaches. In Virginia, however, a stakeholder approach was used to develop an educational-performance monitoring system. Four stakeholder groups (teachers, school superintendents, school board members, and education group representatives) were identified, and representatives of the groups were involved in developing the system. Stakeholder group representatives viewed their impact on the development of the system positively. Teachers, who might be expected to resist a performance monitoring system, were the most positive about their efficacy in the process and the most committed to the system. The responses of the stakeholders generally indicate that some of the preconditions for utilization of the results were met through the approach of involving stakeholders. However, it is not clear whether the opinions of the representatives will spill over to the rest of the education community.

How can a useful performance monitoring system be designed? Gary T. Henry and Kent C. Dickey describe the use of a research and development model to develop an effective performance monitoring system as part of the State of Virginia's efforts in educational reform. They provide details on how the approach was implemented and discuss both the limits and risks involved. A combination of public interest, political pressure, and increased technical capacity has thrust public accountability, and with it the concept of performance monitoring, once again into the fore. When the U.S. Department of Education sounded an alarm with A Nation at Risk in 1983, the nation renewed its concern for public education. The presidential Educational Summit in Charlottesville, Virginia, the advent of significant community and parental control of Chicago's public schools, and the court-ordered complete overhaul of the public school system in Kentucky amplified the alarm. Dissatisfaction with public education services in many quarters has led to a variety of proposals ranging from dismantling educational bureaucracies by allowing school choice to increasing the accountability of the schools to the public.