New Accountability

"Standard-based accountability" has become a consistent buzzword emanating from the mouths of hopeful politicians-liberal and conservative-for almost twenty years. But does accountability work? The NewAccountability explores the current wave of assessment-based school accountability reforms, which combine two traditions in American education-public accountability and student testing.

"'These careful, thorough studies of what actually happens when the standards-and-assessment juggernaut hits the complex American comprehensive high school deserve careful pondering by the policy community. They compellingly suggest that a second, honest look at contemporary reform strategy is needed for the schools serving America's teenagers.' Theodore R. Sizer, Professor Emeritus, Brown University, USA"

Martin Carnoy is Professor of Education and Economics at Stanford University. His work has appeared in Dollars and Sense, The American Prospect, Education Week, and Tikkun. Richard Elmore is Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership at Harvard University. LeslieSiskin is currently Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at Cambridge University.