An Age of Accountability highlights the role of test-based accountability as a policy framework in American education from 1970 to 2020. For more than half a century, the quest to hold schools and educators accountable for academic achievement has relied almost exclusively on standardized assessment. The theory of change embedded in almost all test-based accountability programs held that assessment with stipulated consequences could lead to major improvements in schools. This was accomplished politically by proclaiming lofty goals of attaining universal proficiency and closing achievement gaps, which repeatedly failed to materialize. But even after very clear disappointments, no other policy framework has emerged to challenge its hegemony. The American public today has little confidence in institutions to improve the quality of goods and services they provide, especially in the public sector. As a consequence, many Americans continue to believe that accountability remains a vital necessity, even if educators and policy scholars disagree.
 

JOHN L. RURY is a professor emeritus of education at the University of Kansas. He is the author of many publications, including Creating the Suburban School Advantage: Race, Localism and Inequality in an American Metropolis.

"In chronicling a half-century of accountability and standardized testing, John Rury shines a bright and balanced light on the continuing tensions between political aspirations and the realities of U.S. schools and students. This book is recommended reading for all who have asked: 'How did accountability policies come to dominate American education, and why have they persisted for so long?'"— Lorraine McDonnell, author of Politics, Persuasion, and Educational Testing

"No other policy has shaped U.S. education in recent decades as much as test-based accountability. Rury provides a thorough and insightful discussion of the evolution of testing and accountability policies, the controversies surrounding them, and their disappointing effects."— Daniel Koretz, author of Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us

"This book is an essential, thorough, and objective study of standardized testing as used in American schools over the past 50 years. It is another impressive contribution from John Rury."— Maris Vinovskis, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor