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.

Abbreviations

Introduction: School Accountability and Standardized
Testing in American History 

1 The Origins of Test-Based Accountability: Assessing
Minimum Competencies in the 1970s

2 Standardized Testing and Race: Continuity and Change,
1975–2000

3 A Time of Transition: Testing Takes a Back Seat in
the 1980s

4 New Standards and Tests: Accountability on the
National Stage

5 A Millennium Dawns: The Origins and Impact
of NCLB

Conclusion: A Troubled History and Prospects
for Change

Appendix: Oral History Sources
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index