Principals play a key leadership role in school effectiveness and student success; however, one area that has received relatively little attention so far is principals' embedded understanding of assessment and grading within the educational context where they work. We examined 141 Chinese school principals' conceptions of assessment and grading…

This article traces how some features of school inspection in England and Wales have changed since Her Majesty's Inspectorate was first established in 1839. The article describes how the inspectorate began its work; how, later on, a series of reviews and changes to legislation affected the exercise of its accountability and advisory functions; how…

Rudy Ruiz and Faith Connolly propose a new accountability measure that captures the percentage of students in a school that have a teacher of a similar ethno-racial background. The measure would hold school districts accountable for the percentage of students who have a teacher who looks like them. Adding this measure would bring attention to…

Evaluation policy has been identified as an important means of shaping and influencing organizational evaluation practice, yet, to date, little empirical research has been conducted to deepen our understanding of this relationship. The purpose of this study was to illuminate evaluation policy's role in leveraging organizational capacity to do and…

With the rise of accountability measures in education, many policymakers have also argued the need to record, assess, and certify students' holistic development. However, using China as a case, we caution how a policy-driven reform on the assessment of holistic development might fall into the pitfall of performativity. Borrowing from Ball's (Ball,…

This study examined the relationship between pre-service teachers' epistemological views and their assessment conceptions, as well as how epistemological beliefs and their components contribute to the variation in their assessment conceptions. Utilizing a quantitative descriptive correlational research design, data were collected from 197…

Network governance's increasing adoption in education has significantly challenged collaborative networks' external accountability. While educational inspection in network governance has been discussed, research focusing on microlevel educational inspection practices is rare. This study uses evidence from collaborative school turnaround to explore…

This article examines the work experiences of academics in Spanish universities with respect to how individuals are affected by the complex requirements of neoliberal compliance and a culture of endogamy, often referred to as 'academic inbreeding'. The need to evaluate and be accountable for most aspects of academic work is relatively new in Spain…

In response to the shifting educational landscape and the growing emphasis on responsibility and quality, quality assurance systems in higher education have experienced significant modification throughout time. These systems are essential for assuring the delivery of high-quality educational programmes and preserving the standing and reputation of…

This literature review provides an overview of the various modern approaches in talent programs for the context of schools and sports reported in scientific journals (2009-2019) and presents their similarities and differences and options for cross-pollination between contexts. This is a first attempt to overarch contexts regarding talent…

Parents and the public use accountability data to judge if schools are doing a good or a bad job educating their students. However, using the current data, schools perceived as "good" tend to be in better-resourced districts and enroll higher percentages of wealthy and white students. Schools perceived as "bad" tend to be in…

Social work education programs in the U.S. are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. Amendments made to the 2022 competencies reflect antiracism language, which requires assessment opportunities in the classroom moving forward. An assessment tool that assesses efficacy across the four domains, specifically related to antiracism, is…

Through a landscape analysis and content analysis, this study investigated informal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education funding and evaluation policies. The primary objectives of this study were to identify informal STEM education funding organizations, and to examine funding priorities and evaluation policies…

Accreditation holds a place within accountability systems as a mechanism to evaluate quality that leads to the practices that certify credentials. In K-12 school district these credentials manifest in curriculum, instruction, standards, and ultimately the certifying of credits that lead to receipt of a diploma. School district leadership would…

In an era of test-based accountability, school inspections can offer a more nuanced understanding of why schools fail. Yet, we have limited knowledge of how inspectors arrive at their decisions on school quality. Analyzing inspectors' decision-making can reveal the underlying views regarding school accountability and open opportunities for school…