Public schools have come under enormous pressure in recent years to demonstrate academic gains and to address deeply rooted disparities among students of different races, ethnic groups, and income levels. Clearly, boosting academic achievement should be a top priority. Less evident, however, is the long-term effect of supporting this goal by…

Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states face new challenges as they adapt to the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This report reviews SREB states' progress in strengthening their accountability systems to ensure that their teacher preparation programs are producing quality teachers. This report identifies what…

As rural states nationwide struggle with cuts in education funding, declining enrollments and increased costs it becomes crucial to examine those schools that are successful in educating their students. These higher performing schools can then be used as models for education excellence throughout the state. Defining higher-performing is not an…

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to facilitate a multi-session study circle for practitioners on the topic of accountability. Practitioners will read and analyze research and discuss how to apply it in their classrooms and programs. In the first session, the Study Circle group will examine the concept of performance accountability in…

This guide provides users with a step by step approach to restructuring, from organizing a district team and assessing the district's capacity to govern restructuring decisions to conducting a school-by-school analysis and implementing a restructuring plan. The text of the guide is supplemented with templates, checklists, and other practical…

A charter school creates an Accountability Plan to articulate to the community and the state what goals the school will use to measure its success. These "Guidelines" are intended to give schools guidance on the type of data that provide compelling evidence, the desirable structure for goals and objectives, and how to most clearly present results.…

Over the past 25 years a major shift in political ideology has refocused educational politics from equality issues to issues relating to excellence, accountability, and choice. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) first passed in 1965. NCLB legislation is a continuation of the educational…

Trustees find themselves in the middle of an ongoing battle over accountability and autonomy. Government officials accuse the academy of being more interested in autonomy than accountability--more interested in demanding financial support than in serving public priorities. Business leaders question the responsiveness of colleges and universities…

Demands for public accountability have built to a crescendo over the past several decades, driving home the fact that governing boards have premier responsibility as guardians of a college or university's performance. But to what extent do higher education's many stakeholders hold common perspectives on the definition and purpose of…

Districts must hire "highly qualified teachers" to implement "research-based best practices" using "data-driven decisions" to positively impact student achievement. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 has provided educators a whole new set of catch phrases. As states, districts, and educators work to define…

This policy brief presents a strong case for the creation of a statewide teacher data system in California by highlighting some of the simple teacher workforce questions that cannot be answered because such a system does not currently exist. At the state level, data on teacher qualifications are needed to fulfill the new reporting requirements of…

The Department of Education is a leader in improving the quality of education and raising expectations of what students can accomplish. The Department has promised to leave no child behind in order to ensure that all Americans can use their knowledge and skills to lead productive lives, enhance communities, and participate fully in the economy. To…

In 2001, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate both passed education bills with tough school accountability provisions. Both bills require states to test all students in grades 3-8 within 3 years and to separately report performance of subgroups (including racial and ethnic subgroups) within each school. An important innovation in both…

Many schools are under pressure to meet new standards of learning mistakenly believe that they must adopt a narrow curriculum that imposes strict boundaries on what students are taught. In this book, Susan M. Drake and Rebecca C. Burns address this issue by offering strategies for synchronizing standards across the disciplines. At the heart of the…

American education has always had its critics, and undoubtedly always will. Nonetheless, there are signs that the educational environment is improving in unexpected ways. This issue of the Brookings Papers on Education Policy, the eighth volume springing from a series of annual meetings sponsored by the Brookings Institution to examine specific…