Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to trace the rise of the term “accountability” in United States policymaking discourse quite generally, paying special attention to its application in educational settings. It discusses the main outcomes or promises that policymakers expect accountability efforts to achieve. Evaluating educational processes certainly is a complex undertaking, and complex in ways that are resistant to modeling, but the real source of our difficulty is existential. A persistent feature of both governmental and popular frustration with accountability policies from the 1980s onward is the general sense that it ought to be easier than it seems to be. Accountability can deliver on the promises it makes, but it will require more of us—of each of us—than any iteration of policy has yet demanded.