ABSTRACT
In recent years, educators have come to see accountability largely as a matter of state or national governments holding educators responsible for raising achievement test scores. I will refer to this view of accountability as the common model. It is the heir to the reform movement that began with A nation at risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), passed through systemic reform and Goals 2000 (Goals 2000: Educate America Act, 1993), and, for the moment, has become the main event in the attempt to improve public education. It is the picture of accountability that produced No Child Left Behind (NCLB Act, 2002). It appears to be alive and well in the Obama administration’s Race to the Top. It is rooted in the conviction that education can be improved by a centralized governmental apparatus that monitors compliance and outcomes and rewards or sanctions effective behavior. 1 It sees accountability largely as a state matter and seeks to use the power and funding of the U.S. government to leverage state effort.
