ABSTRACT
Accountability is the latest approach in the perennial battle to get public schools to meet society's high aspirations for academic efficiency and excellence. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has also made accountability the centerpiece of recent federal education policy. Like all new programs, NCLB is still working out implementation details that interfere with the operation of the central idea, so it may be too early to assess this policy. However, older accountability programs, such as the one in the Chicago public schools, can suggest the potential consequences of the basic model.
