ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the development of educational accountability at the national level through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 and the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. A traditional, administrative accountability design is prevalent in both laws. Despite limited legal authority over education, national policymakers leverage federal funding to shape educational accountability. Accountability design focuses on student test results, and it reflects legislative compromises in the halls of Congress as well as regulations crafted in the federal bureaucracy. Non-educators – legislators, their staff, and executive agency bureaucrats – play key roles in designing accountability policies to promote national goals focused on academic achievement and international competitiveness, with a nod to equity. Other accountability types play a minor role at this level.
