A sociological analysis of the effects of standards-based accountability policies on the distribution of educational outcomes

Abstract

Although many accountability policies are motivated by a desire to support both excellence and equity, there is a more robust literature on the main effects of accountability systems on academic outcomes than on how these systems reduce or amplify the well-known associations between students’ socio-economic status, race and ethnicity and their educational achievements and attainments. The chapter begins by explicating a theory of how test-based accountability policies might affect the distribution of student academic outcomes, with particular attention to the matching of students and educational resources and argues that test-based accountability systems can only reduce the magnitude of group disparities in student academic outcomes if they differentially influence exposure to educational resources relevant to student performance. These resources can include curricula, teachers, school principals, peers, and dollars, among others.The chapter reviews the extant literature on the effects of test-based school and teacher accountability systems at the national, state and municipal levels, drawing on studies mainly conducted in the USA. These effects are heterogeneous, reflecting variations in policy design and implementation, and in the unintended consequences of education policy reform.