Politics and Governance

Abstract

The politics of school accountability is significantly different between the time of the publication of the 1997 Yearbook of the Politics of Education Association and the current 2013 volume on accountability. During the mid-1990s, accountability lacked a focus and there was no clear institutional champion. With the 2001 passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), states and districts are governed by a common framework of accountability. Students, schools, districts, and states are held accountable for meeting annual academic proficiency standards or Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). As states and districts develop strategies to meet the accountability pressure, there is a need to examine the new politics of accountability. Authors in this volume have offered a useful knowledge base for pursuing this line of investigation. Further, I observe both enduring and new features on the politics and policy of accountability.