The Impact of Accountability on Racial and Socioeconomic Equity: Considering Both School Resources and Achievement Outcomes

Abstract

This article examines whether performance-driven educational accountability policy enhances or hinders equity. Combining data from state policy surveys, F-33, SASS, and NAEP, the article shows that during the 1990s, the states did not address racial and socioeconomic disparities in school resources and failed to narrow the achievement gaps among racial and socioeconomic groups. The distributions of school expenditures, class size, qualified teachers, and mathematics achievement remained largely unchanged in strong accountability states. Although the accountability policy of the 1990s neither produced adverse effects nor brought about significant setbacks in equity, this article suggests that racial and socioeconomic equity were not at the center of accountability reforms and that performance-driven accountability policies alone cannot move us forward toward equity.