An Age of Accountability

How Standardized Testing Came to Dominate American Schools and Compromise Education
Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-1-9788-3228-2
Verlag: Rutgers University Press

Buch, Englisch, 270 Seiten, Hardback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 481 g

Reihe: New Directions in the History of Education

An Age of Accountability highlights the role of test-based accountability as a policy framework in American education from 1970-2020. For more than a half century, the quest to hold schools and educators accountable for academic achievement has relied almost exclusively on standardized assessment. The theory of change embedded in almost all test-based accountability programs held that assessment with stipulated consequences could lead to major improvements in schools. This was accomplished politically by proclaiming lofty goals of attaining universal proficiency and closing achievement gaps, which repeatedly failed to materialize. But even after very clear disappointments, no other policy framework has emerged to challenge its hegemony. The American public today has little confidence in institutions to improve the quality of goods and services they provide, especially in the public sector. As a consequence, many Americans continue to believe that accountability remains a vital necessity, even if educators and policy scholars disagree.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rury, John L

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Schulen, Schulleitung Schulleitung, Schulentwicklung Schulevaluation, Schulinspektion

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction: School Accountability and Standardized Testing in American History
- Chapter One: The Origins of Test-Based Accountability: Assessing Minimum Competencies in the 1970s
- Chapter Two: Standardized Testing and Race: Continuity and Change, 1975-2000
- Chapter Three: A Time of Transition: Testing takes a Back Seat in the 1980s
- Chapter Four: New Standards and Tests: Accountability on the National Stage
- Chapter Five: A Millennium Dawns: The Origins and Impact of NCLB
- Conclusion: A Troubled History and Prospects for Change
- Appendix: Oral History Sources
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Index