Not by Accountability Alone: Building Capacity for Improving School Performance in Norway, The Netherlands, Singapore, and New York City

• In Event: Roundtable Session 100
  In Roundtable Session: Accountability as More Than Testing and Sanctions: Alternative Instruments to Improve Schools From Around the World

Abstract

This presentation will illuminate the capacity-building demands created by new accountability policies in four different international contexts. Findings are drawn from a comparative study of evolving approaches to assessing schools and holding them accountable for their performance in Norway, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States (with a focus on New York City). Through literature reviews, document analysis, and interviews with policymakers and administrators, the study documents how the development of new accountability policies requires individuals and groups at every level of these education systems to take on new tasks and responsibilities for which few have been prepared. This presentation will also consider the social, political, geographic and economic factors that shape those new demands and the responses to them.

Author

• Thomas C. Hatch, Teachers College, Columbia University