The Effects of Accountability Pressure on Student-Teacher Relationships

• In Event: Students, Teachers, and Accountability

Abstract

Since the 1970s, American education policy has relied on test-based accountability policies to improve student achievement and to close achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. While we know a substantial amount about the effects of accountability systems on test scores and educators’ behaviors, students’ experiences have been largely ignored. In this paper, we analyze student-level administrative and survey data from the Chicago Public Schools to determine how external pressure to increase student test scores affects student-teacher relationships, and how this effect varies by race, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Authors

• Jennifer Jennings, New York University

• Peter Rich, New York University