The Economic Roots of Accountability as Educational Reform: Michigan's Statewide Standardized Test Circa 1969

• In Event: 60.034 - Historical Antecedents of Current Trends

Abstract

When the era of accountability becomes type-casted as the result of the 1980’s push for standards, rich cases like the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) get lost.
The MEAP as a tool for accountability was designed in 1969 to gain information on what students know, in order to guide policy to address the needs of students. What could have been a singular needs assessment, the MEAP became a staple in Michigan’s educational policy and leveraged change across the educational landscape within the state. The MEAP is an example of an innovation that arose out of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 which suggests that the federal law is the source of today’s accountability movement.

Author

• Valencia Moses, Self-employed